TOPIC 27. THE PASSIVE VOICE.

FORMS AND FUNCTIONS

ABSTRACT
1. JUSTIFICATION AND IMPLICATIONS IN THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
2. INTRODUCTION
3. PASSIVE FORM AND CONSTRUCTIONS
4. PASSIVE CONSTRUCTION TYPES
5. USES OF THE PASSIVE
6. ACTIVE VS PASSIVE
7. ENGLISH AND SPANISH PASSIVES
8. CONCLUSION
9. BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABSTRACT

The passive voice is an important grammatical structure used in writing, reading and speaking.
Therefore, the students must be aware of this structure in order to improve their skills: proficiency
levels, avoid misunderstanding of important information… We will consider passive in its full
extent and contrast and conversion from the active for.

1. Field of linguistics, considering its grammatical and pragmatic features.

2. Form and functions, construction and types of passive

3. Comparison active VS passive

4. Main differences between passive forms in Spanish and English

1. JUSTIFICATION AND IMPLICATIONS IN THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

The relevance of this topic and the didactic implications in our teaching practice can be closely
linked with the importance of making an appropriate use of active and passive voices in our daily
life communication.
CEFRL: “a text is used to cover any piece of language, whether a spoken utterance or a piece of
writing, which users/learners receive, produce or exchange”.
-LOMCE, preamble: “the ability to communicate in a second or third lang. has become a priority”
-LOMCE, chapter III, art.23, (sections i and j)- general goals of education in Secondary):
“students are able to understand and express themselves in one or more foreign
languages in a suitable way”
-LOMCE, chapter IV, art.33 (bachillerato)
f) “express with fluency and correction in one or more foreign languages”
d) “reinforce reading habits as a means of personal development”
We will see along the topic that knowing how to properly make use of active and passive voices
will help our students to better communicate in English and also being able to improve their English
level using different voices (active, passive) when required.

2. INTRODUCTION

In English, verbs show 5 main traits: person, number, tense, voice and mood.
-According to Quirk, voice is a grammatical category that makes it possible to view the action of
a sentence in 2 ways: active or passive -> whether the subject of the sentence performs or
receives the action.
-Passive is not a tense, it is a voice.
-In pragmatics and meaning, the clause or simple sentence is the basic unit: its elements can be
reordered in certain way to facilitate the creation of textual meaning.
-Voice is a grammatical category that expresses the semantic functions attributed to the referents
of a clause. It indicates whether the subject is AGENT/ACTOR, RECIPIENT/AFFECTED/PATIENT.
-The speaker organises the content of a clause in order to achieve the best effect for his
communicative purpose. Let’s now see how the passive is formed in English.
3. PASSIVE FORM AND STRUCTURE

The active-passive relation in terms of form involves 2 grammatical levels:

1. VERB PHRASE 2. CLAUSE

1. VERB PHRASE
At this level, we normally make passive forms of a verb by using tenses of the
auxiliary verb BE + past participle of the main verb.
simple present am/is/are + pp English is spoken…

present progressive am/is/are being + pp The car is being repaired.

present perfect have/has been + pp She hasn’t been informed.

past simple was/were + pp I wasn´t allowed to park.

past progressive was/were being + pp The spy was being followed.

past perfect had been + pp I knew why I had been invited.

will future will be + pp She will be invited.

future perfect will have been + pp It will have been announced soon.

going to future am/is/are going to be + pp It is going to be delivered.

We can also find examples of:

-passive infinitives: To be asked politely can be considered a decent demand.
-passive -ing forms: Being controlled all the time creates a sense of paranoia.
-preceded by modal forms: It can be easily cleaned with a wet cloth.
-in colloquial speech, get is used instead of be: The day got spoilt after the accident.

Verbs which cannot be used in the passive form:

-intransitive verbs, such as: die, arrive (don´t have objects so there is nothing to become the
subject in the passive sentence)
She arrived late / She was arrived late
-stative verbs (refer to states) such as: fit, suit, lack, have.
This dress doesn’t fit me / I am not fitted by this dress.

2. PASSIVE CLAUSE
In a passive clause, we usually use a phrase beginning with by if we want to mention the agent
(the person or thing that does the action). It involves:
-arrangement of two elements
the active subject -> passive agent the active object->passive subject
-addition: preposition BY before the agent (only mentioned in 20%passive clauses).

Obama won the last US elections -> The last US elections were won by Obama.
4. PASSIVE CONSTRUCTION TYPES

We will now see how passive voice can be presented in the English language.

Verbs with 2 objects (IO, DO) give, send, show, 1. She gave (her daughter) (20 euros)

lend, pay, promise, tell. 2 structures are possible: 2. She gave (20 euros) (to her daughter)

Sentences with infinitive or clauses as their objects I wanted to see her (To see her was wanted by me)

(only possible in passive with a preparatory subject) It was said that I wanted to see her.

Verbs with object + infinitive

-He asked me to send him the report (act)

(usually can be made passive)

I was asked to send him the report (pass)

Verbs such as wanting, liking..cannot be passive

-He is believed to have made that statement

(Everybody wanted you to be chosen-act) (perfect progressive and passive infinitive)

Object complements (V+DO+Obj Compl) in passive, You have made the house beautiful (obj compl)

the Obj Compl become subject complements The house has been made beautiful (subj compl)

Finished result verbs. Cut, build, pack, close.

