CHAPTER 6

THE PASSIVE
(© New Perspectives on English Grammar, Vișan, Vișan, Protopopescu)

I. PRELIMINARIES

A. Read the following text, paying attention to the use of the PASSIVE:

She is asked by the personal secretary, who makes the appointment, to give
the registration number of her car so that she may be granted parking in the
corporate headquarters’ underground bays. The good second-hand Toyota the
garage mechanic obtained for her finds a place in the cavern. She looks for a moment
at this avatar, presenting himself aggressively handsome in the silk scarf at his neck
of the shirt that becomes him best. She smiles but he knows that she is trying to
measure with other eyes the impression he needs to make. They emerge through
security turnstiles where they slot the plastic cards given them when the guard at the
entrance verified the registration number; are guided by another uniformed man to
sign (her name serves for both), time of arrival and other particulars of identification
in a gold-tooled leather-bound book; are taken over by a young woman
programmed to preface with And how are you today her instruction of which elevator
goes up to the 17th floor. […]
Mr. Motsamai’s suite is reached through his secretary’s office and his
personal assistant’s office. He receives his associate’s daughter and the young man
not in the formality of his office where he does business but in his adjoining
reception room, not too large for one-to-one contact, amply comfortable, with TV
console and a fan of financial journals on its glass tables. His sparse pointed beard,
quaintly worn as seen on engravings of ancient tribal kings, is matched in distinction
by the fresh white carnation in his lapel. […]
His face changes as he listens to her story. It’s as if he had been returned by
her to another life: this is the withdrawn and acutely attentive face of Senior
Counsel, not the affable deputy chairman or whatever-he-is in the headquarters of
this banking conglomerate or whatever-it-is. The girl’s story becomes a confession in
all the detail she has learned carefully by rote and, it’s obvious from her wary
delivery, she’s aware her companion is silently monitoring.
(The Pickup – Nadine Gordimer)

B. The text above makes frequent use of the passive voice. The passive voice
forms are in bold while the forms which are underlined are the by-agents.
i. What do the forms in bold have in common? What do the underlined forms
convey?
ii. The tenses that are used in the constructions in bold are mainly present. Identify
the auxiliary that is used to express the passive and then identify other tenses /
modal auxiliaries used with the passive constructions in the fragment.
iii. If the forms in the text are called “passive”, then they have an “active”
counterpart. Try to change the passive forms into active ones and see what other
changes occur. Can you identify the difference in meaning, between the active forms
and their passive counterparts?

II. EXPLANATIONS

1. Main properties
The passive is characterized by the following changes:
a) It is made up of the auxiliaries be and get and the past participle, or the third
form of the verb. The get-passive is discussed in further detail in Section 6
where we will see whether get is actually an auxiliary displaying the same
properties as auxiliary be.
b) There is a change in the position (and status) of the active voice Subject and
Object. Thus, the Subject of the active voice sentence, which in these cases is
generally the Agent performing the action denoted by the verb, becomes the
by-Agent of the newly formed passive construction. The former Object of the
active sentence assumes the Subject position retaining its role of Patient, if it
has a [+animate] feature (i.e. beings like Susan, Paul, the authorities, the cat are
all animate) or Theme, if it has a [-animate] feature (i.e. things like the knife, the
fresh white carnation in his lapel), thus becoming the new grammatical subject of
the passive construction.

(1) a. John will invite Susan to the party. [active]

Agent Patient [+animate]
John o va invita pe Susan la petrecere.
Susan will be invited to the party by John. [passive]
Patient by-Agent
Susan va fi invitată la petrecere de către John.
b. The white carnation matches his beard in distinction. [active]
Theme [-animate] Patient
Garoafa albă se potrivește cu barba sa în ceea ce privește distincția.)
His beard is matched in distinction by the white carnation. [passive]
Patient by-Agent
Barba sa e egalată în distincție de garoafa albă.
(2) Susan got stabbed trying to save a child. [passive]
Patient
Susan a fost înjunghiată în încercarea de a salva un copil.

We can choose to mention the person(s) attacked, i.e. the Patient(s), but to
leave out the attacker(s), i.e. the Agents. This is done by using the passive
construction, in which the Patient noun, here Susan and Jane, is the subject.

(3) Susan and Jane were attacked yesterday.

Susan și Jane au fost atacate ieri.

If we want to make sure that our addressee gets all the details, we mention
the Agent and the Patient, and we have a choice of construction, as in (4).
 (4) a. Susan and Jane were attacked by those thugs.
Susan și Jane au fost atacate de acei golani.
b. Those thugs attacked Susan and Jane yesterday.
Acei golani le-au atacat ieri pe Susan și pe Jane.

Consider the passive in (3). This is the main use of the passive both in speech
and in writing: to mention only the Patient and to omit the Agent.
From passives such as (3), listeners can infer an Agent, and adverbs can be
inserted, such as deliberately in (5), which bring the Agent very close without actually
mentioning who played that role.

(5) a. The vase was smashed deliberately.

Vaza a fost spartă în mod deliberat /voit.

Examples (3) and (5) are instances of the ‘short passive’, while (4a) is an
example of the ‘long passive’. However, even in the long passive, the Agent noun is
in an optional prepositional phrase (by those thugs) and is presented as peripheral.

Passive formation

a) be + -en past participle / 3rd form of the verb = passive interpretation

b) have + -en past participle / 3rd form of the verb = active interpretation
(Perfective structure) The past participle or 3rd form of the verb generally
appears in the perfect tenses.

These forms, which are based on a similar form, are quite dissimilar in
meaning because unlike the auxiliary have, the auxiliary be can no longer take an
Agent (doer of the action) as its grammatical subject.
In the passive it is either no longer important to express who the Agent - the
doer of the action - is, or the speaker does not want the Agent to be known. The
subject of the original active verb can be recovered in the passive sentence as a
prepositional phrase headed by the preposition BY or it can be implicit (which is to
say it can be unexpressed).

(5) b. The vase was smashed deliberately by John. (expressed by-Agent)

Vaza a fost spartă în mod deliberat / voit de către John.
c. The vase was smashed deliberately. (unexpressed by-Agent)
Vaza a fost spartă în mod deliberat / voit.

What changes does the use of the passive (expressed by passive morphology)
trigger?

 the verb loses its initial subject, by transforming it into an Agent. The Agent of
a passive does no longer appear as the subject; it appears either as a by-object
(by John) or it is somehow implicit (it can be inferred from the context).
 a passive verb can no longer assign the accusative case (= the sentence can no
longer have a direct object without a preposition). When the verb undergoes
passivization, it can no longer assign accusative case to the object that
immediately follows it, this is why the former subject in the active voice
sentence needs a preposition to give it accusative case. The occurrence of an
object directly following the passive verb, without the appropriate
preposition is therefore ungrammatical as in (6), the only grammatical;
alternative to this sentence being “Mary was invited by John” (where the
preposition BY is able to provide a link for the object - namely assigning it
accusative case)

(6) *Mary was invited John.

Mary a fost invitată John.

 passive verbs behave like intransitive verbs (i.e. verbs that do not take a direct
object): they no longer take a direct object because they cannot assign a case to
it

When is the BY-object implicit? When can it be omitted?

 The agent is not mentioned if unknown. In this case, there is no point in

adding an agent: “by somebody”

(7) My wallet has been stolen.

Mi s-a furat portofelul.

 The agent is not mentioned if it is a generalized agent. If the subject is

“people in general” or “you” the agent is not mentioned.

(8) Bicycles should be widely used in the city instead of public transport.
Bicicletele ar trebui folosite pe scară largă în oraș în locul transportului
public.

 The agent is not mentioned if it is an obvious agent. If the agent is obvious

or has already been mentioned, it is not mentioned.

(9) Susan has been arrested! (we assume, by the police)

Susan a fost arestată!
(10) The company agreed to our request and a new car-park was opened.
Firma a fost de acord cu cererea noastră și astfel s-a deschis o nouă
parcare.

 The agent is not mentioned if it is an unimportant agent. If the agent is not

important to the meaning of the sentence it is not mentioned.

(11) I was advised to obtain a visa in advance.

 Am fost sfătuit să obțin viza dinainte.

 Using the passive is a way of avoiding the naming of a specific person

who is responsible for an action, in other words the passive renders the
sentence impersonal.

(12) It has been decided to reduce all the salaries by 15%.

S-a luat decizia ca toate salariile să se reducă cu 15%.

 Emphasis is placed on the actions performed rather than on the people

who perform them.

(13) Then the bottles are packed into crates of twenty four.
Apoi sticlele sunt ambalate în navete de câte douăzeci și patru.

