The passive voice is a grammatical construction
(specifically, a "voice"). The noun or noun phrase that would be the
object of an active sentence (such as Our troops defeated the enemy) appears as
the subject of a sentence with passive voice (e.g. The enemy was defeated by our
troops).
The subject of a sentence or clause featuring the passive
voice typically denotes the recipient of the action (the patient) rather than
the performer (the agent). The passive voice in English is formed
periphrastically: the usual form uses the auxiliary verb be (or get) together
with the past participle of the main verb.
For example, Caesar was stabbed by Brutus uses the passive
voice. The subject denotes the person (Caesar) affected by the action of the
verb. The agent is expressed here with the phrase by Brutus, but this can be
omitted. The equivalent sentence in active voice is Brutus stabbed Caesar, in
which the subject denotes the doer, or agent, Brutus. A sentence featuring the
passive voice is sometimes called a passive sentence, and a verb phrase in
passive voice is sometimes called a passive verb.[1]
English allows a number of passive constructions which are
not possible in many of the other languages with similar passive formation.
These include promotion of an indirect object to subject (as in Tom was given a
bag) and promotion of the complement of a preposition (as in Sue was operated
on, leaving a stranded preposition).[2]
Use of the English passive varies with writing style and
field. Some publications' style sheets discourage use of the passive voice,[3]
while others encourage it.[4] Although some purveyors of usage advice,
including George Orwell (see Politics and the English Language, 1946) and
William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White (see The Elements of Style, 1919),
discourage use of the passive in English, its usefulness is generally
recognized, particularly in cases where the patient is more important than the
agent,[5] but also in some cases where it is desired to emphasize the agent.
Identifying the
English passive
The passive voice is a specific grammatical construction;
not every expression that serves to take focus away from the performer of an
action is classified as an instance of passive voice. The essential components
of the English passive voice are a form of the auxiliary verb be (or sometimes
get[6]), and the past participle of the main verb denoting the action. For
example:
... that all men are created equal...[7]
We have been cruelly deceived.
The captain was struck by a missile.
I got kicked in the face during the fight.
(For exceptions, see Additional passive constructions
below.) The agent (the doer of the action) may be specified, using a
prepositional phrase with the preposition by, as in the third example, but it
is equally possible to omit this, as is done in the other examples.
A distinction is made between the above type of clause, and
those of similar form in which the past participle is used as an ordinary
adjective, and the verb be or similar is simply a copula linking the subject of
the sentence to that adjective. For example:
I am excited (right now).
This would not normally be classed as a passive sentence,
since the participle excited is used adjectivally to denote a state, not to
denote an action of excitation (as it would in the passive the electron was
excited with a laser pulse). See Stative and adjectival uses below.
Sentences which do not follow the pattern described above
are not considered to be in the passive voice, even if they have a similar
function of avoiding or marginalizing reference to the agent. An example is the
sentence A stabbing occurred, where mention of the stabber is avoided, but the
sentence is nonetheless cast in the active voice, with the verbal noun stabbing
forming the subject of the simple past tense of the verb occur. (Similarly
There was a stabbing.) Occasionally, however, writers misapply the term
"passive voice" to sentences of this type.[8] An example of this
loose usage can be found in the following extract from an article from The New
Yorker about Bernard Madoff (bolding and italics added; bold text indicates the
verbs misidentified as passive voice):
Two sentences later, Madoff said, "When I began the
Ponzi scheme, I believed it would end shortly, and I would be able to extricate
myself, and my clients, from the scheme." As he read this, he betrayed no
sense of how absurd it was to use the passive voice in regard to his scheme, as
if it were a spell of bad weather that had descended on him . . . In most of
the rest of the statement, one not only heard the aggrieved passive voice, but
felt the hand of a lawyer: "To the best of my recollection, my fraud began
in the early nineteen-nineties."[9]
The intransitive verbs would end and began are in fact in
the active voice. Although the speaker uses the words in a manner that subtly
diverts responsibility from him, this is not accomplished by use of passive
voice.[10]
Reasons for using the
passive voice
The passive voice can be used without referring to the agent
of an action; it may therefore be used when the agent is unknown or
unimportant, or the speaker does not wish to mention the agent.[5]
Three stores were robbed last night. (the identity of the
agent may be unknown)
A new cancer drug has been discovered. (the identity of the
agent may be unimportant in the context)
Mistakes have been made on this project. (the speaker may
not wish to identify the agent)
The last sentence illustrates a frequently criticized use of
the passive – the evasion of responsibility by failure to mention the agent
(which may even be the speaker himself).[11]
Agentless passives are common in scientific writing, where
the agent may be irrelevant:
The mixture was heated to 300°C.
