23)The passive voice: types of passive constructions in English, their functions. Delimitation between the verb in the passive voice & the compound nominal predicate.

Voice is a gram. category of the verb denoting the relationship between the action expressed by the verb and the person/non-person denoted by the subject of the sentence (construction). The PV is formed by means of the auxiliary verb be in the required tense-aspect form and the participle II of the notional verb. We ← were helped by our friends.

USES OF THE PV

When: the agent is unknowable: The Earth was formed millions of years ago;

the agent is redundant: Oranges are grown in California;

the speaker wants to emphasize the receiver or result of the action: Six people were killed by the tornado.

when the speaker wants to make a statement sound objective without revealing the source of information: The best results are achieved when the plants are watered regularly;

the speaker wants to be tactful or evasive by not mentioning the agent: Mafia is believed to be very influential in this country.

Types of Passive Constructions depend upon the type of the object of the active sentence.

The Direct Passive The direct object is used after transitive verbs without any preposition. It denotes a person or thing directly affected by the action of the verb. I helped my brother in his work.

There are a few English verbs which can have two direct objects. I asked him his name. Forgive me this question.

She taught them French.

The DP is a part of 2 widely used constructions:

a) it forms the basis of the complex subject He was seen talking to the Minister.

b) constructions with a formal ‘it’ as subject may also contain the passive of verbs denoting mental and physical perceptions, suggestions, order, request, decision, as well as verbs of saying. Such constructions are followed by a clause introduced by a conjunction that: It was known that she would not tolerate any criticism.

Restrictions to the application of the DP.

a) due to the nature of the DP. The passive construction is impossible, when the direct object is expressed by:

1) an infinitive We arranged to meet at five o’clock.

2) a clause I saw that he knew about it.

3) a reflexive pronoun or a noun with a possessive pronoun referring to the same person as the subject of the sentence He hurt himself. He cut his finger.

b) the verb and the direct object are so closely connected, that they form a set phrase and cannot be separated (to keep one’s word, to lose one’s patience, to take alarm etc). However, some phrases of this kind admit a passive construction (to take care, to take no notice, to pay attention, to take responsibility). In his school a great deal of attention is paid to maths.

c) in addition to intransitive verbs, some transitive verbs are not used in the passive, at least in certain uses:

The boy resembles his father. The hat suits (becomes) you. The coat does not fit you. He has (possesses) a sense of humour. He lacks confidence. The place holds 500 people.

The Indirect Passive If the indirect object becomes the subject of the passive construction, we speak about the indirect passive. The Indirect object denotes a living being to whom the action of the verb is directed. It usually expresses the addressee of the action expressed by a transitive verb or sometimes intransitive verb. She gave him a book to read.

There is a number of verbs in English which take two objects – direct and indirect. The most frequently used are to give, to grant, to leave, to lend, to offer, to pay, to promise, to send, to show, to tell. These verbs may have two passive constructions.

a) the DP When I came to the office a telegram was given to me.

b) the indirect passive When I came to the office I was given a telegram.

The IndP is found with set phrases containing the verbs to give/to grant followed by a noun.

I was given a chance to explain. He’d been granted leave of absence from his work.

The Prepositional Passive

Verbs which require a prepositional object in the active, can be also used in the passive. In this case the subject of the passive construction corresponds to the prepositional object. The preposition retains its place after the verb. This construction may be called the Prepositional Passive. The doctor was sent for. He was highly thought of.

The PP is frequent in English, but its application is restricted:

1) though it may be formed from any verb which takes a prepositional object, the most common are:

a) verbs of speaking The book was commented on by the newspapers.

b) the verb to look in different meanings with different prepositions He was looked upon as their leader.

c) verbs expressing mockery or blame She had an uncomfortable feeling that she was being laughed at.

d) with verbs to account for, to agree upon, to do away with. Her request was disapproved of.

e) occasionally with other verbs and set phrasesYou’re being made a fool of, that’s all.

2) the PP is not used with the verbs which take two objects, direct and prepositional (to announce, to dedicate, to devote, to explain (something to somebody), to point out, to propose, to say, to suggest). They can have only a DP construction. The difficulty was explained then to her. A new plan was suggested to us.

The direct object after some of these verbs is rather often expressed by a clause. In this case the only possible passive construction is the one with a formal it as subject.

It had been explained to Sylvia that Renny had gone.

There is another passive construction possible in English: the subject of the passive construction corresponds to an adverbial modifier of place in the active construction. In this case the preposition also retains its place after the verb. The bed had been slept in. These chairs have once been sat in by cardinals.

The use of these constructions is rare and usually occurs with the verbs mentioned in the examples.

In standard passive constructions the subject is the recipient of some action (e.g. I’ve been sacked). In causative constructions the object is the recipient of an action – the subject is in some way responsible for what happened, but didn’t do it. We form the causative with: to have/to get + noun or pronoun object + past participle

We had the rubbish taken away. I’ve got two of my stories published.

• We often use have interchangeably with get to describe things we arrange to be done for us, although we tend to choose get when some element of difficulty or achievement is involved (compare the commonplace has her blood pressure taken with the problematic She never managed to get her symphonies played). Thus get is stronger in meaning than have.

• We also use get in place of have in the causative to say that something is urgent

Have the car repaired! Get the car repaired! (more urgent)

• In describing unfortunate experience we usually tend to avoid have and use only get.

Delimitation

to be+ PP (is given, has been given)

Comp nom pred

The link verb always PP!!!

The predicative – разные варианты

the pure link verbs (to be):The sun was full of promise. the link verbs partially preserving their meanings (to appear, to continue, to fall, to feel, to get, to grow, to go, to hold, to keep, to loom, to look, to make, to prove, to rank, to remain, to run, to seem, to shine, to smell, to stand, to taste, to turn, to turn out, to work): Dave looked surprised. the link verbs fully preserving their meaning (to become, to come, to die, to fall, to go, to leave, to lie, to marry, to return, to sit, to stand, etc.): The poor woman sat amazed.

a noun in the common or possessive case: She is a pretty child. an adjective: It was getting dark. a pronoun: This suit-case is mine. a word of the category of state: I’m afraid. a numeral (cardinal or ordinal): He was the first to get the prize. a prepositional phrase: It was outside her experience. an infinitive (phrase/construction): My first thought was to ask him for support. a gerund (phrase or construction): My job was getting it all done. a participle: The moment was soothing to her. an adverb: It was enough the way she told it. a preposition: Everybody was in.