The restaurant was closed (action of closing)

In passive they may have 2 meanings: they can When I reached there, the restaurant was closed
refer to the action or they can describe the result (being shut, the result of an action).

5. USES OF THE PASSIVE

We mostly use the passive voice in the following cases:

1. When it is not necessary to mention the doer of the action:

The rubbish will be cleaned after the strike.
2. When we don’t know or have forgotten who did the action:
My mobile phone has been stolen. / I have been told about it before.
3. When the subject of the active verb would be people:
He is accused of not telling the truth. / He is known to be a famous actor.
4. When the subject of the active sentence would be the indefinite pronoun one:
One may consider it very annoying -> It may be considered very annoying.
5. When we are more interested in the action rather than in the person doing it:
The house next door has been hired.
6. To avoid an awkward or ungrammatical sentence (avoiding a change of subject):
When we want to go out the kids are looked after by my mum.
7. Pass. preferred for psychological reasons, the speaker wants to disclaim responsibility:
New restrictive measures will be taken to improve the enterprise.
8. Have / get + object + p.participle (when someone else does something for us):
I had my car cleaned for a low price. / I need to get my hair cut for the wedding.
9. With need + ing :
The housed needs being painted.

6. ACTIVE VS PASSIVE VOICE

We will now move to see the relation between active and passive forms in English.

ACTIVE VOICE -> the subject of the sentence performs the action.
The active voice is less awkward and clearly states relationship between subject and action.
My son won the Championship.
SUJ VERB OBJECT
PASSIVE VOICE -> it is the opposite. The subject of the sentence receives the action of the verb,
not performing the action.
The Championship was won by my son.
PASSIVE SUBJ PASS.VERB BY+AGENT
The active-passive alternative allows speakers and writers to exploit the 2 main positions in the
clause, the beginning and the end. From the point of view of textual organisation, there are 2
possibilities that may condition the choice between active and passive:

1. An element which is not agent working as a THEME/SUBJECT/TOPIC.

2. The AGENT is new information, so will be placed last.
3. The AGENT is not new and is silenced, so other new element is placed last.

Some discourse motivations that involve the choice of passive are:

-To cut out unnecessary given information.
-To manoeuvre important information into end position.
-To establish smooth connections between clauses, making information flow.

ACTIVE OR PASSIVE??

There are two main reasons to use the active voice:

1. It is more concise: uses less words to express one idea. Tends to eliminate wordiness.
2. It is more direct. English language uses common word order. If it is flipped, it forces the reader
to think more than needed.
Passive voice use:
1. Buries or hides the agent until the very end of the sentence.
2. The writer can use ambiguity because it is not direct (a message may be interpreted in a
different way or in a way that the writer did not intend).
3. There are certain cases and features when the passive is not just an option, but a necessary
tool.

TYPES OF ENGLISH PASSIVES

It is quite difficult to distinguish and settle the boundaries of passive sentences as they display a
wide variety of voice relationships. Several authors (QUIRK, GREENBAUM, LEECH…) propose a
passive gradient, suggested by the following examples:

central passives or true Zara sells cheap clothes-ACT

direct active-passive relation

Cheap clothes are sold in Zara-PASS
commonly no expressed agent

semi passives or mixed They were interested in the new product-ACT

members have both verbal and adjectival properties The new product interested them-PASS

pseudo passives (be+ed construction) The building is already demolished

it is only a superficial form, in terms of meaning it
does not correspond to an active structure

7. ENGLISH AND SPANISH PASSIVES

The passive voice is formed by using the verb SER+past participle of a transitive verb
-The past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject.
-Mostly used in preterit, although in theory it can occur in any tense.
-The passive voice is not frequently used in Spanish, instead “Dicen que…”, “Se dice que…”

The use of passive voice (SER + PARTIC) represents an ACTION, involving:

1) the agent
2) the time at which the action took place
Las colonias fueron establecidas en el siglo XVI.

In contrast, the verb ESTAR is used together with the past participle to indicate a state or
condition (not an action):
Los libros estuvieron escritos en español.
8. CONCLUSION

Throughout this topic we have reviewed the passive voice in English, considering :
-its role in grammar and semantics,
-its form, structure (verb phrase or clause)
-uses and comparison with the active voice
-main differences with the Spanish passive

Let’s now have a look at the teaching and learning process, before concluding. There are different
ways to approach teaching the passive voice.: at the lower levels, using a deductive approach.
-Using different examples and providing exercises where they have to determine whether if they
will use the passive and why.
-At more proficient levels, inductive reasoning by looking at examples of passive and active voice
sentences and determine the rules on their own. This gives them confidence in their ability to use
language and to understand English grammar. Thus, students take a more active role in the
learning process and more independent role as well.
-Teachers can use a combination of inductive and deductive to teach the passive voice as well.

9. BIBLIOGRAPHY

-Dawning A., Locke, P. English Grammar. A University Course. Routlegde, 2006.

-Murphy, R. English Grammar in Use, Cambridge University Press, 1990.
-Quirk, R. Greenbaum, S., Leech, G. 1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language.
London: Longman. 1985
-Swam, M. Practical English Usage. Oxford, 2000.