English passive voice

In English, thepassive voiceismarkedby asubjectthat is followed by astative verbcomplemented by apast participle.For example:

A sign using the passive voice to indicate amask mandateduring theCOVID-19 pandemic

The enemy was defeated. Caesar was stabbed.

The recipient of a sentence's action is referred to as thepatient.In sentences using the active voice, the subject is theperformerof the action—referred to as theagent.Above, the agent is omitted entirely, but it may also be includedadjunctivelywhile maintaining the passive voice:

The enemy was defeatedby our troops. Caesar was stabbedby Brutus.

The initial examples rewritten in theactive voiceyield:

Our troops defeated the enemy. Brutus stabbed Caesar.

TheEnglish passive voicetypically involves forms of the verbsto beorto getfollowed by apassive participleas thesubject complement—sometimes referred to as apassive verb.

English allows a number of additional passive constructions that are not possible in many other languages with analogous passive formations to the above. A sentence'sindirect objectmay be promoted to the subject position—e.g.Tom was given a bag.Similarly, the complement of aprepositionmay be promoted, leaving astranded preposition—e.g.Sue was operated on.

The English passive voice is used less often than the active voice,but frequency varies according to the writer's style and the given field of writing. Contemporary style guides discourage excessive use of the passive voice but generally consider it to be acceptable in certain situations, such as when the patient is the topic of the sentence, when the agent is unimportant and therefore omitted, or when the agent is placed near the end of a sentence as a means of emphasis.

Identifying the English passive

The passive voice is a specific grammatical construction. The essential components, in English, are a form of thestative verbbe(or sometimesget) and thepast participleof the verb denoting the action. Theagent(the doer of the action) may be specified using aprepositional phrasewith the prepositionby,but this is optional. It can be used in a number of different grammatical contexts; for instance, in declarative, interrogative, and imperative clauses:

• "Kennedywas assassinatedin 1963. "
• "Mistakeswere made."
• "The windowgot broken."
• "Haveyou everbeen kickedby an elephant? "
• "Don'tget killed."
• "Being attackedby Geoffrey Howe was likebeing savagedby a dead sheep. "

Misuse of the term

Though the passivecanbe used for the purpose of concealing the agent, this is not a valid way of identifying the passive, and many other grammatical constructions can be used to accomplish this. Not every expression that serves to take focus away from the performer of an action is an instance of passive voice. For instance, "There were mistakes" and "Mistakes occurred" are both in the active voice. Occasionally, authors express recommendations about use of the passive unclearly or misapply the term "passive voice" to include sentences of this type.An example of this incorrect usage can be found in the following extract from an article fromThe New YorkeraboutBernard 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 itwould endshortly, 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 wasto use the passive voicein 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 heardthe aggrieved passive voice,but felt the hand of a lawyer: "To the best of my recollection, my fraudbeganin the early nineteen-nineties. "

The intransitive verbswould endandbeganare in factergative verbsin the active voice. Although the speaker may be using words in a manner that diverts responsibility from him, this is not being accomplished by use of passive voice.

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.

• 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, as the evasion of responsibility by failure to mention the agent (which may even be the speaker themselves).

Nonetheless, the passive voice can be complemented by an element that identifies the agent, usually via aby-phrase that is intended to emphasize the agent.For example:

• Don't you see? The patient was murderedby his own doctor!

In more technical terms, such uses can be expected in sentences where the agent is thefocus(comment,rheme), while the patient (the undergoer of the action) is thetopicortheme(seeTopic–comment). There is a tendency for sentences to be formulated so as to place the focus at the end, which can motivate the choice of active or passive voice:

• My taxi hit an old lady (the taxi is the topic, and the lady is the focus).
• My mother was hit by a taxi (the mother is the topic, and the taxi is the focus).

Similarly, the passive may be used because the noun phrase denoting the agent is a long one (containing manymodifiers) 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.

In some situations, the passive may be used so that the most dramatic word or the 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.This advice is not usually found in older guides, emerging only in the first half of the twentieth century.In 1916, the British writerArthur Quiller-Couchcriticized this grammatical voice:

Generally, usetransitive verbs,that strike their object; and use them in the active voice, eschewing the stationary passive, with its little auxiliaryits's[sic] andwas'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'.