In what follows we provide all the temporal and aspectual forms available
with the passive.

Table 1 - Active / Passive forms

Tenses Active voice Passive voice
Finite forms
Simple Susan cleans the house every The house is cleaned by Susan
Present two weeks. every two weeks.
Susan face curat în casă o dată la Casa este curățată de Susan o
două săptămâni. dată la două săptămâni.
Present Susan is writing the letter as we The letter is being written by
Continuous speak. Susan as we speak.
Susan scrie scrisoarea chiar în Scrisoarea este scrisă de Susan
momentul în care vorbim. chiar în momentul în care
vorbim.
Simple Past Susan repaired the coffee The coffee maker was repaired
maker. by Susan.
Susan a reparat aparatul de Aparatul de făcut cafea a fost
făcut cafea. reparat de Susan.
Past The shop assistant was helping The customer was being helped
Continuous the customer when the by the shop assistant when the
earthquake cut off the electricity earthquake cut off the electricity
supply. supply.
Vânzătorul ajuta clientul în Clientul era ajutat de vânzător în
momentul în care cutremurul a momentul în care cutremurul a
întrerupt alimentarea cu energie întrerupt alimentarea cu energie
electrică. electrică.
Present Many tourists have visited that That amusement park has been
Perfect amusement park. visited by many tourists.
Mulți turiști au vizitat acel parc Acel parc de distracții a fost
de distracții. vizitat de mulți turiști.
Present Susan has been making the The preparations for her Susan’s
Perfect preparations for her son’s son’s birthday have been being
Continuous birthday. made by Susan.
Susan a făcut pregătiri pentru Pregătirile pentru ziua de naștere
ziua de naștere a fiului său. a fiului lui Susan au fost făcute de
Susan.
Past Perfect John had repaired many cars Many cars had been repaired by
before he received his John before he received his
mechanic’s license. mechanic’s license.
John reparase multe mașini Multe mașini fuseseră reparate de
înainte de a primi licența de John înainte ca acesta să
mecanic auto. primească licența de mecanic
auto.
Past Perfect Chef Ramsey had been #The restaurant’s fantastic
Continuous preparing the restaurant’s dinners had been being prepared
fantastic dinners for two years by Chef Ramsey for two years
before he moved to the States. before he moved to the States.
Bucătarul Ramsey, pregătea de Mesele de seară fantastice ale
doi ani mesele de seară restaurantului erau de doi ani
fantastice ale restaurantului pregătite de Bucătarul Ramsey
timp înainte să se mute în State. înainte ca acesta să se mute în
State.
Simple Someone will finish the work The work will be finished by
Future will by 5:00 PM. 5:00 PM.
Cineva va termina lucrul până Lucrul se va termina până la ora
la ora cinci după-amiază. cinci după-amiază.
Simple Susan is going to make a A beautiful dinner is going to be
Future be beautiful dinner tonight. made by Susan tonight.
going to Susan va pregăti o cină O cină minunată va fi pregătită
minunată pentru diseară. de Susan pentru diseară.
Future At 8:00 PM tonight, John will be At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes
Continuous washing the dishes. will be being washed by John.
will Diseară, la opt, John va spăla Diseară, la opt, vasele vor fi
vasele. spălate de John.
Future At 8:00 PM tonight, John is #At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes
Continuous going to be washing the dishes. are going to be being washed by
be going to Diseară, la opt, John va spăla John.
vasele. Diseară, la opt, vasele vor fi
spălate de John.
Future They will have completed the The assignment will have been
Perfect will assignment before the deadline. completed before the deadline.
Ei vor fi îndeplinit sarcina Sarcina va fi fost îndeplinită
înainte de termenul limită. înainte de termenul limită.
Future They are going to have #The assignment is going to have
Perfect be completed the assignment been completed before the
going to before the deadline. deadline.
 Ei vor fi îndeplinit sarcina Sarcina va fi fost îndeplinită
înainte de termenul limită. înainte de termenul limită.
Future The famous artist will have #The portrait will have been
Perfect been painting the portrait for being painted by the famous
Continuous over six months by the time it is artist for over six months by the
will finished. time it is finished.
Până să o termine, vor fi trecut Portretul va fi fost pictată de către
șase luni de când celebrul artist celebrul artist timp de șase luni
va fi pictat portretul. când avea să fie terminată.
Future #Mother is going to have been # The shirt is going to have been
Perfect washing the shirt. being washed by mother.
Continuous Mama urmează să fi spălat Cămașa urmează să fi fost spălată
be going to cămașa. de către mama.
used to Father used to pay the monthly The monthly bills used to be paid
bills. by father.
Tata obișnuia să plătească Facturile lunare erau de obicei
facturile lunare. plătite de tata.
Future in the I knew John would finish his I knew John’s work would be
Past would work by 6:00 PM. finished by 6:00 PM.
Știam că John avea să termine Știam că munca lui John avea să
lucrul până la ora șase după- termine până la ora șase după-
amiaza. amiaza.
Future in the I thought mother was going to I thought dinner was going to be
Past be going make dinner tonight. made by mother tonight.
to Am crezut că mama avea să Am crezut că cina avea să fie
pregătească cina. pregătită de către mama.
Modal My mother must have baked Those pies must have been
auxiliaries: those pies. baked by my mother.
must, need, Trebuie că mama mea a copt Trebuie că acele plăcinte au fost
may, might, acele plăcinte. coapte de către mama mea.
can, could, John could be painting the #The mural could be being
shall, should mural as we speak. painted by John as we speak.
E posibil ca John să picteze E posibil ca fresca să fie pictată în
fresca în timp ce vorbim timp ce vorbim.
Susan should have done her The homework should have been
homework hours ago. done by Susan hours ago.
Susan ar fi trebuit să își facă Tema ar fi trebuit să fie făcută de
tema acum câteva ceasuri. către Susan acum câteva ceasuri.
Non-finite forms
Present One of the doors creaked open One of the doors creaked open
infinitive five or six inches and Malcolm five or six inches and Malcolm
Bentley slipped out, to meet Bentley slipped out, to be met by
with the three children who had the three children who had been
been chosen as representatives. chosen as representatives.
Una dintre uși se întredeschise (Ten Sorry Tales - M. Jackson)
câțiva centimetri și Malcolm Una dintre uși se întredeschise
 Bentley se strecură afară ca să îi câțiva centimetri și Malcolm
întâlnească pe cei trei copii care Bentley se strecură afară ca să fie
fuseseră aleși ca reprezentanți. întâmpinat de cei trei copii care
fuseseră aleși ca reprezentanți.
Perfect The cosmetics company was The product was supposed to
infinitive supposed to have launched the have been launched by the
product. cosmetics company.
Firma de produse cosmetice Produsul trebuia să fi fost lansat
trebuia să fi lansat produsul. de către firma de produse
cosmetice.
Participle Also, the islands were strung Also, the islands were strung out
out close to the coast, a channel close to the coast, some of them
twenty feet wide separating being separated from the
some of them from the mainland only by a channel
mainland… twenty feet wide…
(My Family and Other Animals - G.
Durrell)
De asemenea, insulele erau De asemenea, insulele erau
înșirate aproape de coastă, cu un înșirate aproape de coastă, unele
canal de vreo douăzeci de fiind separate de continent de un
picioare lățime care le separa pe canal de vreo douăzeci de
unele dintre ele de continent… picioare lățime …

Gerund He didn’t want to consider the He didn’t want to consider the

consequences of them catching consequences of being caught.
him. Nu voia să se gândească la (Ten Sorry Tales - M. Jackson)
consecințele ca ei să îl prindă. Nu voia să se gândească la
consecințele de a fi prins.

