OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION.
1.1. Aims of the unit.
1.2. Notes on bibliography.
2. A LINGUISTIC FRAMEWORK FOR THE PASSIVE VOICE.
2.1. Linguistic levels involved.
2.2. The passive voice: what, how and why .
2.3. Grammar categories involved: open vs. closed classes.
3. A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PASSIVE VOICE: KEY NOTIONS.
3.1. The verbal feature of voice : active vs. passive.
3.2. Major verb classes: lexical vs. auxiliary verbs.
3.3. Lexical verbs: finite vs. nonfinite forms.
3.4. Main passive constructions: ‘be’ passive vs. other types.
4. STRUCTURAL FEATURES : FORM, FUNCTION AND MAIN USES.
4.1. On for m: morphological features.
4.1.1. Finite vs. nonfinite forms.
4.1.2. Main finite vs. nonfinite combinations.
4.2. On pronunciation: phonological features.
4.2.1. Phonological reduction: weak vs. strong forms.
4.2.2. Stress on verbal combinations.
4.2.3. Intonation patterns: main functions.
4.3. On function: syntactic features.
4.3.1. Phrase, sentence and clause structure.
4.3.2. Simple and complex verb phrases.
4.3.3. The verb phrase structure.
4.3.4. A categorial description: sentence constituents.
4.3.5. A functional description : main syntactic functions.
4.3.6. Main syntactic changes from active to passive voice.
4.3.7. Particular cases : specific syntactic patterns.
4.4. On semantics: meaning.
4.5. On use: everyday usage and idiomatic expressions.
5. EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS.
6. CONCLUSION.
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
8. APPENDIX.
1. INTRODUCTION.
1.1. Aims of the unit.
Unit 27 is primarily aimed to examine in English the passive voice and its main structural in terms of form, function and main uses, namely achie ved by means of verbs, nouns, prepositions and specific syntactic structures. Then, the study will be divided into seven chapters. Thus, Chapter 2 provides a theoretical framework for the notion of passive voice, first, by answering questions such as, first, which linguistic levels are involved in its description within sentence structure; second, what it describes, how and why; and third, which grammar categories are involved in its description at a functional level.
Once we have set up the linguistic frame work, we shall offer a general introduction to the passive voice in Chapter 3 which will be devoted to present some key notions which prove highly relevant in a further analysis of the passive voice regarding the five main linguistic levels: morphology, phonology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics in order to offer a wider view on this issue. Therefore, we shall start by (1) defining the verbal feature of voice whereby we shall analyse the difference between active and passive voice; (2) we shall approach the major types of verb classes (lexical and auxiliary) since the reference to the passive voice is mainly drawn from their interrelationship; and therefore (3) the main types of lexical verbs regarding finite vs. nonfinite forms in order to locate the passive voice. Finally, we shall examine (4) the main types of passive constructions regarding ‘lexical’ and ‘auxiliary’ verbs, thus ‘be’ passive vs. other types.
Chapter 4 shall analyse the main structural features of the passive voice in terms of form, function and main uses, namely following morphologic al, phonological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic guidelines. Thus we shall examine form regarding morphology (verbal structures) and phonology (pronunciation), and also function which will be approached in terms of syntax (verb phrase structure) and semantics (differences in meaning). Finally, usage will be approached in terms of pragmatics (why we use the passive voice and how often) and also at the level of everyday use regarding everyday speech and idiomatic expressions. We try to offer an overall view of the passive voice working at the sentence level in assertive and nonassertive contexts (affirmative, negative and interrogative forms) and at discourse level (everyday speech).
Chapter 5 provides an educational framework for the structural features of the passive voice within our current school curriculum, and Chapter 7 draws on a summary of all the points involved in this study. Finally, in Chapter 8 bibliography will be listed in alphabetical order and Chapter 9 includes the appendix on the types of passive voice.
1.2. Notes on bibliography.
In order to offer an insightful analysis and survey on the passive voice in English, we shall deal with the most relevant works in the field, both old and current, and in particular, influential grammar books which have assisted for years students of English as a foreign language in their study of grammar. For instance, a theoretical framework is namely drawn from the field of sentence analysis, that is, from the work of Flor Aarts and Jan Aarts (University of Nijmegen, Holland) in English Syntactic Structures (1988), whose material has been tested in the classroom and developed over a number of years; and Thomson & Martinet, A Practical English Grammar (1986).
Other classic references which offer an account of the most important and central grammatical constructions and categories in English regarding auxiliary and modal verbs, are Quirk & Greenbaum, A University Grammar of English (1973); Sánchez Benedito, Gramática Inglesa (19759; and Greenbaum & Quirk, A Student’s Grammar of the English Language (1990), whereas more current approaches to notional grammar are David Bolton and Noel Goodey, Grammar Practice in Context (1997); John Eastwood, Oxford Practice in Grammar (1999); Sidney Greenbaum, The Oxford Reference Grammar (2000); Gerald Nelson, English: An Essential Grammar (2001); Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (2002); and. Angela Downing and Philip Locke, A Unive rsity Course in English Grammar (2002).
2. A LINGUISTIC FRAMEWORK FOR THE NOTION OF PASSIVE VOICE.
Before describing in detail the notion of passive voice at sentence level in English, it is relevant to establish first a linguistic framework for this notion, since it must be described in grammatical terms. In fact, this introductory chapter aims at answering questions such as (1) where this notion is to be found within the linguistic level, (2) what it describes, how and why; and (3) which grammar categories are involved in their description at a functional level. Once this key terminology is defined, the reader is prepared for the descriptive account in subsequent chapters.
2.1. Linguistic levels involved.
In order to offer a linguistic description of the expression of the passive voice at sentence level, we must confine it to particular levels of analysis so as to focus our attention on this particular aspect of language. Yet, although there is no consensus of opinion on the number of levels to be distinguished, the usual description of a language comprises four major components: phonology, grammar, lexicon, and semantics, out of which we get five major levels: phonological, morphological and syntactic, lexical, and semantic (Huddleston, 1988). However, we shall include here the field of pragmatics within our analysis since it is a central element to understand how the passive voice is used in everyday speech.
First, the phonology describes the sound level, that is, consonants, vowels, stress, intonation, and so on. For our purposes, the sound level is described in terms of stress, rhythm and intonation within the sentence structure since it may help highlight the doer, the action or the agent in a passive voice construction. This aim will be achieved jus t by using the correct word or sentence stress (on the auxiliary or lexical verb), rhythm and the right intonation.
Secondly, since the two most basic units of grammar are the word and the sentence, the component of grammar involves the morphological leve l where we can express the passive voice by means of different choices within grammatical constructions (i.e. auxiliary + lexical verb; two auxiliaries + lexical verb; three auxiliaries + lexical verb), infinitive constructions, the passive perfective among others; and even the choice between two similar forms (i.e. An e -mail was sent to me/I was sent an e-mail).
Thirdly, the lexicon or lexical level is closely related to morphology since both list vocabulary items depending on our choice of different grammatical categories, for instance, nouns (i.e. subject function, direct/indirect object), verbs (transitive or intransitive) and prepositional phrases (i.e. agent function, time/place/mood prepositional phrases). Therefore, lexis deals with the expression of the passive voice through the use of verbal phrases or other means such as other formal realizations such as a noun phrase, a finite clause, etc.
Next, semantics deals with the semantic roles of a verbal element (active vs. passive, transitive vs. intransitive verbs, etc) in clause structure apart from their syntactic roles as subject, verb, object or complement, where syntactic and morphological levels do not tell the difference (i.e. Honey tastes sweet/This cloth washes well –active form but passive meaning). The passive voice is to be namely found within the category of full and auxiliary verbs (primary and modal) and other grammatical realizations; such as the passive infinitive (i.e. Johny adores to be admired), the passive perfective
(i.e. The house has already been rented) (Quirk et al. 1990).