Two years later, in the original 1918 edition ofThe Elements of Style,Cornell University Professor of EnglishWilliam 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 asthere isorcould be heard.

In 1926, inA Dictionary of Modern English Usage,Henry Watson Fowlerrecommended against transforming active voice forms into passive voice forms, because doing so "......sometimes leads to bad grammar, falseidiom,or clumsiness. "

In 1946, in the essay "Politics and the English Language",George Orwellrecommended 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 Englishstates that:

Active voicemakes subjects do something (to something);passive voicepermits subjects to have something done to them (by someone or something). Some argue thatactive voiceis more muscular, direct, and succinct,passive voiceflabbier, more indirect, and wordier. If you want your words to seem impersonal, indirect, and noncommittal,passiveis the choice, but otherwise,active voiceis almost invariably likely to prove more effective.

Use of the passive is more prevalent in scientific writing,but publishers of some scientific publications, such asNature,Scienceand theIEEE,explicitly encourage their authors to use active voice.

The principal criticism against the passive voice is its potential for evasion of responsibility. This is because a passive clause may be used to 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.

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... "

Advice by style guides and grammarians on appropriate use of the passive voice

Jan Freeman, a columnist forThe Boston Globe,said that the passive voice does have its uses, and that "all good writers use the passive voice."

Passive writing is not necessarily slack and indirect. Many famously vigorous passages use the passive voice, as in these examples with the passive verbs italicized:

• Every valleyshall be exalted,and every mountain and hillshall be madelow; and the crookedshall be madestraight, and the rough places plain. (King James Bible,Isaiah 40:4.)
• Nowisthe winter of our discontent /Madeglorious summer by this sun of York. (Shakespeare's Richard III,I.1, ll. 1–2.)
• We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all menare createdequal, that theyare endowedby their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. (United States Declaration of Independence.)
• Never in the field of human conflictwasso muchowedby so many to so few. (Winston Churchilladdressing the House of Commons, 20 August 1940.)
• Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of Americawassuddenly and deliberatelyattackedby naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. (Franklin D. Roosevelt'sInfamy Speechfollowing theAttack on Pearl Harbor.)
• For of those to whom muchis given,muchis required.(John F. Kennedy'squotation of Luke 12:48 in his address to the Massachusetts legislature, 9 January 1961.)

WhileStrunkandWhite,inThe Elements of Style,encourage use of the active voice, they also state that the passive is often useful and sometimes preferable, even necessary, the choice of active or passive depending, for instance, on the topic of the sentence.

Another advisor,Joseph M. Williams,who has written several books on style, states with greater clarity that the passive is often the better choice.According to Williams, the choice between active and passive depends on the answers to three questions:

1. "Must the reader know who is responsible for the action?"
2. "Would the active or passive verb help your readers move more smoothly from one sentence to the next?
3. "Would the active or passive give readers a more consistent and appropriate point of view?"

Bryan A. Garner,inGarner's Modern English Usage,stresses the advantages of the active voice, but gives the following examples of where the passive is preferred:

• "When the actor is unimportant."
• "When the actor is unknown."
• "When you want to hide the actor's identity."
• "When you need to put the punch word at the end of the sentence."
• "When the focus of the sentence is on the thing being acted on."
• "When the passive simply sounds better."

Merriam–Webster's Dictionary of English Usagerecommends 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.

The linguistGeoffrey Pullumwrites 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."

Despite criticism that the passive can be used to hide responsibility by omitting the agent, the passive can also be used to emphasize the agent. Writers have preferred placing the agent at the end of a clause or sentence to give it greater emphasis, 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.

Actual use of the passive voice

Agentless passives were once common inscientific writing,where the agent may be irrelevant, although at least one publisher considers this a "fading practice":

• The mixture was heated to 300 °C.

The passive voice is used more frequently in scientific writing than in other prose, where it is relatively rare.

A statistical study of a variety of periodicals found a maximum incidence of 13 percent passive constructions. Despite Orwell's advice to avoid the passive, hisPolitics and the English Languageemploys passive voice for about 20 percent of its constructions.