NOTA BENE!
A) ALTHOUGH ALL TENSE AND ASPECT FORMS ARE ALLOWED IN THE
PASSIVE AS CAN BE SEEN IN THE TABLE ABOVE, SOME OF THEM ARE
MUCH LESS FREQUENTLY USED (I.E. PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS,
FUTURE CONTINUOUS WITH ‘WILL’ OR ‘BE GOING TO’, FUTURE PERFECT
CONTINUOUS) AND SOMETIMES ARE CONSIDERED AWKWARD,
THEREFORE ENGLISH SPEAKERS DO NOT USE THEM THAT OFTEN. THESE
ARE MARKED WITH A “#” SYMBOL IN THE TABLE ABOVE AND ARE THE
FORMS OF: FUTURE CONTINUOUS BE GOING TO, FUTURE PERFECT BE
GOING TO, FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS WILL AND FUTURE PERFECT
CONTINUOUS BE GOING TO.
B) IN THE CASE OF MODAL AUXILIARIES ALL PROPERTIES AND
CONSTRAINTS THAT FUNCTION WITH THESE VERBS APPLY! FOR
INSTANCE, IN THE CASE OF MUST DENOTING PROBABILITY, ITS
NEGATIVE COUNTERPART WILL BE CAN’T IRRESPECTIVE OF
ACTIVE/PASSIVE VOICE.
Affirmative: The pies MUST have been made by my mother.
Negative: The pies CAN’T have been made by my mother.
Let’s generalize!
The subject of the passive verb is always the patient if it is [+animate] or the theme if it is [-
animate], i.e. the one undergoing the action denoted by the verb.
The Object of the active voice sentence switches places with the Subject of the active voice
sentence, thus becoming the grammatical subject of the newly formed passive construction.
The former Subject becomes a by-Agent in the new passive voice sentence.
The be-passive may occur in most tenses and aspects as well as with non-finite verb forms,
i.e. infinitives or ing-constructions (participles and gerunds).

Food for thought

Consider the excerpts below containing different passive forms. Identify those
forms (e.g. present perfect simple passive, perfect infinitive passive, modal verb
+ progressive passive infinitive, passive gerund, a.s.o.):

a) My presents having been duly inspected and the family thanked, I then went
round to the back veranda with Leslie, and there lay a mysterious shape covered
with a tarpaulin.
b) Leslie then showed me the long, smooth cypress pole he had cut for a mast,
but explained that it could not be fitted into position until the boat was launched.
c) I suggested that I might be allowed to take the Sea Cow out myself, say once a
week, but the family were, for a variety of reasons, against this.
(My Family and Other Animals – G. Durrell)
d) But the boat was being steadily lifted on the water, with Mister Morris inside,
furiously rowing, until at last he found himself being pressed right up against
the tunnel roof.
e) Each was so pristine that Baxter as having trouble believing they weren’t still
living - as if they might have been specially trained to hang in formation all day
long.
f) As far as he could tell the cupboard had been abandoned several years earlier.
Baxter had taken pity on it and as he crouched on its floor clutching its rucksack
he thought he sensed the cupboard’s appreciation in being used again.
g) Enquiries were made as to whether there were family members who might
need to be informed of this new position.
h) Rooms had to be redecorated and converted into nurseries. Nannies and other
help had to be interviewed and hired.
(Ten Sorry Tales - M. Jackson)

Food for thought 2

Consider the following text containing different passive forms and try to turn it
into the active voice making all other necessary changes. In case this is not
possible explain why:

The old man is the museum’s only resident, but this night he is not alone.
 The visitors are supposed to leave by five o’clock, but one had stayed on,
huddling behind a large wooden display board as the door was bolted shut, and
building up the courage to do what they had been meaning to do for so long.
There are no sobs to be heard, and no wails. The visitor feels calm, and ready at
last.
When this business is over and the story is out, or as much of the story as
will ever be out, such interlopers will be described as having been drawn to the
place like moth to a flame. While they are being counted and identified, articles
will be written; some sober and balanced, others gleefully bug-eyed. None will
capture the essence of the old man or even get a real grip on the events that had
taken place under this roof. Nor will they convey any more than the haziest
sense of the lives of these supposed moths, at least not what will often be
referred to as their inner lives – the details beyond their education, employment
history and haphazard lists of their likes and dislikes. With so little known about
the thoughts and feelings from which they were built, these people will be
presented to the world as having amounted to little more than a curriculum
vitae, or a lonely hearts advertisement.
(Little Hands Clapping – D. Rhodes)

2. Idioms – the Passive Voice anomaly

Examine the following examples based on idioms made up of a verb phrase and
a noun phrase (which the verb the verb takes as a complement):

(14) a. The two countries finally resolved their conflict.

Cele două țări și-au rezolvat îndelungatul conflict.
They buried the hatchet. /Au îngropat securea războiului.
b. The hatchet had been buried.
(15) a. The old man finally died.
În cele din urmă bătrânul a murit.
The patient bit the bullet. / Pacientul a dat ortul popii.
b. ?The bullet had been bitten.

The examples show that the idioms (bury the hatchet - a îngropa securea
războiului and bite the bullet – a da ortul popii) do not have the same behaviour
regarding the passive voice1. While (14b) is perfectly acceptable, (15b) is frowned
upon by many native speakers. The change into passive is impossible for (*the bullet
was bitten) but possible for (the hatchet was buried).
The obvious question here is: why can the idiom kick the bucket (a da ortul popii)
not take the passive voice? There are also other examples of idioms behaving in a
similar manner: put one’s foot down (a pune piciorul în prag), etc. For instance if we say
his foot was put down (piciorul a fost pus jos) we do not convey the same information as
the meaning denoted by the idiom. So how can we tell that bite the bullet (a da ortul
popii) does not allow for a passive counterpart, but bury the hatchet (a îngropa securea
războiului) does? It is important to underline that, according to certain linguistic

1 For a more detailed discussion, see Url (1987).

approaches (cognitive approaches), idioms are interpreted on the basis of metaphors,
metonymies or the encyclopaedic knowledge of the world. According to previous
linguists, the inability of certain idioms to function in the passive is related to the
metaphors underlying these idioms.
In the case of bury the hatchet, the hatchet (securea) – as an implement – stands
for war, whereas the verb to bury stands for an ending – burying the hatchet is
equivalent to disposing of a war implement, thus metaphorically synonymous to
ending the war. The figurative meaning is available even to people unfamiliar with
the metaphor. On the other hand, no such metaphor can be found in the idiomatic
expression kick the bucket – the meaning of this idiom has to be explained to people
unfamiliar with it.
The idiom to bury the hatchet, the meaning of the noun phrase (a hatchet is
WAR) and the existing meaning of the verb (to bury is END) phrase agree with the
conceptual domain (bury a hatchet is equivalent to ENDING WAR) of the whole
idiom. This idiom is analyzable (it can be taken apart and its parts make sense) and
can undergo passivization. No such thing is possible for the idiom to bite the bullet –
neither the verb to bite, nor the noun bullet being immediately associated with the
image of DEATH. Other examples of idioms that have the same features and do not
undergo passivization are idioms such as chew the fat = “chat”, shoot the breeze =
“chat” (which cannot be analyzed function of the elements they are made up of).
On the other hand, there are idiomatic phrases that may appear in the
passive, precisely because their interpretation, or rather the interpretation of the
nominal phrase within the idiom is more transparent, more easy to grasp (= it can
easily receive synonyms that disambiguate the meaning of the idiom).

e.g. heed = attention headway = progress homage = respect tabs = files

pay heed to make headway pay homage to keep tabs on

For example, since the collocation “to pay attention” can easily undergo
passivization, the equivalent idiom “to pay heed” can be passivized as well. All the
idiomatic nouns above may appear in passive constructions. It is natural to assume
that the idiom “to pay heed” is interpreted exactly as the verbal phrase “to pay
attention”. Otherwise, one cannot explain why idiomatic nouns cannot appear freely
as subjects in English. Their synonyms, on the other hand, can co-occur with various
verbs (see examples (7) and (8)).

(16) a. They paid little heed to her allegations. [active]

Nu au acordat prea mare atenție acuzațiilor sale.
b. Little heed was paid __to her allegations. [passive]
Puțină atenție a fost acordată acuzațiilor sale.
b’. __ was paid little heed to her allegeations.
c. Attention / *Heed was what she needed.

(17) a. They should more make headway on this. [active]

Ar trebui să facă mai multe progrese cu asta.
b. More headway should be made __ on this. [passive]
 Mai multe progrese ar trebui să se facă cu asta.
b’. __ should be made more headway on this.
c. Progress / *Headway could help the project.

More examples of idiomatic phrases that can undergo passivization: take

strong exception to sth, make an example of sth, foist all one’s problems on sth, pin one’s faith
on sth, make too much of sth, keep close tabs on sth, take advantage of sth, throw a party,
throw a fit, pull strings, take the plunge, take the biscuit, cook the books, pop the question,
surf the net, talk shop, drop a clanger, lose one’s nerve, spill the beans, small e rat, put the cat
among the pigeons, turn a blind eye to sth, pull the wool over one’s eyes, put two and two
together, put the city on the map, break the ice, break the news, call the shots, call someone’s
bluff, do wonders, lose face, lose one’s temper, make a living, pay someone a compliment, hit
the jackpot, jump the gun, jump the queue, let sb off the hook.2

(18) a. They pulled strings so that they would get the new Mercedes before
everyone else.
Au tras sfori ca să obțină noul model de Mercedes înaintea tuturor.
b. Strings were pulled so that they would get the new Mercedes before
everyone else.
S-au tras sfori ca să obțină noul model de Mercedes înaintea tuturor.