Similarly, from a functional approach, we must bear in mind the prominence of pragmatics in the construction of the passive voice when dealing with ‘how to say things in English’, that is, taking into account the speaker’s attitude and the context where the sentence is uttered, where meaning and the speaker’s attitude are essential elements in communicative exchanges (oral, written, paralinguistic). For our purposes, it is an essential level since the speaker’s attitude may convey an active or a passive sentence, depending on what or who is to be highlighted.
Finally, the syntactic level describes the way words are placed in the sentence and shall help us locate the notion of passive voice at sentence level by (1) specifying the difference between phrase, sentenc e and clause; (2) analysing the sentence main constituents and (3) their main syntactic functions in order to (4) analyse sentence structure in terms of word order under the notion of ‘collocation’. Finally, we shall approach the passive voice in terms of (5) specific syntactic structures and idiomatic expressions; and finally, we shall offer (6) the main structural features of passive sentences regarding form, function and uses, to be fully described in the subsequent chapters.
2.2. The passive voice: what, how and why.
On defining these notions, we must establish internal links between (1) its linguistic description, that is, what it represents in terms of morphology, phonology and lexis and how it is represented, both grammatically (different grammatical categories: verbs, nouns and prepositions namely ) and syntactically (the types of sentences in which this construction is embedded) (2) and its function within the sentence at a semantic and pragmatic level, that is, why it is used by the speaker and what aim is to be achieved by this type of constructions.
When answering the question of what it represents in linguistic terms, we deal with the morphology and phonology of their elements within the phrase structure at sentence level in order to highlight relevant information (i.e. stress, rhythm and intonation in nouns or verbs ) whereas the how it is represented refers to the different grammatical categories (i.e. verbs (lexical and auxiliaries), nouns and prepositions ) and their syntactic function in the sentence.
The answer of why we use the passive voice is to be drawn from Traditional Grammar guidelines, where this specific syntactic structure is namely given by the grammatical category of verbs, and therefore, verb phrases are classified according to their main semantic roles. Yet, passive verb combinations describe different situations, such as ‘information’ (i.e. English is spoken here);
‘technical statements’ in household instructions (i.e. First, the right handle must be turned right, then…); ‘rumours’ put forward by the speaker with passive infinitives (i.e. He is said to be single); and ‘a finished result’ (i.e. The old amphitheatre was examined by archaelogists) among the most relevant types.
At a pragmatic level, the choice and use of active and passive forms is strictly made by the speakers, who will decide on the amount of emphasis they want to convey in their utterance, for instance, to express ‘surprise, excitement, sadness, curiosity, rumours, etc’.
2.3. Grammar categories involved: open vs. closed classes.
In order to confine the syntactic structure of the passive voice to particular grammatical categories, we must review the difference between open and closed classes. Yet, grammar categories in English can be divided into two major sets called open and closed classes. The open classes are verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs, and are said to be unrestricted since they allow the addition of new members to their membership, whereas the closed classes are the rest: prepositions, conjunctions, articles (definite and indefinite ), numerals, pronouns, quantifiers and interjections, which belong to a restricted class since they do not allow the creation of new members.
However, following Quirk and Greenbaum (1973) and Aarts (1988), the two major types of verb classes, lexical and auxiliary verbs, belong to two different grammatical categories, for instance, the former constitute an open class where the latter constitute a closed class. Moreover, according to Quirk and Greenbaum (1990), since auxiliary verbs fall into the further distinction of primary auxiliaries and modal auxiliaries, both subclassifications also belong to the small closed class.
Therefore, when dealing with the passive voice at sentence level, we shall namely deal with closed classes such as lexical verbs, nouns and prepositions since certain passive constructions (passive infinitive) need of periphrastic forms to be realized (i.e. He is said to be divorced and extremely rich). Moreover, we shall find closed word classes within two specific types: primary auxiliary verbs (be, have, do) and modal auxiliary verbs (can, could, may, might, shall, will, could, …). It is worth noting that apart from the mentioned grammatic al categories, we may find other open and close classes within the sentence structure as well as other specific clause structures, as for example ‘He was listened to’ (indirect subject) ’.
3. A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE PASSIVE VOICE: KEY NOTIONS.
This general introduction will be devoted to present some key notions which prove highly relevant in a further analysis of the passive voice regarding the five main linguistic levels: morphology, phonology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics in order to offer a wider view on this issue. Therefore, we shall start by (1) defining the verbal feature of voice whereby we shall analyse the difference between active and passive voice ; (2) we shall approach the major types of verb classes (lexical and auxiliary) since the reference to the passive voice is mainly drawn from their interrelationship; and therefore (3) the main types of lexical verbs regarding finite vs. nonfinite forms in order to locate the passive voice. Finally, we shall examine (4) the main types of passive constructions regarding ‘lexical’ and ‘auxiliary’ verbs, thus ‘be’ passive vs. other types.
3.1. The verbal feature of voice : active vs. passive.
The verbal feature of voice makes reference to the verb phrase semantics element where the distinction between active and passive voice is only applied to sentences whose verb is transitive. In fact, in active sentences the action is carried out by the doer of the action (the ‘who’) and the object (the ‘what’) is presented after the verb in final position (i.e. They spread the news really fast) whereas in passive sentences we are not interested in saying ‘who’ or ‘what’ did the action but
‘what’ happened (i.e. The news were spread really fast).
Note that apart from an external syntactic difference where we place ‘the new information’ at the beginning of the sentence, the speaker’s attitude is also relevant to establish the choice for active vs. passive voice, for instance, we usually use the passive voice to convey impersonality, specific writing (scientific, academic, political), formal vs. informal language, newspaper, national language etc , rather than for everyday speech. However, we do not always find a double choice between active and passive voice since there are verbs which do not allow for it.
Therefore, the main difference between the active voice and the passive voice namely involves both the verb phrase and the clause as a whole (i.e. He will read a magazine vs. a magazine will be read by him) . This verbal paradigm may be combined with the verbal features of tense (i.e. She cooks/She cooked), aspect (perfect vs. nonperfect and progressive vs. nonprogressive), and mood (a choice between the indicative, imperative, and subjunctive, for instance, He looks/Look at me!/I demand that he look at me, respectively) in order to complement the whole number of verbal form constructions.
3.2. Major verb classes: lexical vs. auxiliary verbs.
As stated above, we may distinguish two major types of verb classes according to their function within the verb phrase1 (Greenbaum and Quirk, 1973; Aarts, 1988): first, lexical verbs (also called full or ordinary verbs ) and second, auxiliary verbs, the former constitute an open class, the latter a closed class. The latter category, auxiliary verbs, fall into a further distinction: primary auxiliaries
1 M ore recently, Quirk and Greenbaum (1990) substituted the category of auxiliary verbs for the very small closed classes of primary verbs and modal auxiliary verbs since they both belong to the same class and, therefore, they namely
distinguished three main types (full, primary and modal auxiliary verbs).
and modal auxiliaries . This distinction in verb class categories is relevant for our study since the reference to the passive voice is mainly drawn from both of them.
First of all, (1) lexical verbs constitute the principal part of the verb phrase (i.e. come, believe, think, go, speak, sing, etc) which may be accompanied by auxiliaries (i.e. Sarah may come next week / Sarah may be coming next week), but they can also occur in active verb phrases that do not contain any other verbal forms (i.e. Sarah came last week ). There are two ways of classifying lexical verbs: the first is based on complementation (verbs which do not require a complement are intransitive, and verbs that do are transitive ); and the second involves the distinction between one -word and multi-word verbs (i.e. put vs. put on; look vs. look into ). We shall deal with these notions further on when analysing the passive voice in syntactic terms.