However the passive voice can also be used together with a
mention of the agent, using a by-phrase. In this case the reason for use of the
passive is often connected with the positioning of this phrase at the end of
the clause (unlike in the active voice, where the agent, as subject, normally
precedes the verb). Here, in contrast to the examples above, passive
constructions may in fact serve to place emphasis on the agent, since it is
natural for information being emphasized to come at the end:
Don't you see? The patient was murdered by his own
doctor![12]
In more technical terms, such uses can be expected in
sentences where the agent is the focus (comment, rheme), while the patient (the
undergoer of the action) is the topic or theme[5] (see Topic–comment). There is
a tendency for sentences to be formulated so as to place the focus at the end,
and this can motivate the choice of active or passive voice:
My taxi hit an old lady. (the taxi is the topic, the lady is
the focus)
My mother was hit by a taxi. (the mother is the topic, the
taxi is the focus)
Similarly, the passive may be used because the noun phrase
denoting the agent is a long one (containing many modifiers), since it is
convenient to place such phrases at the end of a clause:
The breakthrough was achieved by Burlingame and Evans, two
researchers in the university's genetic engineering lab.[11]
In some situations, the passive may be used so that the most
dramatic word, or punchline, appears at the end of the sentence.
Style advice
Advice against the
passive voice
Many language critics and language-usage manuals discourage
use of the passive voice.[5] This advice is not usually found in older guides,
emerging only in the first half of the twentieth century.[13] In 1916, the British
writer Arthur Quiller-Couch criticized this grammatical voice:
Generally, use transitive verbs, that strike their object;
and use them in the active voice, eschewing the stationary passive, with its
little auxiliary its’s and was’s, and its participles getting into the light of
your adjectives, which should be few. For, as a rough law, by his use of the
straight verb and by his economy of adjectives you can tell a man’s style, if
it be masculine or neuter, writing or 'composition'.[14]
Two years later, in the original 1918 edition of The
Elements of Style, Cornell University Professor of English William Strunk, Jr.
warned against excessive use of the passive voice:
The active voice is usually more direct and vigorous than
the passive . . . This rule does not, of course, mean that the writer should
entirely discard the passive voice, which is frequently convenient and
sometimes necessary . . . The need to make a particular word the subject of the
sentence will often . . . determine which voice is to be used. The habitual use
of the active voice, however, makes for forcible writing. This is true not only
in narrative concerned principally with action, but in writing of any kind.
Many a tame sentence of description or exposition can be made lively and emphatic
by substituting a transitive in the active voice for some such perfunctory
expression as there is or could be heard.[15]
In 1926, in the authoritative A Dictionary of Modern English
Usage (1926), Henry Watson Fowler recommended against transforming active voice
forms into passive voice forms, because doing so "...sometimes leads to
bad grammar, false idiom, or clumsiness."[16][17]
In 1946, in the essay Politics and the English Language,
George Orwell recommended the active voice as an elementary principle of
composition: "Never use the passive where you can use the active."
The Columbia Guide to Standard American English (1993)
stated that:
Active voice makes subjects do something (to something);
passive voice permits subjects to have something done to them (by someone or
something). Some argue that active voice is more muscular, direct, and
succinct, passive voice flabbier, more indirect, and wordier. If you want your
words to seem impersonal, indirect, and noncommittal, passive is the choice,
but otherwise, active voice is almost invariably likely to prove more
effective.[18]
Krista Ratcliffe, a professor at Marquette University, notes
the use of passives as an example of the role of grammar as "...a link
between words and magical conjuring [...]: passive voice mystifies
accountability by erasing who or what performs an action [...]."[19]
Advice in favor of
the passive voice
Jan Freeman, a reporter for The Boston Globe, said that the
passive voice does have its uses, and that "all good writers use the
passive voice."[20] For example, despite Orwell's advice to avoid the passive,
his Politics and the English Language (1946) employs passive voice for about 20
percent of its constructions. By comparison, a statistical study found about 13
percent passive constructions in newspapers and magazines.[5]
Passive writing is not necessarily slack and indirect. Many
famously vigorous passages use the passive voice, as in these examples:
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill
shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places
plain. (King James Bible, Isaiah 40:4)
Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer
by this sun of York. (Shakespeare's Richard III, I.1, ll. 1–2)
For of those to whom much is given, much is required. (John
F. Kennedy's quotation of Luke 12:48 in his address to the Massachusetts
legislature, 9 January 1961.)[21]
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so
many to so few. (Winston Churchill addressing the House of Commons, 20 August
1940.)