NOTA BENE:
INTERESTINGLY, IDIOMS HAVING INTRANSITIVE PARAPHRASES ARE
NOT USED IN THE PASSIVE VOICE: kick the bucket (die), chew the fat (chat),
wear sackcloth and ashes (grieve), gather pace (move faster). AS CAN BE SEEN,
know, die, chat, grieve, move, ARE ALL INTRANSITIVE VERBS THAT
PARAPHRASE THE IDIOMATIC PHRASES ABOVE AND AS SUCH THEY
CANNOT UNDERGO PASSIVIZATION.

Let’s generalize!
Not all idiomatic phrases containing a verb and a noun (phrase) can undergo passivization.
Those that do should be transparent for interpretation and more often than not should be
paraphrasable by means of a transitive verb (i.e. a verb that takes a direct object).

Food for thought

Consider the following sentences containing different idiomatic expressions and
turn them into the passive voice making all other necessary changes.

1. Since Valentinian was still a child his mother Justina called the shots.
2. Now that they broke the ice he wanted to see members of the different
branches visiting each other in their churches and homes.
3. Fiona remembers how calm her brother was after she broke the news to him.
He must have been in total denial.
4. Wise manufacturers have done wonders in creating such variety in these ever

2
The list of idiomatic expressions is drawn by consulting Pearsall, J. (ed) 2001 The New Oxford
Dictionary of English
 popular goods.
5. He was a man of peace who relied a lot on his diplomatic skill to keep the
country neutral but profitable until 1917, when eventually they called his bluff.
6. The fearless leader lost much face that afternoon, and he was slightly less
aggressive in his recriminations for some time afterwards.
7. Have you had difficulty dealing with any kind of situation where you lost
your temper?
8. People make a living by selling something that everybody needs at least once a
year.
9. This is the first time in its history that anyone has paid such a compliment to
any foreign Ambassador or Minister.
10. Before winnings are paid, the casino will send someone to verify that the
machine was operating properly when it hit the jackpot.
11. In their hurry to get a head start in a fresh market, a few companies whose
products were rapidly rebuffed as the true industry leaders jumped the gun and
revealed themselves shortly after.
12. the queue was jumped
13. For those that made it through the grueling program, the organizers threw a
party for “relaxation.”
14. Apparently it’s much more than that to some, as an abusive poster threw a fit
when he was told he too must respect the rules of the forum.
15. Elections were controlled, bribes paid, leftist political leaders assassinated –
and the puppet masters in Zurich pulled the strings.
16. A couple of months later, he invited her out but Billy Walker put the cat
among the pigeons when he arrived home and promptly started pursuing her.
17. Instinctively, I knew that once I took the plunge, I would feel better, I would
gain confidence, and I would have discovered an experience that I would want
to repeat again and again.
18. I have met so many interesting people on the trains but a critically ill heart
patient took the biscuit on this particular journey.
19. James soon discovered that the teachers had turned a blind eye to his small
breaches of school rules.
20. They pulled the wool over my eyes when I signed the rental agreement form.
21. He put two and two were together, and the “obvious” answer of thirty-seven
was arrived at.
22. Walt Disney put the city on the map as a visitor destination when he built
Disneyland there in 1955.
23. The accountants had cooked the books, and it turns out that the financial
statements were unreliable.
24. After a glass or two the nerves were gone and he popped the question.
25. The guests talked a great deal of shop and lunch dragged on until after two.

3. Verbs which allow the be-passive construction

Which are the classes of verbs that can undergo passivization in English?
 A. Transitive verbs (Verbs that take an obligatory direct object)

(19) a. The gardener mowed the lawn.

Grădinarul a tuns pajiștea.
b. The lawn was mowed by the new gardener.
Pajiștea a fost tunsă de către grădinar.

- the position of the Adverbials of manner is important in passives. Whereas in

the active voice we prefer to leave the manner adverbial in sentence final
position, in the passive the manner adverbial occurs between the passive be
auxiliary and the lexical verb as in (20b) below. This happens because the past
participle of the verb in the passive voice is closer in interpretation to an
adjective and adjectives can sometimes be accompanied by adverbs that
modify them.

(20) a. He wrote the letter rapidly.

A scris scrisoarea rapid.
b. The letter was rapidly written.
Scrisoarea a fost scrisă rapid.

NOTA BENE:
!!! THERE ARE HOWEVER A NUMBER OF TRANSITIVE VERBS THAT
CANNOT UNDERGO PASSIVIZATION IN ENGLISH:
 reciprocal verbs (i.e. verbs that take a reciprocal object, and denote what
people do to or with each other / one another) – resemble each other, marry one
another, fight one another, wed one another, meet each other, etc.

(21) a. John fought his brother Paul for the inheritance.

John s-a luptat cu fratele său Paul pentru moștenire.
b. *Paul was fought for the inheritance by John.
Paul a fost luptat pentru moștenire de către John.
 state verbs expressing possession – have, possess, own
(22) a. He possesses a great fortune.
El posedă o avere imensă.
b. *A great fortune is possessed by him.
O avere imensă este posedată de el.
 state verbs expressing feelings – love, hate, loathe, abhor
(23) a. He loves Mary.
El o iubește pe Mary.
b. *Mary is loved by him.
Mary este iubită de el.
 reflexive verbs
(24) a. Mary admired herself in the mirror.
Mary se admiră pe ea însăși în oglindă.
b. *Herself was admired by Mary in the mirror.
Ea însăși este admirată de către Mary în oglindă.
 B. Ditransitive verbs

Ditransitive verbs are those verbs that take both a direct object and an indirect
object. Verbs expressing change of possession, where the Indirect Object is a
beneficiary (for example, the person that reaps the benefits from the situation
involved); both objects may undergo Passivization.

(25) a. He gave the flowers to Mary.

El i-a dat flori lui Mary.
b. The flowers were given to Mary.
Florile i-au fost date lui Mary.
c. Mary was given the flowers.
Lui Mary i s-au dat florile.

NOTA BENE:
!! MOST GRAMMAR BOOKS WILL INDICATE THAT BOTH (25B) AND (25C)
ARE THE COUNTERPARTS OF (25a), HOWEVER AT CLOSER INSPECTION
THIS IS NOT SO. IN FACT ONLY (25b) IS THE CORRECT COUNTERPART OF
(25a) BECAUSE OF THE ADJACENCY CONSTRAINT (SEE SECTION 6
BELOW), WHICH INDICATES THAT THE CLOSEST OBJECT TO THE VERB IS
THE ONE THAT IS PROMOTED INTO SUBJECT POSITION IF ONE IS TO
APPLY PASSIVIZATION. IN FACT, (25c) IS THE PASSIVE COUNTERPART OF
(25d) BELOW WHICH IS THE DOUBLE OBJECT CONSTRUCTION ALLOWED
ONLY BY CERTAIN DITRANSITIVE VERBS (I.E. TRANSITIVE VERBS THAT
TAKE BOTH A DIRECT OBJECT AND AN INDIRECT OBJECT: GIVE STH TO
SB, PROMISE STH TO SB, FEED STH TO SB, SELL STH TO SB, WRITE STH TO
SB, SEND STH TO SB, GUARANTEE STH TO SB, ETC.):

(25) d. He gave Mary the flowers.

El i-a dat lui Mary florile.

NOTA BENE:
!!! THERE ARE HOWEVER A NUMBER OF DITRANSITIVE VERBS THAT
CANNOT UNDERGO PASSIVIZATION IN ENGLISH:
 Ditransitives that do not express a change of possession, where the Indirect
Object experiences the action (and does not receive something/benefit from
something). Notice that (25c-d) above are perfectly fine and the verb is still
give, but the indirect object Mary receives a benefit from the act of giving, i.e.
the flowers. Although the examples below in (26a-c) involve the same verb,
give, the whole expression give a push is a bit idiomatic and the direct object a
push is not the recipient of any benefit from the action of giving, hence the
ungrammaticality of (26b-c).

(26) a. He gave me a push.

M-a împins. / Mi-a dat un ghiont.
b. *I was given a push.
 Mi s-a dat un ghiont.
c. *A push was given to me.
Un ghiont mi-a fost dat.