Secondly, as a rule an (2) auxiliary verb cannot stand on its own since it must be followed by a lexical verb, except in cases where the lexical verb (sometimes with other sentence constituents) is understood, as in ‘Can Anthony come? Yes, he can (come) ’. The first subclassification, (a) modal auxiliaries comprises the following items: can, may, must, shall, and will. Other marginal members are ‘dare, need, ought (to) and used (to)’ because they can be used both as auxiliaries and as lexical verbs (i.e. He needs to be careful vs. He needn’t be careful), and also because unlike the other auxiliaries ‘ought’ and ‘used’ are followed by a to-infinitive. However, ‘used’ may co-occur with ‘do’ in negative and interrogative sentences (i.e. Did he use(d) to drive a car?)
The second subclassification, (b) primary auxiliaries comprises the items: do, have and be. First, ‘do’ differs from ‘have’ and ‘be’ in that it usually co-occurs with lexical verbs only. This means that verb phrases with ‘do’ contain only two verb forms, since verb phrases cannot have more than one lexical verb (i.e. Do you be lieve him?/ Do come, John!). Moreover, it is used as an auxiliary of periphrasis (i.e. He does not realize what he is doing/Who did he see?/ Only then did he realize his position ) and of emphasis (i.e. He DOES know what he is saying/ I DID lock the door).
On the other hand, ‘have’ and ‘be’ co-occur not only with lexical verbs but also with modal auxiliaries, always following the latter (i.e. He may have escaped). Both function as auxiliaries of aspect. Thus, ‘have’ is auxiliary of the perfective aspect when followed by the –ed participle of another verb (i.e. He has written a new article ), and ‘be’ is auxiliary of the progressive aspect when it combines with the –ing participle of another verb (i.e. He is writing a new article ). Moreover, ‘be’ is also used as auxiliary of the passive voice when followed by the –ed participle of a transitive (lexical) verb as in ‘The theatre was built in 1909’.
Yet, the further distinction of modal auxiliaries and primary auxiliaries (i.e. have, be, do ) show important differences as for instance (1) the former are always finite (when the verb phrase show tense, mood, aspect and voice) whereas the latter ‘have’ and ‘be’ have finite as well as non-finite forms (an infinitive, an –ing participle or an –ed participle ); (2) the former invariably occur as the first element of the verb phrase (i.e. John may be told now) whereas the second and may occur in initial as well as in medial position in the verb phrase (i.e. Has he been told yet?); (3) moreover, in English modal auxiliaries are mutually exclusive (i.e. I shall tell him) whereas primary auxiliaries are not (i.e. He has been told).
3.3. Lexical verbs: finite vs. nonfinite forms.
In this section, we shall namely focus on lexical verbs since it is from them that we get the four main morphological verb forms so as to express the semantics of voice, tense, aspect and mood, and in next sections, be able to examine how these inflexional morphemes function at sentence level in finite and nonfinite verb phrases with respect to the construction of the passive voice.
First of all, we shall follow Aarts (1988) and Quirk and Greenbaum’s (1973) classification, whereby we distinguish five morphological forms, among which four are inflexional morphemes: thus (1) the base form, (2) the –s form, (3) the –ed past tense, (4) the –ed past participle and (5) the –ing participle. Yet, other authors like Greenbaum and Quirk (1990) later on, reduced the number of morphological forms to four (i.e. base form, -s form, -ing participle and –ed form).
Once we have stated the main inflexional morphemes, we must examine the different syntactic functions of these verb forms at sentence level regarding finite vs. nonfinite phrases in order to locate the verbal feature of voice for our purposes. In general, the –s form and the past form are always finite whereas the –ing participle and the –ed participle are always nonfinite. The base form, which has no inflection, is sometimes finite (i.e. You break my heart) when it takes first position in predication, and sometimes nonfinite (i.e. Your heart is broken) when it takes second position.
Thus, the syntactic functions of the verb forms in finite and nonfinite verb phrases are as follows.
First, (a) modal verbs are always followed by an infinitive (i.e. He might go); (b) perfective forms with the auxiliary ‘have’ are always followed by an –ed form (i.e. He has gone, he must have gone); (c) progressive forms with the verb ‘be’ are always followed by an –ing participle (i.e. He was talking too loud/He would have been visi ting us now ); and (d) passive forms with the verb ‘be’ again are always followed by an –ed participle (i.e. He was visited/He must have been being visited ). However, although the above order is strictly followed, we find some exceptions, such as with (a) modal + progressive (i.e. may be visiting ); (b) perfect + passive (i.e. has been built); and (c) modal + passive (i.e. may be visited).
It is worth noting that regular lexical verbs have the same –ed inflection for both the past tense and the –ed participle (i.e. He called / He was called ). However, irregular verb forms may vary in this respect, from three forms (i.e. put, puts, putting) to eight (i.e. be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been) as it is the case of the passive voice. Note that some irregular verbs (i.e. drive; tell) have two –ed forms (past and participle) with distinct syntactic functions (i.e. They told him the truth=simple past/He has been told the truth =past participle ).
3.4. Main passive constructions : ‘be’ passive vs. other types.
In English there are several types of passive constructions amongh which the genuine passive is formed by ‘be’ + past participle . Yet, we may find similar constructions where the grammatical category of verbs does not belong to the auxiliary class but to lexical verbs, such as ‘get’, ‘become’, ‘taste’, and so on. They may be combined not only with past participles but also with adjectives and intensifiers in order to get a semantically different type of passive voice, giving the new structures new meanings (i.e. He got dressed very quickly=reflexive/He was really interested in the film=a mental state). Therefore, in the following chapter we shall review this type of passive constructions from a morphological approach (what grammatical categories are involved and how they are combined within the verb phrase) together with a syntactic and semantic approach (how they are placed in the sentence and what they mean) to be developed further on. Note that each construction will be referred to in a different way depending on the linguistic approach we apply to it, for instance, the construction ‘be’ passive is morphologically described as the combination of the primary auxiliary ‘be’ + a past participle ; syntactically, we will talk about the changes that take place from active forms to passive ones (verb ‘be’ + past participle + agent –optional-); and semantically, we will talk about the ‘be’ passive or also called agentive passive (or genuine passive) which may have an expressed or unexpressed agent.
4. STRUCTURAL FEATURES: FORM, FUNCTION AND MAIN USES.
With respect to the main structural features of the passive voice, we shall analyse it in terms of form and function namely following morphological, phonological, syntactic and semantic guidelines as well as in terms of use, that is, from a pragmatic point of view. Thus we shall examine form regarding morphology (verbal structures) and phonology (pronunciation), and also function which will be approached in terms of syntax (verb phrase structure) and semantics (differences in meaning). Finally, usage will be approached in terms of pragmatics (why we use the passive voice and how often) and also at the level of everyday use regarding everyday speech and idiomatic expressions. We try to offer an overall view of the passive voic e working at the sentence level in assertive and nonassertive contexts (affirmative, negative and interrogative forms) and at discourse level (everyday speech).
4.1. On form: morphological features.
4.1.1. Finite vs. nonfinite forms.
Generally, from a structural point of view, the passive voice operates within finite and nonfinite verb phrases. Yet, it should be borne in mind that modal auxiliaries (will, shall, can, might) are always finite whereas primary auxiliaries (have, be) have finite as well as non-finite forms. Moreover, we must not forget that the infinitive and gerund forms are embedded within the nonfinite label. Then, let us briefly review the main combinations of finite and nonfinite verbal forms in order to better understand the passive voice main features.
Thus, on the one hand, finite verb phrases are characterized because (1) they can occur as the verb phrase of independent clauses (i.e. He was told the truth); (2) have tense distinction (present, past); and (3) generally, there is pe rson concord and number concord between the subject of a clause and the finite verb phrase (i.e. He has been told/They have been told). On the other hand, nonfinite verb phrases are characterized because (1) they contain a non-finite form: an infinitive (speak or to speak ), an –ing participle (speaking) or an –ed participle (spoken/called) as it is the case of the passive voice; and (2) they do not normally occur as the verb phrase of an independent clause (i.e. ‘Having been insulted before, he was more sensitive than ever’).