TheLongman Grammar of Spoken and Written Englishgives the following rough frequencies per million words:

	Conversation	Fiction	News	Academic
Short passives (finite)
Stative verbs	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,500
Dynamic verbs	1,000	2,500	5,000	10,000
Get passive	<250	<250	<250	<250
Other copula	<250	<250	<250	<250
Long passives (finite)	<250	500	1,500	1,500
Post modifier in NP (non-finite)
Short passives	<250	1,000	1,500	3,500
Long passives	<250	500	1,000	1,000

In academic prose, passives make up roughly 25% of all finite clauses, 15% in news, less in fiction, and even less in conversation.

Passive constructions

Canonical passives

In the most commonly considered type of passive clause, a form of the verbbe(or sometimesget) is used as anauxiliarytogether with thepast participleof atransitive verb;that verb is missing itsdirect object,and thepatientof 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.

containsthrewas a transitive verb withJohnas its subject andthe ballas its direct object. If we recast the verb in the passive voice (was thrown), thenthe ballbecomes the subject (it is "promoted" to the subject position) andJohndisappears:

• The ball was thrown.

The original subject (theagent) can optionally be re-inserted using the prepositionby.

• The ball was thrownby John.

The above example uses the verbbe(in the past tense formwas) to make the passive. It is often possible to use the verbgetas 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 (beorget) may appear in any combination oftense, aspect and mood,and can also appear innon-finiteform (infinitive, participle or gerund). See the article onEnglish verb formsfor more information. Notice that this includes use of the verbbeinprogressive aspect,which does not normally occur whenbeis used as a simplecopula.Some examples:

• The foodis being served.(present progressive passive)
• The stadiumwill have been builtby next January. (future perfect passive)
• Iwould have got/gotteninjuredif I had stayed in my place. (conditional perfect passive withget)
• It isn't niceto 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 anindirect 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,gaveis the verb;Johnis its subject,Maryits indirect object, anda bookits 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 resemblessecundative 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 notoorforbefore 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 object (this time being accompanied bytoorfor;seeEnglish 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 booktoMary. → A book was giventoMary. (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 theprepositional passive,or sometimes thepseudopassive(although the latter term can also have other meanings, such as being equivalent to theimpersonal passive voice,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 are much less acceptable than others; compare the following examples:

• Someone has slept in this bottom bunk. → This bottom bunk has been slept in. (fully acceptable)
• Someone has slept above this bottom bunk. →??This bottom bunk has been slept above. (much less acceptable)

The second sentence appears much less acceptable because sleeping above a bunk does not change its state; the verb phrasebeen slept abovedoes not express a "relevantly important property" of the bunk.

It is not usually 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)

Exceptions occur with certain idiomatic combinations of verb+object+preposition, such astake advantage of:

• I feel people have taken advantage of me. → I feel I have been taken advantage of. (acceptable)

Stative and adjectival uses

See also:Passive voice § Stative and dynamic passive

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 sentenceThe window was brokenmay have two different meanings and might be ambiguous:

• 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 passive voice, because the participle is being used adjectivally;Such constructs are sometimes called "false passives" orstative passives(rarely calledstatal,static,orresultative passives), since they represent a state or result. By contrast the canonical passives, representing an action or event, may then be calleddynamicoreventivepassives.

The ambiguity in such sentences arises because the verbbeis used in English both as the passive auxiliary and as the ordinarycopular verbfor linking to predicate adjectives. Whengetis used to form the passive, there is no ambiguity:The window got brokencannot have a stative meaning. (For ways in which some other languages make this distinction, seePassive 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 verbopenand the adjectiveopen,so the sentenceThe door was opened(but notthe package was unopened) more likely refers to the action than to the state since one can simply sayThe door was openin the stative case.

Past participles of transitive verbs can also be used asadjectives(as inabrokendoll), and the participles used in the above-mentioned "stative" constructions are often considered to be adjectival (inpredicativeuse). Such constructions may then also be calledadjectival passives(although they are not normally considered true passives). For example:

• She was relieved to find her car.