C. Intransitive verbs with a prepositional object: account for sth, act on sth,
adhere to sth, aim at sth, bargain for sth, call for sth, break into sth, build on sth, call
for sth, care for sth/sb, count on sb/sth, deal with sb/sth, decide on sth, impose on sb,
improve on sb/sth, frown upon sth/sb, hint at sth/sb, insist upon sth, mourn for
sb/sth, object to sth, pay for sth, plan for sth, provide for sb/sth, rely on sb/sth, resort
to sb/sth, rush into sth, settle on sth, stare at sb/sth, talk about sb/sth, tamper with
sth, wait on sb, watch over sb, work on sth, etc.3

(27) a. He paid for the party.

El a plătit pentru petrecere.
b. The party was paid for.
S-a plătit pentru petrecere.
(28) a. They tampered with the evidence.
Ei au manipulat dovezile.
b. The evidence was tampered with.
S-au manipuat dovezile.

NOTA BENE:
!!! THERE ARE, OF COURSE, IN THIS CASE AS WELL, A NUMBER OF
INTRANSITIVE VERBS WITH A PREPOSITIONAL OBJECT THAT CANNOT
UNDERGO PASSIVIZATION IN ENGLISH:
 Intranstitives with quantifier phrases (i.e. phrases that denote how many
things there are or how much something is) – cost , weigh, stretch, last

(29) a. The two crates weighed 100 kilos.

Cele două navete cântăreau 100 de kilograme.
b. *100 kilos were weighed by the two crates.

 Relational intransitives (i.e. verbs expressing possession) – belong to, pertain to

(30) a. The book belongs to me.

Cartea îmi aparține.
b. *I am belonged to by the book.

 Intransitives with Locative (i.e. show the location where something

is/happens - by the hill/road, on the way, on top of the mountain) and directional
Adverbial Phrases (i.e. show the direction to/along which something
is/happens - along the road, across the path)

(31) a. The house perches on top of the mountain.

Casa se află cocoțată pe vârful muntelui.

3 In Avram (2006: 332)

 b. *The top of the mountain is perched on by the house.

 Reflexive intransitive verbs (i.e. an intransitive verb which is always

accompanied by a reflexive pronoun) + a prepositional object: avail oneself of
sth, pride oneself on sth/sb, content oneself with sth

(32) a. They availed themselves of the free coffee.

Ei au profitat ei înșiși de cafeaua gratuită.
b. *Themselves were availed of the free coffee.

D. Intransitive verbs with particle and preposition: do away with sth, come up
with sth, cut down on sth, get away with sth, get rid of sth/sb, check up on sth/sb,
catch up with sth/sb, keep up with sb/sth, talk back to sb, break in on sb/sth, etc

(33) a. They checked up on all redundant details.

S-au verificat toate detaliile de prisos.
b. All redundant details were checked up on.
Toate detaliile de prisos au fost verificate.

E. Intransitives with two prepositional objects: talk to sb about sth; lecture sb

about sth; speak to sb about sth; apologize to sb about sth; appeal to sb for sth, etc.
(same as D above)

(34) a. They never apologized to her about their rude behaviour.

Ei nu i-au cerut niciodată scuze pentru comportamentul lor nepoliticos.
b. She was never apologized to about their rude behaviour.
Ei nu i s-au cerut niciodată scuze pentru comportamentul lor nepoliticos.
c. Their rude behaviour was never apologized about (in her presence).
Nu i-au cerut niciodată scuze pentru comportamentul lor nepoliticos.

F. Some Prepositional Phrases showing location

(35) a. They have sat on the chair.

S-au așezat pe scaun.
b. That chair has been sat on.
Pe acel scaun s-a stat jos.

NOTA BENE:
!!! THERE ARE, OF COURSE, IN THIS CASE AS WELL, A NUMBER OF
INTRANSITIVE VERBS WITH A PREPOSITIONAL OBJECT THAT CANNOT
UNDERGO PASSIVIZATION IN ENGLISH:
 Content phrases (with): teem with, swarm with, be crawling with, buzz with, drip
with, ooze with, dance with

(36) a. The town was dancing with light and shadow.

Orașul dansa de lumini și umbre.
b. *Light and shadow were being danced with.
  Verbs like: feed the lake with, load a truck with, etc.

(37) a. They fed the lake with fish.

Au alimentat lacul cu pește.
b. The lake was fed with fish.
Lacul a fost alimentat cu pește.
c. *Fish were fed the lake with by them.

Food for thought

Fill in with the correct preposition and then turn the sentences into the passive:

1. When a consensus is reached on a particular issue the chair should call … a

motion and the outcome of the vote should be recorded in the minutes.
2. Other elephants in the disabled elephant’s clan cared … it.
3. All parties dealt … the process which led to the enterprise bargaining
agreement by maintaining trust in each other throughout.
4. Experienced Wehrmacht officers built … the initial success of Barbarossa.
5. In March, Google announced it would stop censoring its search results in
China, a requirement that the Chinese government imposed … the search engine.
6. David Hughes, whose machines were widely used in the telegraph system,
improved … the idea.
7. At ten o’clock, the beer in the bottles began to freeze, and soon after the wine:
the frost acted … everything, and there was an incessant cracking everywhere.
8. The finding confirms the common sense assumption that dog ticks and fleas
existed in ancient times, as Greek and Roman writers hinted … it.
9. He had been separated from his family, and they mourned … him as one far
worse than dead.
10. Mr. Law, the Counsel for the prisoner objected … the production of this
evidence, because the fact was not charged in the Impeachment.
11. Northern politicians insisted … the 2/3 representation for blacks to balance
the census so the South would not be over represented it the congress.
12. Unfortunately, however, the Board of Trade planned … only a small part of
the enforced reduction.
13. The teachers’ union will bargain … the probationary salary and raises.
14. China reportedly obtains disputable territory more than the agreement
provided … .
15. This was an assurance which could not be mistaken, and the agent relied …
it.
16. She found herself at odds with her father, whom the school counted … to act
as a disciplinarian.
17. The House settled … the resolution.
18. Someone had broken … the house while the owners were on vacation.
19. The equity method of accounting has accounted … this investment since 2009.
20. A false message of necessity rushed … this legislation stripping people of
their constitutional rights.
 21. Mothers and their children, but also everyone else in town talked … the
event.
22. Theatre was once considered to be a disreputable pastime and the Puritan
authorities frowned … it.
23. If all parties adhered … religious freedom this debate would be irrelevant.
24. On the following morning, one of the superior officers of the police, who
informed him he had orders to conduct him again to the palace, waited … him.
25. In the morning, after taking a bath, we went downstairs to breakfast, where
the few early guests stared … me.
26. A team of eight talented bloggers worked … this beautiful project.
27. The defense lawyer tampered … the bloody glove in the OJ Simpson murder
trial.
28. A fire was set in front of it, and a man and two women watched … it.
29. Many translators aimed … the first of these ideals.
30. It was revealed that two US investment firms paid … the critical blog posting,
which caused its stock to plummet 40 per cent.
31. It has become known that the Town Council unanimously decided … the
prohibition of picketing.
32. The Romans resorted … banishment as part of their repressive policies.
33. Various preachers, most notably Bernard of Clairvaux, called … the new
crusade.
4. Omission of the by-phrase

The agent can be omitted in a passive construction in order to avoid showing

who or what was responsible for the action. The passive is sometimes used when the
agent is actually unknown. Notice how all of the agents (i.e. the subjects of the active
voice sentence) are missing in the examples below.

(38) a. Mistakes were made Ø.

S-au făcut greșeli.
b. Feelings were hurt Ø.
S-au rănit sentimente.
c. The light fixture was broken Ø.
Dispozitivul de iluminat s-a stricat.
d. The book was stolen Ø.
Cartea s-a furat.

Generally speaking, the by-phrase/by-agent is omitted if it is unknown,

irrelevant or redundant. Since passive voice is used when the speaker wants to shift
the focus of attention from the agent to the patient of the action, if the agent is not
important, it is usually omitted. In fact, many English passive sentences do not
contain the by-agent following the verb. There are, however, cases where its use
would be viewed as wrong, or unnatural:

(39) My wallet was stolen by someone.

Portofelul mi-a fost furat de către cineva.
 In this particular case, it is felt that the by agent adds no information other
than the fact that the thief was human. Therefore, its presence is completely
unnecessary and it is felt as wrong. Below we summarize the instances where we
prefer not to have an expressed by agent in the passive sentence:

- The agent is unknown or unimportant (we do not know who

performed the action or if the identity of the agent is important)

(40) a. Jack’s car was stolen Ø. (unknown agent)

S-a furat mașina lui Jack.
b. I was advised to apply for a discount Ø. (unimportant agent)
Am fost sfătuit să solicit o reducere.

- The agent is generalized (the subject in the active sentence is one, you,
we, people, everyone etc.).