4.1.2. Main finite vs. nonfinite combinations.
In English there are several types of passive constructions which are a combination of finite vs. nonfinite forms. Morphologically, the genuine passive (‘be’ passive) voice is namely formed by putting the primary auxiliary verb ‘be’ into the same tense as the active verb and adding the past participle of the active verb. Hence we may find different active tenses and their passive equivalents (Thomson & Martinet, 1986): Simple present (ke eps vs. is kept), Present continuous (is keeping vs. is being kept), Simple past (kept vs. was kept), Past continuous (was keeping vs. was being kept), Present perfect (had kept vs. has been kept), Past perfect (had kept vs. had been kept), Future (will keep vs. will be kept), Conditional (would keep vs. would be kept), Perfect conditional (would have kept vs. would have been kept), Present infinitive (to keep vs. to be kept), Perfect infinitive (to have kept vs. to have been kept), Present participle/gerund (keeping vs. being kept) and finally, Perfect participle (having kept vs. having been kept).
As stated above, we shall classify the main types of passive voice namely regarding morphological guidelines although we shall also state their syntactic and semantic features since we shall need to examine these notions later on. Hence, the most common construction within the passive voice includes (Appendix 1):
(1) the primary auxiliary verb ‘be’ + a past participle (i.e. Her sister is called Angie). This type of passive construction is known in sematic terms as ‘be’ passive or ‘auxiliary passive’ and correspond to the name of ‘agentive passive’ since they may or may not include an expressed agent (i.e. Her sister is called Angie vs. Her sister is called Angie by her parents). However, there are other types of passive where the verb ‘to be’ is not included but still convey the meaning of a passive sentence.
(2) We refer to those passive sentences formed by the verbs ‘get’ and ‘become’ + past participle.
the construction ‘get + past participle ’ is known as ‘reflexive passive’ since it describes actions perfomed by ourselves (i.e. I got lost) or ‘perfective passive’ which means that the action is already done (i.e. My brother got beaten by a gang); this construction is usually limited to sentences which have no expressed animate agent (i.e. She got her car repaired) and express the obtaining of that state or new situation in terms of ‘an action already done’ (i.e. Many people got involved in the accident). This type of passive is not used in formal style whereas the ‘be’ passive is, and in informal English it is even less frequent than the ‘be’ passive.
However, the use of this perfective passive is also restricted and not all passive sentences can be constructed with this syntactic structure. Two main uses are to be highlighted: first, when we refer to things that are done unexpectedly, suddenly or by accident (i.e. He got caught smoking) or when we refer to things which we do ‘ourselves’ with a reflexive rather than passive meaning (i.e. I got lost in the middle of the night).
On the other hand, the construction ‘become + past participle’ which is defined as the ‘durative passive’denotes ‘duration’ rather than ‘finished actions’ as the previous passive since it refers to actions in progress from one state to another state (physical or mental) (i.e. We became friends/The news became known to us just one day before we got married). It is also used in informal style and is also less frequent than the ‘be’ passive.
(3) Another type of special passives are those formed by the lexical verb ‘be’ (not the auxiliary) + a past participle which functions as an adjective (i.e. He is worried about the environment). Semantically, they are defined as ‘quasi-passives’ since it is possible to change the past participle for an adjective which is linked to a preposition (i.e. You are responsible for this meeting) or include an intensifier before the past participle (i.e. He was really worried about you).
(4) Moreover, we find other specific verbs which do not express passive meaning at first since they are realized in active structures (i.e. This coffee tastes wonderful/This book reads well/This cloth washes well). Note that no agent is added here and that they are similar to the perfective and durative passive. In fact, Quirk et al. (1990) includes the perfective and durative passive within this type since they meet the syntactic requirements of the subject undergoing the action expressed by the verb with no agent (i.e. This sport centre is becoming more technological).
(5) In addition, we find specific syntactic structures formed by nonfinite forms such as infinitive combinations (which are to be included within the non-agentive passive by Quirk et al). This special type of passive is referred to as the ‘passive infinitive’ since it implies impersonal or general comments on something or someone (i.e. It has been said that Prince Charles is gay), and it is namely realized by the following combinations:
modal auxiliary verb + infinitive. This combination is made passive by using a passive infinitive (i.e. You should tell him vs. You should have told him/He should have been told).
verbs of liking/want ing/wishing + infinitive. They are syntactically arranged as follows: verb + direct/indirect object + infinitive (i.e. He wants someone to take the photograph vs. He wants photographs to be taken). This syntactic structure is usually replaced by: verb + that + subject + should as an alternative to an infinitive construction, which is more formal than the infinitive construction (i.e. She advised that we should keep the gate locked vs. She advised that the gate should be locked). cognition verbs in passive form (say, believe, claim, consider, know, etc) + infinitive usually offer two possible passive forms (It is considered that he is … vs. He is considered to be …). The infinitive construction is the neater of the two and it is chiefly used with ‘to be’ though other infinitives are also used (i.e. He is thought to have relevant information about our report).
After ‘suppose’. This verb in the passive can be followed by the present infinitive of any verb but this construction usually conveys an idea of duty and is not therefore the normal equivalent of ‘suppose’ in the active (i.e. You are supposed to be in Paris vs. He ought to be there). The continuous infinitive can be used after the passive of certain cognition verbs (i.e. believe, know, report, say, suppose, think, etc) (i.e. He is believed to be living abroad).
Infinitives placed after passive verbs are normally full infinitives (i.e. They were seen to go out) except for the verb ‘let’ (i.e. We were let go).
Gerund combinations are also used to express impersonality or general comments with certain verbs (i.e. advise, insist, propose, recommend, suggest, etc).
These verbs are realized in the active form by the combination: verb + gerund + object (i.e. He suggested using a knife) whereas in the passive form they are usually expressed by ‘that + subject + should’ (i.e. He suggested that a knife should be used).
On the other hand, another active structure is ‘it/they + need + gerund’ (i.e. They need taking a holiday) which turns into ‘it/they + need + passive infinitive’ in the passive (i.e. A holiday needs to be taken).
Other gerund combinations are expressed in the passive by the passive gerund (i.e. I remember them taking me to the park vs. I remember being taken to the park).
These verbs are realized in the active form by the combination: On the other hand, another active structure is
Other gerund combinations are expressed in the passive by the (i.e. I remember them taking me to the park vs. I remember being taken to the park).
4.2. On pronunciation: phonological features.
Regarding pronunciation, phonological features describe the sound leve l, that is, consonants, vowels, stress, intonation, and so on. For our purposes, the sound level is described in terms of stress, rhythm and intonation within the passive voice sentence structure since it may help highlight the doer, the action or the agent in a passive voice construction. This aim will be achieved just by using the correct word or sentence stress, rhythm and the right intonation.
It should be borne in mind that the verb phrase is directly related to intonation, rhythm and stress patterns, especially when dealing with auxiliary and lexical verbs within the same structure (primary auxiliaries: He has been working; or primary and modal auxiliaries: She might be injured) or the attitudinal function of intonation to express the speakers’ inner feelings (i.e. It must be him=accusing someone). Therefore, we shall review the main phonological features in order to get an overall view of the relevance of these patterns.
4.2.1. Phonological reduction: weak vs. strong forms.
When dealing with pronunciation within the passive voice, the notions of phonological reduction (weak and strong forms) and that of contracted forms (short and long forms) must be addressed. As we shall see, they are closely related to each other since short forms are pronounced differently from long forms, that is, by means of weak and strong forms respectively. We must not forget that morphological features such as contractions in both speech and writing (i.e. I am vs. I’m worried about you/I was told something really important) give way to phonological changes in the same word or chain of words.
Moreover, it must be borne in mind that short vs. long forms correspond respectively to institutionalized simplified forms and full forms both in speech and writing and weak vs. strong forms are respectively used in the speech chain when pronounced at high speed and when pronounced clearly and separately. Yet, these notions are involved in the affirmative, negative and interrogative form of the passive voice.