Merriam–Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (1994)
recommends the passive voice when identifying the object (receiver) of the
action is more important than the subject (agent), and when the agent is
unknown, unimportant, or not worth mentioning:
The child was struck by the car.
The store was robbed last night.
Plows should not be kept in the garage.
Kennedy was elected president.[5]
The principal criticism against the passive voice is its
potential for evasion of responsibility. This is because a passive clause may
omit the agent even where it is important:
We had hoped to report on this problem, but the data were
inadvertently deleted from our files.[5][11]
(See weasel words.) However, the passive can also be used to
emphasize the agent, and it may be better for that role than the active voice,
because the end of a clause is the ideal place to put something you wish to
emphasize, or a long noun phrase, as in the examples given in the previous
section:
Don't you see? The patient was murdered by his own doctor!
The breakthrough was achieved by Burlingame and Evans, two
researchers in the university's genetic engineering lab.
Geoffrey Pullum writes that "The passive is not an
undesirable feature limited to bad writing, it's a useful construction often
needed for clear expression, and every good writer uses it."[12]
Passive constructions
Canonical passives
In the most commonly considered type of passive clause, a
form of the verb be (or sometimes get) is used as an auxiliary together with
the past participle of a transitive verb; that verb is missing its direct
object, and the patient of the action (that which would be denoted by the
direct object of the verb in an active clause) is denoted instead by the
subject of the clause. For example, the active clause:
John threw the ball.
contains threw as a transitive verb with John as its subject
and the ball as its direct object. If we recast the verb in the passive voice
(was thrown), then the ball becomes the subject (it is "promoted" to
the subject position) and John disappears:
The ball was thrown.
The original subject (the agent) can optionally be
re-inserted using the preposition by.
The ball was thrown by John.
The above example uses the verb be (in the past tense form
was) to make the passive. It is often possible to use the verb get as an
alternative (possibly with slightly different meaning); for example, the active
sentence "The ball hit Bob" may be recast in either of the following
forms:
Bob was hit by the ball.
Bob got hit by the ball.
The auxiliary verb of the passive voice (be or get) may
appear in any combination of tense, aspect and mood, and can also appear in
non-finite form (infinitive, participle or gerund). See the article on English
verb forms for more information. Notice that this includes use of the verb be
in progressive aspect, which does not normally occur when be is used as a
simple copula. Some examples:
The food is being served. (present progressive passive)
The stadium will have been built by next January. (future
perfect passive)
I would have got injured if I had stayed in my place.
(conditional perfect passive with get)
It isn't nice to be insulted. (passive infinitive)
Having been humiliated, he left the stage. (passive present
participle, perfect aspect)
Promotion of indirect
objects
Unlike some other languages, English also allows passive
clauses in which an indirect object, rather than a direct object, is promoted
to the subject. For example:
John gave Mary a book. → Mary was given a book (by John).
In the active form, gave is the verb; John is its subject,
Mary its indirect object, and a book its direct object. In the passive forms,
the indirect object has been promoted and the direct object has been left in
place. (In this respect, English resembles dechticaetiative languages.)
It is normally only the first-appearing object that can be
promoted; promotion of the indirect object takes place from a construction in
which it precedes the direct object (i.e. where there is no to or for before
the indirect object), whereas promotion of the direct object in such cases
takes place from a construction in which the indirect object follows the direct
(this time being accompanied by to or for; see English grammar: Verb phrases).
For example:
John gave Mary a book. → Mary was given a book. (and not
normally: ??A book was given Mary.)
John gave a book to Mary. → A book was given to Mary. (and
not: *Mary was given a book to.)
Similar restrictions apply to the prepositional passive, as
noted in the following section.
Prepositional passive
It is also possible, in some cases, to promote the object of
a preposition. This may be called the prepositional passive, or sometimes the
pseudo-passive[12] (although the latter term can also have other meanings,
particularly in descriptions of other languages).