(41) Most of Van Gogh’s paintings can be admired at the Van Gogh Museum in
Amsterdam Ø. (People/Everyone can admire most of Van Gogh’s
paintings at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.)
Majoritatea tablourilor lui Van Gogh se pot admira la muzeul Van Gogh
din Amsterdam.

- The agent is obvious (the identity of the subject in the active sentence is
obvious, so there is no need to identify it in the passive sentence).

(42) The murderer was arrested late last night Ø. (The police arrested the
murderer.)
Ucigașul a fost arestat aseară târziu.

- The speaker does not want to mention the agent in the passive voice
because the speaker wants to make the sentence sound more
impersonal. The causes may different: either the speaker does not want
to name the person responsible for the action, or they want to sound
objective without revealing the source of information, or it would be
inappropriate or even embarrassing to mention the agent.
(43) It has been decided to cancel next month’s meeting Ø. (unwillingness to
mention the person responsible for the action)
S-a hotărât anularea ședinței de luna viitoare.
(44) We regret to inform you that your application has been rejected Ø.
(objectivity and wishing not to reveal the source of information)
Regretăm să vă aducem la cunoștință faptul că solicitarea dumneavoastră
a fost respinsă.
(45) Mistakes have been made Ø. (unwillingness to embarrass the person
responsible for the mistakes)
S-au făcut greșeli.
 - Whenever the speaker uses the passive voice to describe a process and
hence the emphasis is on the action rather than on the
person(s)/equipment/machinery that performs it.

(46) After it had been harvested, the wheat is further processed into flour Ø.
După ce s-a recoltat, grâul se procesează mai departe și ajunge făină.

Food for thought

Cross out any uses of the by agent wherever necessary in the sentences below and
explain why:
1. Due to the extreme weather conditions, it has been decided by the Government
to close schools and kindergartens until Thursday.
2. As each conference participant arrived at the conference venue a folder
containing all conference information was handed to them by one of the
organizers.
3. The letter had been sent by post on the 10th of last month.
4. Upon returning from their prolonged holidays, the actress found that her
house had been broken into by a burglar.
5. I was told by someone that they were going to apply a very large discount to
the goods that had just arrived.
6. The large landscape painting in the middle of the room was painted by a
famous French artist.
7. It was agreed by everyone during the last general meeting that smoking would
no longer be allowed on the premises.
8. As the furniture is to be delivered by the delivery company on Wednesday, at
noon, one of us will have to stay at home.
9. Jill had to move into Bill’s office because this week her office is being
redecorated by a famous interior designer.
10. It was announced by the new management that there would be no
redundancies by the end of the year.
11. After they had been picked by the fruit-pickers, the grapes were crushed with
bare feet.
12. Susan has been selected by the coaches for the national team.
13. The wares are transported by ship across Pacific to our partners in Asia.
14. The cathedral was built in the fifteenth century by Italian workers.
15. By the time they got to the auction, the sculpture had already been sold by the
auction house.
16. The new space shuttle will be launched by NASA nest week.
17. We were lucky enough to have all our meals served by the chef of that
restaurant himself.
18. The second game of the tennis match was won by Williams in just two
minutes.
19. Jason has not been seen by anyone leaving his office for lunch.
20. An important amount of money had been raised at last week’s concert by the
cancer charity.
5. Presentative Passive

The English passive can sometimes serve as a device introducing new

information (= a focus device). We call this type of passive presentative passive.
There are several environments in English where the presentative passive occurs:

1) the use of so-called factual verbs (verbs followed by a that-clause in the

indicative mood, which convey factual information, examples of these
being: state, suggest, say, realize, recall)

The Clerk, Mr. Ian Brown, recalled that it had been suggested that the old
covered market might be suitable.
Dl. Ian Brown, funcționarul, și-a adus aminte că i se sugerase că vechea
piață acoperită ar fi putut i potrivită.

Judges are required to be impartial in their decisions.

Judecătorilor li se cere să fie imparțiali în hotărârile lor.

2) the use of the dummy subject it;

It is claimed that this activity is dangerous.

Se pretinde că această activitate este periculoasă.

3) the passive in the there-existential sentence. In this case, passive

morphology is not present in the sentence
There entered my friends.
Mi-au intrat prietenii.)
There passed a stranger.
A trecut un străin.
There emerged a problem.
A apărut o problemă.
There remains a trace.
Rămâne o urmă.

A) The Passive with factual verbs

The New Oxford English Dictionary notes that these verbs occur more
frequently in the passive with an impersonal subject than in actives such as People
say that ∼, One realises that ∼, etc.
 Table 2 - Factual verbs4
Public verbs
acknowledge, add, admit, affirm, agree,
allege, announce, argue, assert, bet, boast,
certify, claim, comment, complain, concede,
confess, confide, confirm, contend, convey,
declare, deny, disclose, exclaim, explain,
forecast, foretell, guarantee, hint, insist,
maintain, mention, object, predict,
proclaim, promise, pronounce, prophesy,
protest, remark, repeat, reply, report,
retort, say, state, submit, suggest, swear,
testify, vow, warn, write
Private verbs
accept, anticipate, ascertain, assume,
believe, calculate, check, conclude,
conjecture, consider, decide, deduce, deem,
demonstrate, determine, discern, discover,
doubt, dream, ensure, establish, estimate,
expect, fancy, fear, feel, find, foresee, forget,
gather, guess, hear, hold, hope, imagine,
imply, indicate, infer, judge, know, learn,
mean, note, notice, observe, perceive,
presume, presuppose, pretend, prove,
realize, reason, recall, reckon, recognize,
reflect, remember, reveal, see, sense, show,
signify, suppose, suspect, think,
understand

B) The Passive with dummy subject it

The impersonal subject does not appear with all non-factual verbs, but factual
verbs can appear without the impersonal subject as well, as in He is considered to be a
walking dictionary (Se consideră că este un dicționar ambulant). So the combination of
impersonal subject and factual verb may be a type of collocation based on their
similar function in the discourse.

Table 3 - Non-factual verbs5

verbs of intention verbs of causation verbs of verbs of
modality purpose
afford, aim, aspire, choose, allow, block, cause, enable, believe, desire, address,
condescend, contract, force, get, help, hinder, fear, feel, analyze,
decide, deign, design, hold, impede, keep, leave, hope, know, argue, assess,
determine, elect, intend, let, make, permit, prevent, want, regret, compare,
look, mean, plan, presume, protect, restrain, save, set, think, suppose discuss,
propose, purpose, resolve, start, stimulate, stop, aid, consider,
think, trust, agree, bar, bribe, compel, explore,
consent, offer, pledge, constrain, convince, deter, document,
promise, swear, threaten, discourage, drive, report,
undertake, vow, dissuade, force, have, evaluate,
volunteer, apply, ask, beg, hamper, impel, incite, examine, look
claim, demand, entreat, induce, influence, inspire, at, review,
plead, pray, request lead, move, push, support,
persuade, prompt, restrict, suggest,
rouse, send, spur survey

4 The classification is due to (Aarts et al. 2014:154) and the list of verbs is made by consulting Pearsall,
J. (ed) (2001) The New Oxford Dictionary of English
5
The classification is due to (Aarts et al. 2014:154) and the list of verbs is made by consulting Pearsall,
J. (ed) (2001) The New Oxford Dictionary of English
 C) There-passive.

The verbs that enter this kind of construction are:6

i. Verbs of motion (arrive, enter, pass, come, etc.)
ii. Verbs of inception (emerge, spring up, etc.)
iii. Verbs of stance (live, remain, stand, lie, etc.)

What is interesting to notice in the case of this particular construction is the

actual lack of a passive auxiliary, since it appears that the interpretation of the verb is
passive on its own, without any passive morphology.

Let’s generalize!
!!! The Presentative Passive is a means of avoiding mentioning the generalized agents we,
they, people, everybody, one etc. with reporting verbs, so we can use the following passive
patterns:

1. it + passive reporting verb + that-clause

This structure is made up of the generalized agent + active reporting verb is
replaced with it + passive reporting verb:

Everybody knows that my parents are not getting along. 

Toată lumea știe că părinții mei nu se înțeleg.
It is known that my parents are not getting along.
Se știe că părinții mei nu se înțeleg.

2. subject + passive reporting verb + to-infinitive

The structure starts with the subject of the reported clause, which is followed by
the passive reporting verb and the to-infinitive form of the verb in the reported
clause:

Everybody knows my parents not to be getting along. 

Toată lumea știe că părinții mei nu se înțeleg.
My parents are known not to be getting along.
Părinții mei se știe că nu se înțeleg.