4.2.2. Stress on verbal combinations.
Regarding the stress function within a verbal group which is formed by an auxiliary verb + past participle (Alcaraz, 1976), we distinguish several combinations. In general, word stress is placed on the first auxiliary and, sometimes, on the second auxiliary when we are dealing with modal + primary auxiliary. For instance, in a sentence like ‘This wooden table has been made by Jack ’, we may highlight the fact that it was Jack and not Tom who made the table just by giving the structure a falling-rising intonation together with the main stress on Jack .But let us examine each combination and the placing of stress.
In general terms , when the auxiliary verb is combined with a second auxiliary (been or being), the secondary stress falls on them (i.e. He has been working hard; you were being followed; It is being painted). Secondly, when a modal auxiliary verb is followed by ‘be’, the secondary stress falls on the modal verb (i.e. They could be wounded; they should be sold; It may be closed). The third group implies the combination of ‘shall, will, must, can, should, would’ + ‘be’, whereby the secondary stress falls on ‘be’ (i.e. They will be offered it; They will be burnt; You can be fired). Finally, when we find two nuclei linked by the particle ‘to’ (i.e. They have been told to go there), both of them will be stressed (i.e. You are obliged to listen; He is believed to be hiding there).
4.2.3. Intonation patterns: main functions.
Following Alcaraz (1976), intonation is the most difficult suprasegmental level to be systematically defined since it conveys not only general meaning (i.e. questions, statements, doubts, and so on ) but also connotative features, such as personal and regional melodic characteristics, expressive signals of affection, happiness, and so on, and the speakers’ mental attitude, namely achieved by the four main levels of phonetic pitch in English: extra high, high, middle, and low.
The function of pitch does not change the fundamental meaning of the word itself. Rather, it reflects the discourse context within which a word occurs. For instance, the one -word utterance “Jack?”, produced with a rising pitch contour from middle to high, could signify a question: “Do you mean this table was made by Jack ?” (Celce-Murcia 2001).
Intonation is said to perform several unique functions, such as to emphasize a word or utterance, to mark grammatical types of sentences, to express the speaker’s attitude, and to highlight new information in a sentence (active vs. passive voice). Following two of the most relevant figures in this field, O’Connor and Arnold (1973), intonation would be defined, first, as meaningful since it conveys denotative and connotative meanings; secondly, as systematic , since we are aware of the existence of common intonation units; and finally, as characteristic feature of individuals, groups, and regional types.
As we shall see, the pattern of intonation used will be closely related to the language function of the sentence and its grammatical category. The term intonation unit describes a segment of speech but refers also to the fact that this unit of speech has its own intonation contour or pitch pattern, and typically contains one prominent element. We must note that a single utterance or sentence may include several intonation units, each with its own prominent element and contour (i.e. It is said that Mary got married). In this sentence, for instance, intonation is said to perform an important conversation management function, with the speaker being able to subtly signal to the interlocutor to pay particular attention to a piece of highlighted information (Celce-Murcia 2001).
In this section we shall deal with the different functions of intonation that will lead us to establish and examine the different pitch patterns. Intonation is said to function in order to express whether a speaker is ready, to signal that a response is desired, unnecessary, or unwanted, and to differenciate normal information from contrastive or expressive intentions.
In fact, the meaning of this English utterance, that is, the information it conveys to a listener, derives not only from its changing sound pattern and the contrastive accentual prominences, but also from associated variations of pitch as we have already referred to. In fact, the discourse context generally influences which stressed word in a given utterance receives prominence, and therefore, the word the speaker wishes to highlight.
Following Celce-Murcia (2001) there are several circumstances governing the placement of prominence which are closely related to the main functions of intonation. Had we classified these circumstances following Gimson’s distribution (1980), we would have distinguished between accentual and non-accentual functions, and therefore, we would have included (1) to place emphatic stress within the accentual function, and (2) to highlight new information, (3) to express emotions and attitudes, and (4) grammatical patterns within the non-accentual functions of intonation.
4.3. On function: syntactic features.
When dealing with the syntactic function, we shall continue on offering the reader a general introduction to the structure of sentences regarding some previous considerations which are closely related to the notion of the structure of the passive voice and which prove to be relevant in our analysis. So we shall address the main syntactic features of the passive voice by reviewing (1) the structure of phrase, sentence and clause since the different sentence elements of the passive voice may be represented by any of them; (2) the notions of simple and complex phrases in order to get to (3) the passive verb phrase structure; then we shall review the basis of the structure of the sentence through (3) a functional description of its main syntactic constructions and (4): a categorial description in terms of sentence elements; and therefore, (5) the sentence structure in terms of word order and the changes produced from the change of active into passive voice. Moreover, we shall review those (6) particular cases where syntax plays an important role.
4.3.1. Phrase, sentence and clause structure.
The sentence has traditionally been described as the largest unit of grammatical description, since it does not function in the structure of a unit higher than itself. Units are not always consistently composed of units of the next lowest rank. Quite frequently, a unit of a given rank functions as a constituent of a unit of the same rank or even of a unit which is one step lower down the rankscale. We refer to two further possibilities within sentence formation: first, when a sentence can function in the structure of another sentence, that is in the structure of a unit of the same rank; and secondly, when a sentence can function in the structure of a phrase, that is in the structure of a unit lower than itself” (Aarts, 1988).
We refer to the distinction between phrase, sentence and clause structure at a functional level where they will function first, in terms of single units of syntactic description within the structure of the phrase (noun phrase and verb phrase) and second, in terms of larger units as part of the structure of the sentence (subject, predicate and agent) or embedded in the sentence structure, that is, clauses (subordinate noun clauses or prepositional clauses –agent-). In our present study, it is relevant to distinguish between these three notions since the passive voice is reflected in each of them in their structure as in the sentence ‘Your little boy broke the back door window” (active) vs. ‘The back door window was broken by your little boy’.
For instance, the phrase structure is defined as a constituent which can be identified on the basis of the word class membership of at least one of its constituent words (‘head’ of the phrase) which may represent the subject (i.e. Your little boy) in the active sentence and the agent as a prepositional phrase (by your little boy) in the passive. Note how only one of its constituents is a preposition and therefore, its relation is not one of subordination but one of government. Similarly, we note the function of the verb phrase affects the whole phrase causing serious harm to syntactic structure (i.e. broke vs. was broken) whereas the object (i.e. the back door window) in the active sentence and the subject (The back door window) in the passive one stays with no changes at all, except for the semantic ones (emphasis on the fact that the back door window is broken, and not on the doer of the action).
Regarding the difference between sentence and clause syntactic differences, we must say that the sentence is actually identifiable on the basis of the relations holding among its immediate constituents (subject, predicate, direct/indirect object, agent, adverbial). Yet, “the sentence is placed at the other extreme of the rank scale and regarded as the largest unit of grammatical description since it does not function in the structure of a unit higher than itself” (Aarts, 1988:79).
Now we are ready to understand the duality sentence vs. clause by means of two further possibilities. First, when a sentence functions in the structure of another sentence of the same rank (i.e. It is said that he is quite loyal) it is said to be a ‘sentence’ whereas when a sentence functions in the structure of a phrase, that is in the structure of a unit lower than itself (i.e. as postmodifier: the man who is loyal is always betrayed) it is said to be a ‘clause’. Hence, when sentences are embedded in the structure of other sentences or in the structure of phrases we call them ‘clauses’, which usually corresponds to the notions of subordination (or embedding) and coordination. Note that clauses can have other clauses embedded in them.
4.3.2. Simple and complex verb phrases.
But, let us focus on some syntactic features of simple and complex verb phrases with respect to the passive voice. For instance, the simple finite verb phrase consists of only one word without ellipsis whereas the complex one consists of two or more words. When dealing with verb phrase in the passive form, we deal with finite and nonfinite verbal forms, that is, combining together to form the modal, perfective, progressive and passive auxiliaries which follow a strict order in the complex verb phrase.