They talked about the problem. → The problem was talked
about.
In the passive form here, the preposition is
"stranded"; that is, it is not followed by an object.
The prepositional passive is common especially in informal
English. However some potential uses appear grammatically unacceptable; compare
the following examples given by Pullum:
Someone has slept in this bunk. → This bunk has been slept
in. (fully acceptable)
Someone has slept above this bunk. → ??This bunk has been
slept above. (barely acceptable)
The second sentence appears unacceptable because sleeping
above a bunk does not change its state; the verb phrase been slept above does
not express a "relevantly important property" of the bunk.[12]
It is not possible to promote a prepositional object if the
verb also has a direct object; any passive rendering of the sentence must
instead promote the direct object. For example:
Someone has put a child in this bunk. → *This bunk has been
put a child in. (unacceptable)
Someone has put a child in this bunk. → A child has been put
in this bunk. (acceptable)
Stative and
adjectival uses
A type of clause that is similar or identical in form to the
passive clauses described above has the past participle used to denote not an
action, but a state being the result of an action. For example, the sentence
The window was broken may have two different meanings:
The window was broken, i.e Someone or something broke the
window. (action, event)
The window was broken, i.e. The window was not intact.
(resultant state)
The first sentence is an example of the canonical English
passive as described above. However the second case is distinct; such sentences
are not always considered to be true passives, since the participle is being
used adjectivally;[12] they are sometimes called false passives. If they are
considered to be passives, they may be called stative (or static, or
resultative) passives, since they represent a state or result. By contrast the
canonical passives, representing an action or event, may then be called dynamic
or eventive passives.
The ambiguity in such sentences arises because the verb be
is used in English both as the passive auxiliary and as the ordinary copular
verb for linking to predicate adjectives. When get is used to form the passive,
there is no ambiguity: The window got broken cannot have a stative meaning.
(For ways in which some other languages make this distinction, see Passive
voice: Stative and dynamic passive.) If a distinct adjective exists for the
purpose of expressing the state, then the past participle is less likely to be
used for that purpose; this is the case with the verb open, for which there
exists an adjective open, so the sentence The door was opened more likely
refers to the action rather than the state, since in the stative case one could
simply say The door was open.
Past participles of transitive verbs can also be used as
adjectives (as in a broken doll), and the participles used in the
above-mentioned "stative" constructions are often considered to be
adjectival (in predicative use). Such constructions may then also be called
adjectival passives (although they are not normally considered true passives).
For example:
She was relieved to find her car.
Here, relieved is an ordinary adjective, though it derives
from the past participle of relieve.[22] In other sentences that same
participle may be used to form the true (dynamic) passive: He was relieved of
duty.
When the verb being put into the passive voice is a stative
verb anyway, the distinctions between uses of the past participle become less
clear, since the canonical passive already has a stative meaning. (For example:
People know his identity → His identity is known.) However it is sometimes
possible to impart a dynamic meaning using get as the auxiliary, as in get
known with the meaning "become known".[23]
Passive constructions
without an exactly corresponding active
Some passive constructions are not derived exactly from a
corresponding active construction in the ways described above. This is
particularly the case with sentences containing content clauses (usually
that-clauses). Given a sentence in which the role of direct object is played by
such a clause, for example
They say (that) he cheats.
it is possible to convert this to a passive by promoting the
content clause to subject; in this case, however, the clause typically does not
change its position in the sentence, and an expletive it takes the normal
subject position:
It is said that he cheats.
Another way of forming passives in such cases involves
promoting the subject of the content clause to the subject of the main clause,
and converting the content clause into a non-finite clause with the
to-infinitive. This infinitive is marked for grammatical aspect to correspond
to the aspect (or past tense) expressed in the content clause. For example:
They say that he cheats. → He is said to cheat.
They think that I am dying. → I am thought to be dying.
They report that she came back / has come back. → She is
reported to have come back.
They say that she will resign. → e.g. She is said to be
going to resign.
Some verbs are used almost exclusively in the passive voice.
This is the case with rumor, for example. The following passive sentences are
possible:
He was rumored to be a war veteran. / It was rumored that he
was a war veteran.
but it is not possible to use the active counterpart *They
rumored that he was a war veteran. (This was once possible, but has fallen out
of use.)