Food for thought

Turn the following sentences into the passive by paying attention to the
presentative passive:

1. They claim that this program corrects your style.

2. People say that a team of experts is working on the problem.
3. They suppose that he discovered the technique by chance.
4. They think he was working on something completely different.

6 Quirk et al (1985: 1408)

 5. They believe that he is about to resign.
6. There are rumors that he has set up his own company.
7. They say that the police are looking into the matter.
8. People suppose that the group has been putting a lot of pressure on the
government.
9. They estimate that the cost of the scheme is well over six million pounds.
10. Everybody knows that the company has been overspending.
11. People report that a new model is about to come out onto the market.
12. They say that there’s no solution to this problem.

6. Constraints on the passive

 The adjacency constraint is a constraint that occurs with the double object
construction in the case of ditransitive dative verbs (verbs that take both a
direct object as well as an indirect object in the Dative). The restraint refers to
the impossibility of given the Subject position to the object that is furthermost
from the verb as in (57c). It is always the object which is closest to the verb in
the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.

(47) a. She gave a book to me. [Prepositional object construction]

Mi-a dat o carte.
b. A book was given to me.
O carte mi-a fost dată.
c. *I was given a book to.
Mie a fost dată o carte.

(48) a. She gave me a book. [Double object construction]

Mi-a dat o carte.
b. I was given a book.
Mi s-a dat o carte.
c. *A book was given me.
O carte a fost dată mie.

 Passivization cannot apply to sentences containing reflexive or reciprocal

pronouns:

(49) a. He watched himself. [reflexive]

S-a privit pe sine.
b. *Himself was watched by him.
El însuși a fost privit de el.
(50) a. Tom and Joan embraced each other. [reciprocal]
Tom și Joan s-au îmbățișat unul pe altul.
b. *Each other were embraced by Tom and Joan.
Unul pe altul au fost îmbățișați de Tom și Joan.
  When there is reciprocity between the referents of the subject and the object in
the active sentence  no passivization.

(51) a. John looked like Mary.

John semăna cu Mary.
b. *Mary was looked like (by John).

 When the referent of the Agent is [-animate], passivization is not acceptable.

(52) a. My shirt needs a wash.

Cămășa mea are nevoie de spălare.
b. *A wash was needed by my shirt.
[- animate]

 the it that is part of idioms cannot become the subject of the passive sentence.

(53) a. Jack will actually catch it when his father gets home.
Jack chiar va fi pedepsit când tatăl lui se va întoarce acasă.
b. *It is actually caught by Jack when his father gets home.

Let’s generalize!
It is the object closest to the verb in the active sentence that becomes the subject of the passive
sentence. It the direct object in the active sentence is a reciprocal or a reflexive pronoun, then
the sentence cannot undergo passivization. Similarly, if the referent of the Agent is
inanimate, passivization is impossible.

Food for thought

Turn the following sentences into the passive. If this is not possible, explain why:

1. The son resembled his mother physically, mentally and spiritually, and she
almost single-handedly raised him since his father regularly abandoned the
family.
2. She primped herself hurriedly and returned to the party.
3. The room needs a new coat of paint.
4. They met each other at the annual company Christmas party.
5. Bill shaves himself every other morning.
6. Susan sprained her ankle while running the marathon.
7. The departing passengers waved their hands at the crowd on the pier.
8. The two youngsters married each other in a Las Vegas ceremony.
9. Jack was humming a merry tune.
10. The dog was wagging its tail at us in an unexpectedly friendly manner.

7. The Agent in passives

a) The agent is not expressed, but it is somehow understood from the meaning of
the sentence as a whole.
 (54) a. The books were cooked [to trick the fiscal authorities].
S-au măsluit registrele contabile pentru a înșela autoritățile fiscale.
[by someone who will trick the authorities ]
[de către cineva care va înșela autoritățile.]
b. The books were cooked by the accountant [to trick the fiscal authorities].
S-au măsluit registrele contabile de către contabil pentru a înșela
autoritățile fiscale.
c. The books were cooked by the accountant. The accountant will trick the
fiscal authorities.
S-au măsluit registrele contabile de către contabil. Contabilul va înșela
autoritățile fiscale.

b) The agent is not present, but it is somehow implied by the presence of certain
adverbs or adverbials (preposition + noun combinations) following the verb.

(55) a. The house was sold deliberately / on purpose.

Casa a fost vândută în mod deliberat / dinadins.
b. Mary was seduced intentionally / with intent.
Mary a fost sedusă intenționat.
c. John seems to have been cleverly tricked.
John pare să fi fost păcălit în mod intelligent.
d. The house was rapidly sold.
Casa a fost vândută rapid.

The interpretation of the passive is one that typically lacks specificity and this
has to do with the omission of the by-Agent. We generally use the passive if we do
not want people to know who the doer of the action is so we do not specify the
agent; if the agent is viewed as typical for that verb (arrest - by the police or some law
enforcement agency) or indefinite (someone, people); or if the interpretation is
somehow generic, typical of a person or thing, in which case a frequency adverb (e.g.
always) also occurs in the sentence.

(56) a. Butter is always preferred over oil.

Untul este întotdeauna preferat uleiului.
b. Butter was preferred over oil.
S-a preferat untul uleiului.
c. An answer is always required.
Întotdeauna se preferă un răspuns.
(57) a. They were arrested last night.
Au fost arestați astă noapte.
b. You are wanted on the phone.
Ești chemat la telefon.
c. As you know, I was met at the station.
După cum știi, am fost întâminat la gară.
(58) It is known that / believed that…
 Se știe/ se crede că…

Only specific agents are expressed. Verbs that involve the idea of creating
something as a result of the activity they denote (e.g. build / design something) usually
require an implicit/unexpressed agent.

(59) a. The house was built by a French architect.

Casa a fost construită de un architect francez.
b. The house was built in ten days.
Casa a fost construită în zece zile.
c. The bridge was designed to prove a point.
Podul a fost conceput pentru a dovedi ceva.

Food for thought

Turn the following sentences into the passive. If this is not possible, explain why:

1. Someone has unfortunately mislaid you letter of complaint.

2. The authorities have banned heavy trucks from using the main road in town
during the week.
3. Archaeologists have recently discovered the remains of a mysterious
prehistoric mammal.
4. The investigators are questioning the suspect at the police station.
5. They prosecuted the accused for reckless driving.
6. The board selected a candidate for filling in the vacant job.
7. They will raise your salary after the first six months.
8. We introduced the newcomer to the rest of the people who were attending the
ceremony.
9. The two teams abandoned the field after it started to rain.
10. The restaurant usually serves this kind of steak with salad.

8. The GET-passive

The GET-Passive is a relatively new structure in English. The first attested

example of the so-called get-passive dates back to 1652, according to the Oxford
English Dictionary.7

(60) A certain Spanish pretending Alchymist ...got acquainted with foure rich
Spanish merchants. (1652 Gaule, Magastrom. 361)
Un anume alchimist spaniol s-a cunoscut cu patru negustori spanioli.

This structure is considered to be more dynamic, may have a detrimental

meaning, it may imply that the Agent has some responsibility for a detrimental
action.

(61) a. His leg got broken.

7 Toyota, J. (2008: 150)

 Și-a rupt piciorul.
b. How did the window get opened?
Cum s-a deschis fereastra?

Some grammarians consider the get passive as an alternative to the be-passive. There
are preferences between the two constructions:

i. be is preferred in a formal register

ii. get is preferred when the speaker tends to take the initiative (it does not
behave like a purely passive participant)
iii. get is preferred when the subject is perceived as having more responsibility or
a distinct intention

(62) a. *He got killed with great care.

A fost ucis cu mare grijă.
b. He got killed. (He did something because he wanted to get killed)
A fost ucis. A făcut ceva pentru că dorea să fie ucis.

- It involves the speaker’s attitude, his emotional involvement

(63) He got caught, the silly fool!

A fost prins, ce fraier!

- It is associated with more punctual events.

(64) He got arrested.

A fost arestat.

Most grammars list the verb get in this passive construction as a passive
auxiliary, but several linguists point out that the behaviour of get is dissimilar from
that of auxiliaries, one relevant example in this respect being that get does not
behave in the same way as auxiliaries concerning Negation or Interrogation:
i. Negation:
(65) a. He was not caught.
b. *He got not caught.
Nu a fost prins.
ii. Interrogation (Subject-Auxiliary Inversion)
(66) a. Was he caught?
b. *Got he caught?
A fost prins?