Here,relievedis an ordinary adjective, though it derives from the past participle ofrelieve.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 astative verbanyway, the distinctions between uses of the past participle become less clear, since the canonical passive already has a stative meaning. (For example:Peopleknowhis identity→His identityis known.) However it is sometimes possible to impart a dynamic meaning usinggetas the auxiliary, as inget knownwith the meaning "become known".

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 containingcontent clauses(usuallythat-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 anexpletiveittakes 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 anon-finite clausewith theto-infinitive.This infinitive is marked forgrammatical aspectto 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 withrumor,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 verbmake,meaning "compel". When this verb is used in the active voice it takes the bare infinitive (without the particleto), but in the passive voice it takes theto-infinitive. For example:

• They made Jane attend classes.
• Jane was madetoattend classes.

Double passives

The construction calleddouble passivecan arise when one verb appears in theto-infinitive as the complement of another verb.

If the first verb takes a direct object ahead of the infinitive complement (this applies toraising-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. (youis raised from subject ofcompleteto object ofexpect)
• Youare expectedto complete the project. (passive voice used forexpect)
• We expect the project tobe completed.(passive voice used forcomplete;nowthe projectis raised to object)
• The projectis expectedtobe completed.(double passive)

Other verbs which can behave similarly toexpectin such constructions includeorder,tell,persuade,etc., leading to such double passives asThe man was ordered to be shotandI was persuaded to be ordained.

Similar constructions sometimes occur, however, when the first verb israising-to-subjectrather than raising-to-object – that is, when there is no object before the infinitive complement. For example, withattempt,the active voice construction is simplyWe 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.Fowlercalls 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 (besidesattempt) with which the construction is found includebegin,desire,hope,propose,seekandthreaten.Similarly,The American Heritage Book of English Usagedeclares this construction unacceptable.It nonetheless occurs in practice in a variety of contexts.

Additional passive constructions

Certain other constructions are sometimes classed as passives. The following types are mentioned by Pullum.

Abare passive clauseis similar to a typical passive clause, but without the passive auxiliary verb (so it is anon-finite clauseconsisting 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 participle clause is used, even though it is not introduced by the auxiliarybeorget(or is introduced bygetwith 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 theconcealed passive,thepresent participleorgerundform (-ingform) appears rather than the past participle. This can appear afterneed,and for some speakers afterwant(with similar meaning). For example:

• Your car needs washing. (meaning "needs to be washed" )
• That rash needs looking at by a specialist.

(An idiomatic expression with the same construction is...doesn't bear thinking about.)

The concealed passive (with an-ingform) can also be used in a complex construction; Huddleston gives the following example:

• Your hair needs cutting by a professional. [simple construction]
• You need your hair cutting by a professional. [complex construction]

See alsoEnglish clause syntax § Non-finite clauses.

Syntactic components of the passive voice

The sections below discuss some generalizations that linguists have attempted to identify regarding the syntactical distinctions between the passive voice, active past tense, the passive middle voice, and other past tense formations.

The passive participle

In English, the passive requires the use of the past participle of a verb, generally with an auxiliary verbbe.The passive uses an auxiliarybein order to get tense because participles arenon finite.The participle verb is also unable to assignCase.Case is a tool used intransformational grammarthat states that Case givesgrammatical relationsto a noun to show how it functions in the sentence; for example, if a noun needs to be in first or second person due to the form of the verb.So, if a noun phrase in the passive needs to get Case from the participle verb, it must undergomovementto the head of the sentence CP to receive nominative Case.ii

Wanner argues that identification of the passive voice construction can't solely rely on the auxiliarybeand the past participle as distinguishing features because the auxiliarybeis also used to express the progressive aspect and the past participle can be found in multiple constructions that are not passive voice constructions. In these instances Wanner refers to, the auxiliarybeis not found next to or with the past participle. If the auxiliarybeis present directly in front of a past participle, it is a passive construction.

External argument, implicit argument and theta roles

Passives always contain an externalargument.An external argument is specifically referring to the theta role that is assigned to the subject of the sentence.Often, the external argument is theagentof the sentence. In passive constructions, the external argument does not need to be in subject position, as seen in active constructions. It is often found in an adjunct position instead. The passive voice also doesn't have to use the agent role. The passive allows for a variety ofthematic rolesin the external argument. For example, the subject could have a theta role ofgoalinstead, as in the sentence below.

