The Syntax of the English Simple Sentence

II Applied Modern Languages

Course instructor: Daria Protopopescu
Contact: daria.protopopescu@lls.unibuc.ro

Lecture 5
THE PASSIVE; MIDDLE FORMATION

THE PASSIVE
Complex linguistic phenomenon, which manifests itself at three levels of linguistic
analysis:
a) the morphological level – the auxiliaries be and get and the past participle of the
verb
b) the syntactic level – a change in position and status of the active Subject and
Object
c) the semantic level – a change in the relation between the underlying role-structure
of the sentence and its organization. The agent (subject) no longer appears in the
subject position in the sentence, while the patient (the object) appears in subject
position.
Stylistically speaking, the Passive makes the discourse more objective, what is important
is not the agent anymore, but the event denoted by the verb itself.
Passive Morphology – be + the past participle. Passive verbs behave like unaccusative
verbs. The external thematic role of the verb that undergoes passivization is absorbed by
the passive morphology, namely the past participle of the verb. The verb is generated
from the Lexicon as passive, that is as an unaccusative that only has an internal argument
which has to move to into subject position in order to be assigned case. Being an
unaccusative verb, it does not theta-mark an external argument so it cannot assign
Accusative case. The external argument of the original active verb can be recovered in
the passive sentence as a prepositional phrase headed by the preposition BY which
assigns it the theta role Agent as well as case or it can be implicit.

 Conditions on the Passive – the adjacency constraint (the double object

construction; the dative verbs) (even with non-arguments of the verb)

Eg. (1) She gave a book to me. / A book was given to me. / *I was given a book to.
She gave me a book. / I was given a book. / *A book was given me.
(1) She wore her pullover thin.
Her pullover was worn thin.
(2) He shouted us into silence.
We were shouted into silence
- no reflexives and reciprocals (He watched himself. / *Himself was watched by him)
- no idiomatic IT ( This argument eats it. / *IT is eaten by this argument.)

The Domain of the Passive

  Transitive verbs eg. The newcomer solved the puzzle.
The puzzle was solved by a new comer.
- the position of the Adverbials of manner
eg. He wrote the letter rapidly.
The letter was rapidly written.

NO Passive:
 reciprocal verbs – resemble, marry
eg. Music resembles poetry.
*Poetry is resembles by music
 state verbs (verbs of possession) – have, possess, own
eg. He owns a house.
*The house is owned by him.
 Stative verbs (verbs of feelings) – love, hate, loathe, abhor
Eg. He loves Mary.
*Mary is loved by him.
 Reflexives
Eg. Mary admired herself in the mirror.
*Herself was admired by Mary in the mirror.

 Ditransitive verbs ( change of possession, the Indirect Object is a beneficiary;

both objects may undergo Passivization )
Eg. He gave the flowers to Mary
The flowers were given to Mary.
Mary was given the flowers.
NO Passive
 Ditransitives (no change of possession, the Indirect Object is not a beneficiary,
but an Experiencer)
Eg. He gave me a push,
*I was given a push.
*A push was given to me.
 Unergatives with a prepositional object
Eg. He insisted upon the invitation. / The invitation was insisted upon.
They talked about the movie./ The movie was talked about.

NO Passive
 Intranstitives with quantifier phrases – cost , weigh, stretch, last
Eg. The two tickets cost $100.
*$100 are cost by the tickets.
 Relational intransitives – belong to, pertain to,
Eg. The book belongs to me.
*I am belonged to by the book
 Intransitives with Locative and directional Adverbial Phrases
Eg. The house stands by the hill.
*The hill is stood by by the house
 Inherently reflexive intransitive
 Eg. He availed himself of the opportunity.
*Himself was availed of the opportunity.

 Intransitive with particle and preposition

Eg. They did away with that law.
That law was done away with.
 Intransitives with two prepositional objects
Eg, talk to smb about smth; lecture; speak; apologize; appeal
They never spoke to her about her late husband.
She was never spoken to about her late husband.
Her late husband was never spoken about (in her presence).

 Idiomatic phrases
Eg. Take strong exception to smth; make an example of smth; foist all one’s
problems on smth; pin one’s faith on smth; make too much of smth; keep close tabs
on smth; take advantage of smth,; etc
Eg. They made an example of his behaviour.
His behaviour was made an example of.

 Some Prepositional Phrases showing location

They have sat on the chair.
That chair has been sat on.