Another situation in which the passive uses a different
construction than the active involves the verb make, meaning
"compel". When this verb is used in the active voice it takes the
bare infinitive (without the particle to), but in the passive voice it takes
the to-infinitive. For example:
They made Jane attend classes.
Jane was made to attend classes.
Double passives
The construction called double passive can arise when one
verb appears in the to-infinitive as the complement of another verb.
If the first verb takes a direct object ahead of the
infinitive complement (this applies to raising-to-object verbs, where the
expected subject of the second verb is raised to the position of object of the
first verb), then the passive voice may be used independently for either or
both of the verbs:
We expect you to complete the project. (you is raised from
subject of complete to object of expect)
You are expected to complete the project. (passive voice
used for expect)
We expect the project to be completed. (passive voice used
for complete; now the project is raised to object)
The project is expected to be completed. (double passive)
Other verbs which can behave similarly to expect in such
constructions include order, tell, persuade, etc., leading to such double
passives as The man was ordered to be shot and I was persuaded to be ordained.
Similar constructions sometimes occur, however, when the
first verb is raising-to-subject rather than raising-to-object – that is, when
there is no object before the infinitive complement. For example, with attempt,
the active voice construction is simply We attempted to complete the project. A
double passive formed from that sentence would be:
The project was attempted to be completed.
with both verbs changed simultaneously to the passive voice,
even though the first verb takes no object – it is not possible to say *We
attempted the project to be completed, which is the sentence from which the
double passive would appear to derive.
This latter double passive construction is criticized as
questionable both grammatically and stylistically. Fowler[24] calls it
"clumsy and incorrect", suggesting that it springs from false analogy
with the former (acceptable) type of double passive, though conceding its
usefulness in some legal and quasi-legal language. Other verbs mentioned
(besides attempt) with which the construction is found include begin, desire,
hope, propose, seek and threaten. Similarly, The American Heritage Book of
English Usage declares this construction unacceptable.[25] It nonetheless
occurs in practice in a variety of contexts.[26]
Additional passive
constructions
Certain other constructions are sometimes classed as
passives. The following types are mentioned by Pullum.[12]
A bare passive clause is similar to a typical passive
clause, but without the passive auxiliary verb (so it is a non-finite clause
consisting of a subject together with a verb phrase based on a past participle
with the passive construction). These can be used in such contexts as newspaper
headlines:
City hall damaged by hail
and as modifiers (adverbial phrases), i.e. nominative
absolutes:
Our work done, we made our way back home.
That said, there are also other considerations.
Other constructions are mentioned in which a passive past
participial clause is used, even though it is not introduced by the auxiliary
be or get (or is introduced by get with a direct object):
I had my car cleaned by a professional.
Jane had her car stolen last week.
You ought to get that lump looked at.
This software comes pre-installed by the manufacturer.
In the concealed passive, the present participle or gerund
form (-ing form) appears rather than the past participle. This can appear after
need, and for some speakers after want (with similar meaning). For example:
Your car needs washing. (meaning "needs to be
washed"; some speakers might say needs washed)
That rash needs looking at by a specialist.
His hair wants cutting.
(An idiomatic expression with the same construction is ...
doesn't bear thinking about.) The verbs need and want also have similar uses
with an object:
I need/want my room painting.
See also English clause syntax: Non-finite clauses.
Middle voice and
passival
The term middle voice is sometimes used to refer to verbs
used without a passive construction, but in a meaning where the grammatical
subject is understood as undergoing the action. The meaning may be reflexive:
Fred shaved, i.e. Fred shaved himself
but is not always:
These cakes sell well, i.e. [we] sell these cakes
[successfully]
The clothes are soaking, i.e. [the water] is soaking the
clothes
Only certain verbs can be used with such meanings. However a
more general construction, formerly used in English, was the passival, where
the progressive aspect of a verb was used in the active voice, but with passive
meaning. Examples of this would be:
The house is building (modern English: The house is being
built)
The meal is eating (modern English: The meal is being eaten)
The passival was displaced in the early 19th century by the
passive progressive (the form is being built as given above).[27][28] It has
been suggested that the passive progressive appeared just to the east of
Bristol and was popularized by the Romantic poets.[27][29] Only certain verbs
can be used with passival-type sentences in modern English, such as the verb
soak in the example given above.
REFRENSI : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_passive_voice