• I was sent a letter by them.

In the passive, external arguments can be made explicit inadjunctpositions with the use of abyphrase.They don't have to be put into argument positions in order to be specific. The external argument in the passive will be represented even without abyphrase.

When abyphrase is missing in the passive, the external argument of the verb can become an implicit argument. Implicit here refers to the fact that these arguments can be implied and are not required to be explicit when used in a passive construction.

Control and arguments

Explicit arguments can control aPROsubject within anadjunctpurpose clause using thematic control. PRO can also be controlled by an internal or external argument. Specifically, explicit and implicit arguments can control PRO in purpose clauses:

• They_isold the books [PRO_ito make profit].

Above,theyis the controller for PRO, and PRO is referencing thattheyare the ones who did it to make the profit. In this case, the explicit argument of the sentence isthey.In the passive, arguments can even control a PRO subject without having an explicit external argument, because it is still thereimplicitly.

• The books were sold IMP_i[ PRO_ito make money].

Above, IMP is the reference to PRO because the books didn't sell themselves to make money, someone, who the interpreter of the sentence knows exists implicitly, sold them. In the passive, PRO is still able to be controlled even without having an explicit argument.

Control abilities can also be limited with implicit arguments in the passive. An implicit subjectcannotcontrol PRO in the case ofditransitiveand subjectcontrol verbs.This is related to passive movement. Due to the raising done to get nominative case, theheadT is no longer in an Agree relationship with the implicit subject, which means that the implicit subject can no longer control PRO either.

• *Sarah was promised (by Greg_i) [PRO_ito go on a vacation.]

In the passive, the thematic object can be the controller because it is still connected in agreement.

• Sarah_iwas persuaded [PRO_ito go on vacation].

Somesuggest that the ability to control is due to implicit arguments controlling through a thematic control, rather than an argument control like full arguments.

Byphrases in the passive

Another feature of the passive is the optionalbyphrase. The by phrase is where the external argument can be explicitly expressed. Thisbyphrase acts as anadjunctto the verb and is assignedtheta rolesthat would normally be assigned elsewhere in the sentence, specifically it takes the theta role of the active subject.

• Toni ate the last piece of baklava. (active)
• The last piece of baklava was eaten [by Toni]. (passive)

In the passive, the theta role of agent is being given to Toni in thebyphrase, the same as it previously had in the active subject. Thesebyphrases are attached to the VoicePheadand are special to passives.

Movement in the passive

In Chomsky's generative grammar, the following example of a passive with the auxiliarybeand abyphrase, gives the same reading as in an active sentence.

• Zenobia idolized Caesar. (active)
• Caesar was idolized by Zenobia. (passive)

Caesarwhich acted as the direct object in the active form, asthe internal argument,moves from the direct object of the verb into the subject position in the passive for two reasons. The first reason is to satisfy theEPP(extended projection principle) and then second is to getCase,since in its participle form, the verb cannot give Case toZenobia.Zenobiareceivesnominative Casefrom the finite INFL, the head of the CP.

Movement does not always take place in the passive though we see it often withby-phrases. This is because movement only takes place when a NP depends on the verb to get Case. There are instances of the passive that do not use movement.

Non-passivized verbs

Not all verbs in English can be passivized.

Unaccusative verbsdo not form a passive in English.

• *It was wilted quickly.

In the passive the external argument is suppressed, but in unaccusative verbs, there is no external argument to be suppressed. Instead their subject argument generally acts as the object and then moves to the subject position to getCase.In the example above, you can see that the subjectitmoved from the object position to the subject. This is demonstrated in the trace below, where the trace (t_i) is left behind when the worditmoves to the front of the sentence into subject position where it receives case.

• [_CP[_TP[_VPwas wilted quickly[_DPit]]]].
• [_CP[_TPIt_i[_VPwas wilted quickly[_DPt_i]]]].

English also does not haveimpersonal passives,even though this can be found in other languages, like Dutch or German.