NO Passives
 Content phrases (with)
Eg. Teem with, swarm with, be crawling with, buzz with, drip with, ooze with, dance
with
Eg. The town was dancing with light and shadow.
*Light and shadow were being danced with.
 Fill a freezer with, load a truck with,
Eg. The filled the freezer with fish / The freezer was filled with fish.
*Fish were filled the freezer with by them,

 The Get Passive

more dynamic, may have a detrimental meaning, may imply that the Agent has some
responsibility for a detrimental action
eg. His leg got broken.
How did the window get open?
- focuses on the event and on its effects on the Theme/Patient
- the implied agent has full control over the action denoted by the verb
(*He got killed with great care./ He got shot – he did something because
he wanted to get shot)
- it involves the speaker’s attitude, his emotional involvement
Eg. He got caught, the silly fool!
- it is associated with more punctual events.
Eg. He got arrested.
Middles
Eg. The poem reads easily./ Tennis balls sell best in summer./ The play reads better than
it acts./ This fabric washes easily./ Cotton shirts iron well./ These figures add easily.

Properties of the English Middles

 they are one argument verb, the agent is not overt in the sentence.It may be
understood as ‘one’ or ‘people in general’, although it may be specific at times.

Eg. The car handles smoothly when John drives it.

 Unaccusatives do not have an external argument, not even an implicit one, so they
can co-occur with all by itself, in the sense that something happens without
external aid, agentlessly, unlike middles.
Eg. The boat sank all by itself.
*The play acts well all by itself.
 The meaning contribution of the subject of a middle sentence is different from the
meaning contribution of the subject in a passive sentence, as the theta roles
assigned to the subjects of a middle sentence are very different.

Eg. The book reads easily. [Theme]

Children scare easily. [Experiencer]
The truck loads easily. [Location]

Eg. The book reads easily. (It can be paraphrased as “the book has the necessary
properties that allow it to read easily. Somehow the subject is responsible for the action
denoted by the verb.)
The book was easily read.

In an unaccusative sentence the subject cannot be interpreted as responsible because it

refers to a concrete entity.

Eg. The door opens with difficulty.

So, the subject of a middle sentence is an entity, a non-Agent which is responsible for the
action denoted by the verb, in the sense that it has the necessary properties which make
the situation denoted by the verb possible.

 Middles are generic sentences that do not describe particular events in time. They
are seen as stative, atelic predicates, like individual level predicates. They are
compatible with always and incompatible with the progressive. When they occur
in the progressive they denote a change between successive stages. They do not
occur in the imperative.
Eg. This book always reads easily.
The manuscript is reading better and better.
*Handle smoothly, car!

 Middle generally occur with obligatory modifications. It can be a Manner

Adverbial, a Locative Adverbial, a clausal modifier (non-purpose), a negative
operator or an overt modal verb. The role of the modifier is to stativize the
predicate.

Eg. This book translates easily. (Manner)

Make sure the address reads through window. (Place)
Officials bribe before reaching high office. (Adverbial clause of time)
This text does not translate. (Negation)
This text will not translate.(overt modal and negation)

 Agent oriented adverbs are not allowed in middle sentences.

Eg. *Officials bribe evidently.

Middle Formation

 Only transitive verbs that have an affected argument enter Middle Formation.
Effected objects cannot occur in a middle sentence

Eg. *A dress makes easily.

 Only activities and accomplishments occur in middle sentences, stative verbs and
achievements do not allow middle formation.

Eg. The car drives well.

The book reads easily.
*The answer knows easily.
*Such mistakes notice fast.

 Only causatives that have an Instrument/Manner component enter middle

formation

Eg. Bread cuts easily.

The Syntax of the English Simple Sentence
II Applied Modern Languages
Course instructor: Daria Protopopescu
Contact: dariaprotopopescu@yahoo.com

Seminar 5 – The Passive

1. Mention the constraints on the Passive and provide examples.

2. Explain the differences between the BE passive and the Get passive. (Refer to
sentences such as: Mary got fires, the fool! / Mary was fired last week.)

3. Passivize the sentences below if possible. If there is no passive counterpart explain

why.