It should be borne in mind that, while modal auxiliary verbs (or modals) only have a unique set of finite forms in the auxiliary function, the primary verbs be, have and do have both finite and nonfinite verbal forms and, therefore, they may function as lexical and auxiliary verbs, having then other auxiliary functions such as (1) perfective forms with the auxiliary ‘have’ (i.e. He has gone, he must have gone); (2) progressive forms with the verb ‘be’ (i.e. He is talking too loud) and (3) passive forms with the verb ‘be’ (i.e. He was visited ). However, although the above order is strictly followed, we find some exceptions, such as with (4) modal + progressive (i.e. may be visiting); (5) perfect + passive (i.e. has been built); and (6) modal + passive (i.e. may be visited).
4.3.3. The verb phrase structure.
Regarding present syntactic features of the verb phrase structure in the passive voice, Aarts (1988) states that the verbal phrase may be constituted by a sequence of one or more verbs where the maximum number of verbal forms is five, since an auxiliary verb cannot stand on its own since it must be followed by a lexical verb (i.e. He may be a postman ) except in short answers (i.e. Yes, he may (be). In the verb phrase, the passive follows the structure auxiliary ‘be’ + the –ed participle of the main verb (i.e. takes-is taken, has taken-has been taken, may be taking-may be being taken).
Note that this type of construction is achieved by means of maximum four auxiliaries + a lexical verb (i.e. the e-mail was sent, someone was sending it, anyone can send it, it may be sent, it has been being sent, it may have been being sent -this latter is rare –) depending on the semantic feature we intend to express, that is, tense (verbal tense), aspect (progressive or perfect), mood (indicative, subjunctive, imperative) or voice (active or passive).
4.3.4. A categorial description: sentence constituents.
Regarding a categorial description of the passive voice in terms of sentence constituents, we shall provide information about the categories to which their constituents belong since sentences can also be described in terms of the phrases of which they are made up (i.e. category: noun/noun phrase=function: object/subject). The main constituents we find in a sentence structure are (1) subject (2) predicate (i.e. The moon rose), and adverbial constituents (i.e. The moon was photographed by John) among which we shall include (3) the agent. These three elements are function- labels denoting the relation between the constituents bearing these labels and the sentence as a whole. Note that we shall review them in the active form since in subsequent sections we shall address the main changes from the active form to the passive form.
Further on, within the predicate we find (a) predicator and (b) complement. Moreover, within the latter one, we find different elements:
1. direct object (i.e. Many students enjoyed the concert=NP -VP-NP); the direct object may be a noun (i.e. I gave him some fruit ) or a noun phrase (i.e. They’ve sold their car); a bare infinitive (i.e. He dared not speak to her) or a ‘to-infinitive’ (i.e. He didn’t want to die); an – ing form (i.e. I like swimming); or a subordinate clause (i.e. I saw him do it).
2. indirect object (i.e. The firm has sent him an e-mail=NP-VP-NP-NP); the indirect object may be a pronoun (i.e. He gave him a book); a noun (i.e. He gave Peter a book); or a noun phrase (i.e. He gave my brother a book).
3. benefactive object (i.e. My boss has bought his daughter a flat=NP -VP-NP-NP); this type of object is similar to the indirect object.
4. subject attribute (i.e. That solutions seems easy=NP -VP-Adj.P); with verbs such as ‘to be, appear, lie, look, feel, remain, seem, smell, taste, sound, stay, stand, and so on’ or ‘become, fall, get, go, grow, turn’, we may add: a noun or noun phrase (i.e. He became a lawyer; she’s a very good nurse); an adverb or adverbial phrase (i.e. She’s there; she is in Berlin); a subordinate nominal clause (i.e. It seems that we are wrong; the truth is that nobody likes you).
5. object attribute (i.e. Susanne will make her husband very happy=NP-VP-NP-Adj.P); the object attribute may be: an adjective (i.e. You’ll make me angry; they left it empty; serve me the beer cold) or a participle (i.e. I had the car repaired; I got dressed); or a noun (i.e. They elected him Minister) or a noun phrase (i.e. He was appointed Foreign Minister).
6. and predic ator complement (i.e. This street reminds me of New York =NP -VP-NP-Prep.P).
Some verb s such as ‘say, ask, explain, cost, buy, cook, get, give, and so on’ may be formed with certain prepositions when accompanying the indirect object at the end of the sentence (i.e. I said it to him; I bought a present for him).
4.3.5. A functional description: main syntactic functions.
We also need a functional description because a description of a sentence in terms of its constitutent phrases is obviously inadequate because many constructions consist of identical strings of phrases (NP-VP-NP-NP) as it is the case of these two sentences “My boss bought her lover a flat” and The firm has offered me a job”, being the former a Subject-Predicate -Benefactive Object-Direct Object type, and the latter a Subject-Predicate-Indirect Object + Direct Object type, respectively.
So we shall specify the functions of the different constituents we find in a sentence structure in a similar way to categorial description (i.e. subject + predicate (predicator; complement –direct object, indirect object, subject attribute, object attribute, etc) + adverbial) where subject and predicate are the two obligatory parts of the sentence. Thus:
1. The function of subject: it may be attributed to a constituent of a sentence on the basis of the following criteria: (a) position (precedes the verb phrase in statements and questions, and follows the first word of the verb phrase in yes/no questions, questions introduced by ‘when, where, why, how and their compounds in –ever’ and in questions introduced by ‘who(m), whose, what, which and their compound in –ever’; (b) concord (it is associated with that constituent which accounts for the presence of a sibilant suffix in the verb phrase (i.e. Peter hates me) or with plural constituents (i.e. Boys love adventure); (c) passivization, since in passive sentences it occurs in the by-phrase (i.e. The pope excommunicated the Cardinal vs. The Cardinal was excommunicated by the pope); (d) repetition in tag-questions, where the subject is pronominalized (i.e. Peter hates cats, doesn’t he?).
2. The function of predicate is the other obligatory part of the sentence. It consists of two internal parts: predicator or complement, where the former is obligatory and the second is optional (i.e. Birds sing vs. Birds sing at night). Let us concentrate on complements, which can be segmented into six types (already mentioned above): (1) direct object which follows immediately a verb phrase; the indirect object, which may be substituted by a to-phrase following the direct object; benefactive object, which resembles the direct object and precedes immediately the direct object; the subject attribute after certain verbs such as copula verbs; the object attribute, formed by two noun phrases (indirect + direct object); and predicator complement, which makes reference to those constituents that obligatorily complement the verb.
3. The adverbial function is associated with a constituent which occupies a position on the same level as the subject and predicate constituents (prepositions, noun phrases, adverbs). They have two main features: they are optional and they are movable (it is here where the agent constituent is included).
With the exception of the function predicator, which is invariably realized by a verb phrase, sentence functions can be realized in a variety of ways. Thus the functions subject and direct object can be realized by noun phrases (John; last week) but also, for example, by finite and non-finite clauses, as in “That the men are unwilling to compromise is obvious” and “I regret being unable to come tonight” (Aarts, 1988).
4.3.6. Main syntactic changes from active to passive voice.
In the verb phrase, the passive follows the structure auxiliary ‘be’ + the –ed participle of the main verb (i.e. takes-is taken, has taken-has been taken, may be taking -may be being taken). At a clause level, changing from active to passive has the following results: first, the active subject becomes the passive agent; second, the active object becomes the passive subject; and finally, the preposition ‘by’ is to be placed before the agent (i.e. Picasso painted the Guernica=the Guernica was painted by Picasso).
Note that this prepositional phrase (agent by-phrase) is an optional element and is commonly omitted when it is an indefinite pronoun (somebody), personal pronouns (I, you, he) or general nouns (people, everybody). Moreover, sometimes the agent is implicitly understood in the verb (arrest=the police; correct=the teacher; report=a journalist, etc).