One argument using the lens ofcognitive grammarclaims that this is due to how auxiliarybefunctions in the passive. ii With the auxiliarybe,the passive needs to have a patient argument.Unergative verbsthat would form an impersonal passive do not have a patient argument, so the passive can't be formed. In Dutch, thebeverb functions differently, so that the agent is always present. Therefore, in Dutch, the passive doesn't require a patient argument.

Another view is that it has to do with Case. Specifically, the inability of intransitive verbs to assign Case. Sinceintransitive verbsdo not have objects, they don't assign Case. If the verb can't assign Case, then Case cannot be obtained by the passive; so they can't be passivized. This view claims that in German and Dutch, the verbs are structural case assigners which is why they are able to passivized in those languages.

Another Case-related argument varies slightly, still agreeing that no passive can be formed since the verb has no object, meaning no case can be assigned. However, the difference in this argument is in the analysis of how the impersonal passive works in Dutch and German. In this Case-related argument, Roberts (1985) claims that German and Dutch usedative case,argued to be an inherent Case (this is from Chomsky's generative grammar and means that specific verbs assign specific arguments and theta-roles) on their verbs, meaning these verbs can be put in the passive.

The reasons certain verbs cannot be passivized is not just based on syntax; there are semantic reasons behind their inability to passivize as well.

Getpassive

Originally thegetpassive was viewed as another variation of thebepassive in English.It was assumed to function the exact same as thebepassive, just using the verbgetin place of auxiliarybe.Today this is a topic of discussion among linguists who have noted that there are key differences between the behavior of abepassive and agetpassive.

Control and agent behavior ingetpassives

Some claim that thegetpassive is considered a subjectcontrol verb,a construction where the unstated subject is forced to refer back to the subject of the main clause by the verb.

[Elle_igot PRO_ihired t_i]

Above, PRO has to refer to Elle, making it a subject control verb.Thebepassive does not allow for subject control.The patient in thegetpassive is often seen as being to blame for the event or action occurring, more so than in thebepassive. Thegetpassive patient seems to take on more responsibility in relation to the event of the sentence.

Marygotarrested.

Marywasarrested.

In thegetpassive version, there is some implied amount of accountability for being arrested, as if Mary did something to cause her being arrested, making it more closely related to the event of being arrested, compared to the stativebepassive which doesn't connect back to the event, but is stative.This is because ingetpassives there is a belief that the surface subject can be identified as a secondaryagent,but this is not an available reading in thebepassive.

Arguments as an adjectival passive

Some linguists argue that thegetpassive is actually an adjectival passive, making it not a true passive and different frombe.

Evidence for thegetpassive as an adjectival passive comes from examples wheregetpassives are not allowed to appear and do not behave asbepassives,which are demonstrated below:

Agent-Oriented Manner Adverbials

*The book got tornon purpose.

Rationale Clauses

*The ship got sunk[PRO/ec) to collect the insurance money].

Predication Structures

*The food (finally) got served[(PRO/ec) kneeling].

Reflexive Pronouns

*Food should never get served onlyfor oneself.

However, there are instances where the above examples have agetpassive that is allowed in the types of constructions above, and abepassive that is not. Furthermore,getpassives allow the use of the by-phrase in the same conditions as thebepassive.

The criminal got arrestedby Mary.

This is something that usually isn't seen with true adjectival passives.These notions put the idea that thegetpassive may be an adjectival passive under question.

Middle voice and passival

The termmiddle voiceis 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 bereflexive:

• 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

Such verbs may also be calledpassival.

Another construction sometimes referred to aspassivalinvolves a wider class of verbs, and was used in English until the nineteenth century. Sentences having this construction featureprogressive aspectand resemble the active voice, but with meaning like the passive.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)

A rare example of the passival form being used in modern English is with the following phrase:

• The drums are beating,i.e.the drums are being beaten

This passival construction was displaced during the late 18th and early 19th century by the progressive passive (the formis being builtas given above).The grammaticality of the progressive passive, called by some the "imperfect passive," was controversial among grammarians in the 19th century, but is accepted without question today.It has been suggested that the passive progressive appeared just to the east ofBristoland was popularized by theRomantic poets.

See also

• Ergative verb
• Existential clause
• List of common English usage misconceptions
• Mediopassive voice
• Reflexive verb

External links

• Confusion over avoiding the passive