§67. The use of the Present and Past Continuous Passive is parallel to the use of the corresponding active forms.

e-g. What sort of research is being done, and who is doing it?

He lost his temper and said he was always being made to do

everything he didn't want to.

The use of the Perfect passive forms is also parallel to the cor- responding active forms.

e.g. You can see that this glass has been used.

"Why did you come?" "I've been turned out of the place where I live."

Ever since I came into this silly house I have been made to look like a fool.

Nancy looked displeased and told me she had been sent to fetch the breakfast tray.

All of a sudden he realized the full force of what he had been told.

I suspected that I had been followed and watched since I ar- rived in London.

Note 1. As has been mentioned before, the Future Perfect is not of frequent occurrence in the active. In the passive its use is quite uncommon.

Note 2. The sentences The work is finished and The work has been finished are somewhat similar in meaning. Yet there is a difference between them: the former serves to express a state in the present which is the result of the previously accom- plished action; the latter denotes the action proper which is accomplished by the present moment.

The Choice of the Passive Construction

§ 68. The passive is not the reverse of the active. The two con- structions are not parallel in their use and serve different purposes.

As a general rule, the passive construction is used when there is no need to mention the agent of the action because it is either easily understood from the situation or context (a), or because it is self-evident (b), or because it happens to be any number of uni- dentified people (c).

e.g. a) Roger was invited to dinner at their house every Sunday

(by the people living in the house).

The ambulance arrived and she was taken to hospital (by the ambulance).

2. Her two brothers were killed in the war. The telegram had been delivered in time. He was arrested in a hotel.

3. In my young days it was considered bad manners to take

medicines with one's meals. It was on a par with blow ing your nose at the dinner table.

It just wasn't done. In industry coal is now used much less than before.

Occasionally the passive is used when the agent of the action is not known or kept secret for some reason.

e.g. All my books were totally disarranged in ray absence and now I can't find the book I want.

At night his car was broken into and a few things were stolen from it.

I was told that you were getting a divorce from your husband.

As there is no need to mention the agent of the action in the above cases, the Passive Voice makes it possible to shift the focus of attention onto other parts of the sentence.

Although there is usually no mention of the agent of the ac- tion in passive constructions, it sometimes becomes necessary to indicate the doer and then a by-phrase is used.

e.g. Other possibilities were talked of by some of my colleagues.

In this case a corresponding active construction is possible, e.g. Some of my colleagues talked of other possibilities.

However, there appears to be a difference between the two sen- tences which lies in the fact that in the active construction it is the words other possibilities that are made the centre of communication, and in the passive construction the focus is shifted to some of my colleagues. (End position is generally connected with a stronger stress and thus a word is made more prominent in this case.) The passive may be called a word-order device here. As logical stress is laid on two different parts of the sentence in the active and in the passive, the two constructions cannot be regarded as interchange- able. As has been earlier said, they serve different purposes.

The following examples illustrate the use of passive construc- tions in which stress is laid on the doer of the action:

e-g- You can't go wrong if you are advised by me. Auntie Alice is

always right.

His pleasant colour was heightened by exercise. But has your boy's conduct ever been influenced by your rea- sons?

With certain verbs the passive is impossible without the men- tion of the agent as the sentence would be meaningless without it. This is the case with such verbs as to accent, to accompany, to at tend, to attract, to bring about, to characterize, to cause, to con front, to control, to enhance, to follow, to govern, to join, to influ ence, to mark, to overtake, to rule, to seize, to set off, to visit and some others.

e.g. The answer was followed by an impressive silence.

He was accompanied by his father who was very nervous.

He is very easily influenced by the ideas of anyone whom he meets.

Then my attention was caught by the noise coming from be- hind the fence.

Reasons for the Frequent Occurrence of the Passive