Word order is closely related to the way verbs and particles are combined and therefore, to the notion of sentence structure.. However, word order is not the only factor that determines, but the way words co-occur together and their varying degrees of exclusivity”. We refer to “the tendency of two or more words to co-occur in discourse” (Schmidt, 2000:76) , which refers to the relevant role of the speaker when uttering a sentence in terms of emphasis or highlighting important or new information.. These degrees of exclusivity refer to specific types of collocations which, in our case, refer to the way sentence elements may be combined, for instance, obligatory or optional elements.
Following Quirk et al. (1973) “the order in which the elements appear is common but by no means fixed. It is a principle of sentence organization that what is contextually familiar or ‘given’ information comes relatively early, while the part which needs to be stressed or which seems to convey the greatest information is given the special prominenc e of ‘end-focus’. Therefore, they suggest the following word order: subject + predicator + complement (OI+OD) + adverbials (process-place-time).
4.3.7. Particular cases: specific syntactic patterns.
Within the last section, we shall deal with particular cases where syntactic patterns are affected by certain types of constraints such as the choice of transitive vs. intransitive verb, the choice between subject and object, the use of prepositions within phrasal verb patterns and so on.
First of all, we shall analyse the choice between transitive vs. intransitive verbs. In this case, we face the case of a verb with two objects, usually direct and indirect objects (i.e. give, send, tell, show, buy, promise, pay, refuse, offer, etc). When these verbs are used in the passive, we could have two passive forms (i.e. She was given a bulldog vs. A bulldog was given to her. Note that the first sentence, where the indirect object becomes the subject of the passive verb, is much more usual than the one that highlights the direct object.
However, not all sentences with a transitive verb and a direct object can be made in the passive form. There are certain verbs which have no corresponding passive change. For instance, (a) the verb ‘have’ which has a durative nuance and therefore no passive equivalent (i.e. I have a gold watch vs. NOT: a gold watch is had by me). However, with perfective association, the passive is possible in informal style (i.e. You have been cheated); (b) the verbs ‘resemble, fit, lack, suit, etc’ (i. e. He resembles his grandfather vs. NOT his grandfather is resembled by him); (c) the verb ‘marry’ cannot occur in the passive when it is used in the sense ‘take as one’s wedded wife (or husband) (i.e. She married a Frenchman). However, we can use it with the perfective ‘get’ (i.e. She got married); (d) other particular cases are verbs which take the object releated in content to them (i.e. smile, laugh, stare, etc) (i.e. She smiled a curious smile/She laughed a sad laugh); and finally (e) verbs which inclu de a reflexive pronoun as a direct object or a reciprocal pronoun meaning ‘each other’ (i.e. She is dressing herself/ I promise myself).
Secondly, verbs with the syntactic construction ‘verb + object + infinitive’ in the active form that can be made passiv e. Often, sentences like these cannot be made in the passive form because of their structure (i.e. Everybody wanted Mary to buy that house). However, we find some exceptions with (a) verbs such as ‘ask, order, allow, advise, forbid, mean, expect, request, require, teach and so on (i.e. I was allowed to send him a present); (b) verbs denoting ‘understanding’ (i.e. feel, presume, believe, say, understand, etc) (i.e.He’s said to be extremely rich); and (c) verbs of perception (i.e. hear, help, make, see, touch, etc) (i.e. He was seen with his lover).
Third, sentences with object complements, that is, with the active structure ‘verb + object + object complement’ (i.e. All of them considered him a loyal person). Most of these structures can become passive (i.e. He was considered (to be) a loyal person).
Fourth, sentences with clause objects. As stated before, the subject or the object of a sentence may be or contain a clause in the active form (i.e. People believed that aliens exist). Then, passive sentences can be made with that- or whether- clauses as subject with the structure ‘It is + past participle + that + clause’ (i.e. It is said that aliens exist).
Fifth, we shall mention the case in which prepositions may be linked to the past participle in the passive sentence and therefore, be misunderstood by the agent. When past participles are used as adjectives, other prepositions may introduce the agent (i.e. She was frightened by a spider on her shoulder vs. She has always been terribly frightened of spiders). Note that when the structure ‘verb + preposition + object combination’ is put into the passive, the preposition will remain immediately after the verb (i.e. They threw away the old newspapers vs. The old newspapers were thrown away) (Thomson & Martinet, 1986).
Next, the particular case of phrasal or prepositional verbs, which can often occur in the passive but not so freely as in the active form (i.e. This sofa is not to be sat on). It is possible to include the preposition when this is closely associated to the verb as part of it (i.e. The doctor has been sent for; This is the case she will have to deal with).
Finally, just mention the case of other compound verbs under the syntactic construction ‘to be + past participle + noun + preposition’ whereby all the structure is regarded to as a whole unit (i.e. He was made fun of). We may also find an alternative construction (i.e. Undue advantage was taken of his quietness).
4.4. On semantics: meaning.
In this section we shall briefly mention the function of semantics within the duality active vs. passive voice, that is, the meaning conveyed by the speaker when uttering a sentence by a wide range of means, that is, specific syntactic patterns, the process of fronting (passive voice) in order to highlight important information at the beginning of the sentence or by means of stress and intonation patterns.
It must be borne in mind that meaning and use are closely interrelated to syntax since they are used in the English language to form complex structures such as perfective, progressive and passive forms. Therefore, we may find different types of passive voice depending on semantic features. Some of them will express the passive voice literally while others will not. For instance, agentive passive, which literally show the agent of the action or not (i.e.The Christmas tree was sent by my grandfather); non-agentive passive, which is realized by active verbs with passive meaning (i.e. This book reads well); reflexive passive, to express that the action is done by ourselves (i.e. I got dressed in a minute); durative passive, which means that the action is/was in progress (i.e. They became friends in one day); quasi-passive, to express facts related to adjectives more than to past participles (i.e. He was really interested in video games); infinitive passive, which expresses impersonal and general comments (i.e. It is thought that Lady Di was killed) as well as the gerund passive, which expresses impersonal comments with active/passive verbs (i.e. A crying child/He recommended using a mobile phone).
As stated in our analysis of the passive voice, we may find all the five types within two co- occurrence patterns in the English verb phrase where the auxiliary ‘be’ is used for the use of passive voice (i.e. A car was bought by John) in combination with a lexical verb. Thus, we may also find the combination of two auxiliaries (i.e. may have bought, may be buying, may be bought, has been buying, has been bought, is being bought); with three auxiliaries (i.e. may have been buyin g, may have been bought, may be being bought, has been being bought); and finally, with four auxiliaries + lexical verb (i.e. may have been being bought) although this type is quite rare.
4.5. On use: everyday usage and idiomatic expressions.
However, we must link the semantic field to the pragmatic one in order to link meaning with use since speakers utter their sentences with the aim of transmitting emphasis, important information, confirmation and so on. In sentences where there is a choice between the active and passive, the active is the norm. Therefore, we shall list the main uses of the passive voice regarding everyday usage and idiomatic expressions which are used by speakers or writers for the following reasons (Thomson & Martinet, 1986):
When it is not necessary to mention the doer of the action as it is obvious who he is or it is self-evident from the context (i.e. Your hand will be X-rayed; The streets are swept every day).
When the active subject is unknown or cannot easily be stated, that is, we do not know, or do not know exactly, or have forgotten who did the action (i.e. The Prime Minister was murdered last year; My car has been moved!).
When we are more interested in the action than the person who did the action that is, we do not want to mention the active subject for a special reason, tact, or feelings (i.e. The house next door has been bought). In more informal English we could use the indefinite pronoun ‘they’ + an active verb (i.e. They are building a new library = A new library is being built).
When the subject of the active verb would be ‘people’ (i.e. He is suspected of receiving stolen goods = People suspect of him to be receiving stolen goods).
When the subject of the active sentence would be the indefinite pronoun ‘one’ (i.e. One can see this sort of advertisement everywhere = This sort of advertisement is seen everywhere). Note that in colloquial speech we use the indefinite pronoun ‘you’ and an active verb (i.e. You see this sort of advertisement everywhere), but more formal English requires ‘one + active verb’ or the more usual passive form.