1. The newcomer solved the puzzle. 2. He wrote the letter rapidly.3. Music resembles
poetry. 4. He owns a house. 5. He loves Mary. 6. Mary admired herself in the mirror. 7.
He gave the flowers to Mary. 8. He gave me a push. 9. He insisted upon the invitation.
10. They talked about the movie. 11. The two tickets cost $100. 12. The book belongs to
me. 13. The house stands by the hill. 14. He availed himself of the opportunity. 15. They
did away with that law. 16. They made an example of his behaviour. 17. The minister
took strong exception to the position put forth by the opposition. 18. The teacher made
too much of your attitude during the exam. 19. The secret police kept close tabs on the
members of that terrorist organization. 20. Somebody has sat on the chair. 21. The
manager heard her talking to the stockbroker. 22. We saw him cross the street. 23. The
town was dancing with light and shadow. 24. They filled the freezer with fish. 25. They
have decided on this chair. 26. It stormed up a flood last night. 27. I took a picture of
Mary. 28. Your presence there surprised me. 29. The force of the blizzard took us by
surprise. 30. My family possess this flat. 31. His grandfather left him about $100,000. 32.
The hooligans set upon the old man and beat him up. 33. She doesn’t like it if people
criticize her. 34. They have done away with trams in England. 35. I don’t think the police
are doing anything about it. 36. They were giving a concert in the hall when a large piece
of plaster fell down from the ceiling. It injured about fifty people seriously enough for the
ambulance men to take them to hospital. 37. I have sent him a cheque for the amount
required. 38. The magistrate let him off with a severe reprimand. 39. They had evacuated
the Cathedral before the spire collapsed, so it did not hurt anyone. 40. They look after
you very well in that hotel. 41. The police eventually gave up the search for the missing
men. 42. Some girls love it if men pay them compliments. 43. Someone gave me this pen
for Christmas. 44. Everyone was listening to the news bulletin with avid interest. 45.
They told him curtly to go away. 46. They are now building a new cinema there. 47. I
assure you that the authorities are investigating your complaint. 48. Some people object if
others make them work hard. 49. I hate it when people make fun of me, though I don’t
mind it if they tease me. 50. My sister’s fiancé is cooking dinner tonight. It smells all
right anyway. 51. He left without anyone noting him. 52. He is tired of other people
sponging him on. 53. People believe the authorities accused them of planning an armed
revolt. 54. They swamped the ordinary voters with information about the candidates. 55.
Provided we do not press the terms too far, we can identify the Republicans as the
American conservatives and the Democrats as the liberals. 56. The law fixes the dates of
the American presidential elections and there is no margin for discretion. 57. The voters
mandate each member of the electoral college in advance. 58. They expect the Congress
will appoint him leader of the party. 59. Somebody broke the vase during the party. 60.
Some crazy kids destroyed my neighbour’s car last night.

4. Translate into English:

1. Nu se păstrează nici o dovadă referitoare la vizita pe care spune că a făcut-o la Paris în

1978. 2. Cum îmi expirase viza mi s-a interzis să mai intru în ţară. 3. Va fi aşteptat la
aeroport? 4. Directorului i s-a trimis o invitaţie din partea consiliului administrativ să se
prezinte pe data de 20 ale lunii şi să justifice propunerile ce fuseseră făcute privind
modificarea organigramei întreprinderii. 5. Mare parte din ce s-a spus la întrunire a fost
notat în procesul verbal. 6. Operaţia la care a fost supus a durat 6 ore. 7. S-a auzit un
strigăt la celălalt capăt al coridorului şi s-a văzut o umbră neagră prelingându-se pe
perete. 8. Hotărârea ei de a nu se căsători cu acel domn a fost aprobată de întreaga
familie. 9. Foarte multe obiecte de artă deosebit de valoroase s-au distrus în timpul
cutremurului. 10. Se ştie că nimeni nu putea să-l sufere când era preşedintele acelei
fundaţii. 11. S-a acceptat în general ideea că cele mai multe IMM-uri din domeniul
transporturilor sunt localizate în zonele de sud, centru şi sud-vest. 12. În ultimul an s-a
înregistrat o scădere accentuată a realizărilor economice ale zonei. 13. După un timp am
pierdut vaporul din vedere. 14. Nu-mi vine să cred că aceste obiecte de îmbrăcăminte au
fost purtate de Regina Maria. 15. Cum treceam pe lângă tejghea mi s-a dat un platou şi
am fost rugată să-l aduc la masă. 16. Situaţia a fost prezentată în faţa membrilor adunării
generale cărora li s-a cerut să ia o hotărâre urgentă pentru ca lucrurile să poată fi
remediate cât mai repede cu putinţă. 17. Se pare că s-a descoperit un nou medicament
pentru a lupta contra cazurilor de astmă la copii. 18. Este posibil ca în următoarele câteva
zile să fie eliberat un nou grup de prizonieri politici. 19. Aproape întreg programul
conferinţei a fost alocat unui raport. Despre situaţia din Irak. 20. Nu ştiu cum, dar în cele
din urmă am fost convinsă să-mi cumpăr o motocicletă. 21. S-a căzut de acord să se
amâne întrunirea. 22. Toată lumea se aştepta ca daunele să fie deosebit de mari. 23. Se
vede clar că preţurile au scăzut vertiginos în luna septembrie. 24. S-a luat hotărârea să se
construiască un nou drum comunal. 25. Ni s-a comunicat că ministrul de finanţe şi-a dat
demisia. 26. Încă nu s-a admis oficial că situaţia dramatică a învăţământului superior
românesc este cauzată în mare parte de subfinanţarea cronică. 27. Actualmente există
opinia că informaţiile sunt transmise la creier de către diverse substanţe chimice. 28. Se
crede că mai există încă multe obstacole în calea procesului de pace din Orientul
Apropiat. 29. În 1981 se cunoştea doar existenţa a doi specialişti în acea boală extrem de
rară în toată lumea. 30. S-a formulat acuzaţia că pârâtul ar fi fost implicat într-un jaf
armat.