The passive may be used to avoid an awkward or ungrammatical sentence. This is usually done by avoiding a change of subject (i.e. When we arrived home, she gave him a present) since it would be better expressed (i.e. When he arrived home, he was given a present).
The passive is sometimes preferred for psychological reasons. A speaker may use it to disclaim responsability for disagreeable announcements (i.e. EMPLOYEE: New goods will have to be exported). The speaker may know who performed the action but wish to avoid giving the name.
For the ‘have + object + past participle construction’ or ‘the causative ‘have’ with perfective meaning (i.e. I had/got the car repaired) in order to talk colloquially to replace a passive verb.
End-focus. We often prefer to put longer expressions at the end of a sentence and therefore we choose the passive voice (i.e. Mary’s child annoyed me = I was annoyed by Mary’s child).
A shift of meaning may imply a shift of voice in verb phrases containing auxiliaries that have more than one meaning (i.e. Jim can’t do it = It can’t be done by Jim).
For stylistic use, since passives are very common in language for specific purposes, that is, scientific, literary, military, descriptive, informative writing and so on.
5. EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS.
The different verbal paradigms dealt with in this study are so relevant to the learning of a foreign language since differences between the passive and active voice of the learner’s native language (L1) and that of the foreign language (L2) may lead to several problems, such as the incorrect use of both of them, especially because of the syntactic, morphological, semantic and pragmatic processes implied in these categories.
This study has looked at the structure of the passive voice in terms of form and function and the relevance of its usage in everyday speech. This study is mainly intended for teachers to help Spanish-speaking students establish a relative similarity between the two languages that would find it useful for communicating in the European framework we are living in nowadays.
According to Thomson & Martinet (1986), a European student may find especially troublesome the use of the passive voice, and particularly when communicating in English since, first, he has to know the specific constructions a verb needs or not and, second, which verbs to use when certain situations are given depending on the context (new information, emphasis, end-focus, etc) and on top of that, how to place sentence constituents in this type of structures.
This choice becomes problematic for our Spanish students when they deal wit h the wide range of assive types and their semantic offer. For instance, the most common mistakes for Spanish students, both at ESO and Bachillerato level, is to construct incorrect structures of passive forms or to write the agent with a subject pronoun instead of an object pronoun. Often, they make serious grammatical mistakes.
It has been suggested that a methodology grounded in part in the application of explicit linguistic knowledge enhances the second language learning process. In the Spanish curriculum (B.O.E. 2002), the use of the passive voice is envisaged in the last year of ESO (fourth grade) to talk about instructions or advices, up to higher stages of Bachillerato, towards more complex verbal forms, such as passive and gerund infinitive for impersonal and general comments and above all, idiomatic expressions in certain modal idioms.
So, the importance of how to handle these modal verbs cannot be understated since you can communicate but not successfully because of the relevant distinction of meaning in relation to the speaker’s attitude. Current communicative methods foster the ‘teaching’ of this kind of specific linguistic information to help students recognize the main differences with the L2 words. Learners cannot do it all on their own. Language learners, even 2nd year Bachillerato students, do not automatically recognize similiarities which seem obvious to teachers; learners need to have these associations brought to their attention.
So far, we have attempted in this discussion to provide a broad account of the passive voice by means of form, function and use within verb phrase morphology, phonology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics in order to set it up within the linguistic theory, going through the localization of basic and specific syntactic structures, to a broad presentation of the main grammatical categories involved in it. We hope students are able to understand the relevance of handling correctly the expression of the passive voice to successfully communicate in everyday life.
6. CONCLUSION.
All in all, although the notion of passive voice may appear simple and straightforward, it implies a broad description of the auxiliary and lexical verb structure in terms of form, function and use so as to get to the paradigms of morphology, phonology, syntax, semantics and use which, combined, give way to the study we have presented here. The appropriate answer suitable for students and teachers, may be so simple if we are dealing with ESO students, using simple modal verbs or so complex if we are dealing with Bachillerato students, who must be able to handle more complex verb structures.
So far, in this study we have attempted to take a fairly broad view of auxiliary verbs since we are also assuming that there is an intrinsic connexion between its learning and successful communication. Yet, we have provided a descriptive account of Unit 27 dealing with The Passive Voice whose main aim was to introduce the student to the different paradigms that shape the whole set of verbal forms in English regarding their form, function and main uses.
In fact, the correct expression of the passive voice is currently considered to be a central element in communicative competence and in the acquisition of a second language since students must be able to use and distinguish these forms in their everyday life in many different situations. As stated before, the teaching of them comprises four major components in our educational curriculum: phonology, grammar, lexicon, and semantics, out of which we get five major levels: phonological, morphological and syntactic, lexical, and semantic.
Therefore, it is a fact that students must be able to handle the four levels in communicative competence in order to be effectively and highly communicative in the classroom and in real life situations, now we are part of the European Union. The expression of the se verbal paradigms in form, function and main uses, proves highly frequent in our everyday speech, and consequently, we must encourage our students to have a good managing of it.
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
– Aarts, F., and J. Aarts. 1988. English Syntactic Structures. Functions & Categories in Sentence Analysis. Prentice Hall Europe.
– Alcaraz, E., and B. Moody. 1976. Fonética inglesa para españoles. Teoría y práctica (2nd ed.). Gráficas
Díaz. Alicante.
– B.O.E. RD Nº 112/2002, de 13 de septiembre por el que se establece el currículo de la Educación
Secundaria Obligatoria/Bachillerato en la Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia.
– Bolton, D. And N. Goodey. 1997. Grammar Practice in Context . Richmond Publishing.
– Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D., and M. Goodwin. 2001. Teaching Pronunciation, A Reference for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge University Press.
– Council of Europe (1998) Modern Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. A Common European
Framework of reference.
– Eastwood, J. 1999. Oxford Practice in Grammar. Oxford University Press.
– Greenbaum, S. and R. Quirk. 1990. A Student’s Grammar of the English Language. Longman Group UK Limited.
– Greenbaum, S. 2000. The Oxford Reference Grammar. Edited by Edmund Weiner. Oxford University Press.
– Huddleston, R. and G.K. Pullum. 2002. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge
University Press.
– Nelson, G. 2001. English: An Essential Grammar. London. Routledge.
– Quirk, R & S. Greenbaum. 1973. A University Grammar of English. Longman.
– Sánchez Benedito, F. 1975. Gramática Inglesa . Editorial Alhambra.
– Thomson, A.J. and A.V. Martinet. 1986. A Practical English Grammar. Oxford University Press.
8. APPENDIX
Appendix 1. Types of passive (Thomson & Martinet, 1986).
|
PASSIVE TYPES |
morphologically |
syntactically |
semantically |
|
First type |
Primary auxiliary ‘be’ + past participle |
Be + past participle + (agent) |
‘be’ passive auxiliary passive agentive passive |
|
Second type |
(a) Lexical verb ‘get’ + past participle (b) Lexical verb ‘become’ + past participle |
(a) Get + past participle/adjective (b) Become + past participle |
(a) Reflexive passive (things we do ourselves) or Perfective passive (finished action) (b) Durative passive (action in progress) |
|
Third type |
Lexical verb ‘be’ + past participle/adjective |
‘be’ + (intensifier) + past participle/adjective (+ preposition) |
Quasi-passive |
|
Fourth type |
(a) lexical verbs in active form |
(a) subject + taste/read/wash + (no agent) |
Non-agentive passive |
|
Fifth type |
(a) auxiliary verb + infinitive combinations (b) lexical verb + gerund combinations |
(i) Modal auxiliary/ passive verbs+ infinitive (perfect or passive) + (no agent) (ii) verbs of liking + object + infinitive (iii) cognition verbs in the passive + infinitive + that + sentence (i) verb + gerund + object (active) vs. ‘that + subject + should’ (passive). (ii) ‘it/they + need + gerund’ (active) vs. ‘it/they + need + (passive). (iii) passive gerund |
(a) Passive infinitive (b) Passive gerund |