Food for thought

Examine the following examples. Do they have an active counterpart?
Get lost!
Let’s get started!
Let’s not get involved!
 NOTA BENE! THERE ARE GRAMMARIANS THAT DO NOT VIEW THE
GET–PASSIVE AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE BE-PASSIVE, SINCE THE GET-
PASSIVE LACKS AN ACTIVE COUNTERPART.

On the other hand, some grammarians reject the view that the get-passive is
always an alternative for the be-passive, claiming that the get-passive sometimes
lacks an active counterpart. Examples like get started, get lost, get involved, etc. are
relevant here, since no actor can be implied, e.g. He must have got lost by his friends is
ungrammatical. This makes their credibility as a type of passive construction
dubious.
The role of GET in the passive construction is different from that of the BE
passive auxiliary. GET focuses on the event described by the verb and on its effect on
the patient. This does not happen with the BE passive auxiliary which focuses on the
resulting state. This is why one of the main differences between the two
constructions can be identified in terms of [+/– punctual].

Let’s generalize!
We can make some useful generalizations to help us identify the differences between GET
passives and BE passives. This is summarized in the table below:

Table 5
GET PASSIVES BE PASSIVES
[+ punctual] [- punctual]
focus on the event and its effects  focus on the result state  stative
dynamic
E.g. He got arrested. E.g. He was arrested.
A ajuns să fie arestat. / A făcut ceva A fost arestat.
de a fost arestat.
[+ imperatives] [- imperatives]
E.g. Get married! E.g. *Be married!
Căsătorește-te! Fii căsătorit!
[- generic sentences] [+ generic sentences]
E.g. *Butter gets preferred to oil. E.g. Butter is always preferred to oil.
Untul face să fie preferat uleiului. Untul este întotdeauna preferat
uleiului.
[- intention/volition] [+ intention/volition]
E.g. *He got shot with great care by E.g. He was shot with great care by
the police. the police.
A făcut să fie împușcat cu mare atenție A fost împușcat cu mare atenție de
de către poliție. către poliție.
[- instrument] [+ instrument]
E.g. *He got killed with a gun. E.g. He was killed with a gun.
A făcut să fie ucis cu o armă. A fost ucis cu o armă.
As far as the agent is concerned, there are some characteristics attached to their
meaning in the get-passive. To this end, let us consider the set of examples under
(68).

(67) a. He got arrested.

A fost arestat.
b. He got worried.
S-a îngrijorat.
c. He got dressed.
S-a îmbrăcat.

It is generally assumed that the common property of passive subjects is that

they are not in control. The controlling entity tends to be the active subject. The get-
passive subject behaves differently from the be-passive subject in that there is a
certain degree of control attached to the get-passive subject. The degree of control
with the get-passive subject differs from one example to another, as can be seen in
(68 a-c). This creates an apparent evolution of the properties of the subject in the get-
passive sentence, ranging from a mere hint of responsibility with a human subject
(68c) to reflexive activity (68b) to causation on the part of the subject (68a). Of course,
since we are talking about an evolution and not a scale or a hierarchy, the lines are
not very clear-cut for each category below.

Table 6 - Evolution of the properties of the GET-Passive subject8

hint of responsibility of > reflexive activity > causation
the human subject
get dressed get worried get arrested
(He is RESPONSIBLE for (He did something to (He did something that
getting dressed.) HIMSELF to become lead to his arrest. He
worried.) CAUSED himself to be
* Here the difference arrested.)
from causation is quite
blurred. The subject can
also be interpreted as
involving some sort of
causation.

Food for thought

Identify the properties of the subject (i.e. hint of responsibility of the human
subject, reflexive activity, causation) in the following sentences containing the
get-passive:

1. There are rules and laws about how you should bring up an orphaned baby,
but this was wartime, when rules get forgotten.

8 This analysis is found in Toyota (2008: 157)

2. The meat smell and the sick feeling would get blown away by the smell of the
seaside.
3. We get out and walk into the fields and I’m scared. There are sheep bleating
and staring. He stands and looks at the view. I think, it’s because the sheep get
killed. It’s because the sheep get chopped up and eaten.
4. Maybe that’s why he wanted to see me, because why do people get called to
bedsides?
5. You don’t want to get caught short, especially on a car journey.
6. As if it’s all her fault and she knows it and she’s sorry, and she doesn’t see why
she has to go before the headmaster and get punished extra for it, when it’s
punishment already, just knowing.
7. The things that do and don’t get told. You’ll never know, you never had the
chance, about warm August nights and colanders.
8. It sounded half like a fairy-tale, after all, half like what you’d make up to tell a
kid. How years ago when they first got married Uncle Jack and Auntie Amy,
who weren’t her real aunt and uncle, of course, but she knew that, had this little
baby girl called June.
9. She was looking at me with this laugh in her face, like she knew all along how
babies got made.
10. There are still no signs up to tell you, just the rough grass, ruffled by the
wind, and a ragged path, and there aren’t any people except us. It’s like it got
built then forgotten.
(adapted from Last Orders – Graham Swift)

Food for thought 2

Try to undo the effect of the get passive in the following sentences by turning
them into be-passives. How does that change them?

1. Why did you get divorced?’ she asks.

2. I heard she got married.
3. She was looking at me with this laugh in her face, like she knew all along how
babies got made.
4. There’s still no signs up to tell you, just the rough grass, ruffled by the wind,
and a ragged path, and there aren’t any people except us. It’s like it got built
then forgotten.
5. So when the Lothian was hit, forward, and I was forward fire party but got
sent aft for more hoses and then the second shell came in, killing Dempsey and
Richards and Stone and Macleod, I knew, sharper than most, the pain of
survival.
6. So Mandy Black, or Judy Battersby as she was travelling as, arrived in London
in a meat lorry and got carted away again in a butcher’s van, without so much as
a peep at Leicester Square.
7. I even reckon she was holding her head a bit higher and her back a bit
straighter, as if this was an important day, a very important day, and she had to
see it got managed proper, like something special had happened to her and she
wanted to share it.
8. There you are, Lenny, he got spliced to a Joan an’ all.
9. There were brick walls and a gateway and a drive and gardens and trees, so
that though it was the edge of London you might have been arriving at
someone’s country mansion. Except the mansion had got mixed up with what
looked like an old-style barracks block, with grilles on the windows, and, once
through the main entrance, there was the usual sour-milk smell of Institution, the
usual squeaky corridors leading off, the usual rattle of things being shifted by
trolley.
10. It smells like something you remember, like the seaside you remember,
except I never got taken to no seaside.
11. ‘It’s the Jetty,’ Vince says, shouting against the wind. ‘It’s the Jetty, the bit that
never got swept away.’
12. There’s rules, there’s laws about how you should bring up an orphaned baby,
but this was wartime, remember, when rules get forgotten.
13. The meat smell and the sick feeling would get blown away by the smell of
the seaside, and though you knew it was still there in the van and there was the
journey back, you didn’t think about that till it happened.
14. We get out and walk into the fields and I’m scared. There are sheep bleating
and staring. He stands and looks at the view. I think it’s because the sheep get
killed. It’s because the sheep get chopped up and eaten.
15. But I thought, and maybe Amy was thinking it too, how you could take it
another way, and maybe that’s why he wanted to see me, because why do people
get called to bedsides?
16. You don’t want to get caught short, especially on a car journey.
17. As if it’s all her fault and she knows it and she’s sorry, and she don’t see why
she has to go before the headmaster and get punished extra for it, when it’s
punishment already, just knowing.
18. The things that do and don’t get told.
19. There’s a raised bit running all the way along, several feet higher, like a
defence, except there’s what looks like the remains of old railings and lamp-posts
up there, rusty and stumpy, as if once long ago you might’ve taken a jaunty stroll
along the top, if you didn’t get blown away first.
20. I got bitten.
21. Maybe he was just a perfectionist, keen to have all his evidence lined up and
in place before going public. Or did he just get distracted by barnacles?
22. Not surprisingly, politicians, media, and just plain folks get frustrated by this
‘dueling scientists’ mode of presentation, an unfortunate staple of the
mainstream media.
23. You might get caught.
24. As soon as you get settled in, you can come and borrow my copies.
25. I pressed my face closer, and my nose got squashed against the cold metal.
26. She lived for nothing more than living, with nothing to get inspired by, to
care for, to call her own.
27. That way, blind people could get paid for being led around.
28. We cannot let ourselves in these Byzantine struggles.
29. If you don’t get paid, don’t get married.
30. Parents are supposed to pass down physical traits to their children, but it’s
my belief that all sorts of other things get passed down.
31. In case we get stopped by the police, don’t say anything, let me speak.

Some further observations - reporting with the passive

If the reporting and the reported event happen simultaneously, in the same time
frame, we use simple or continuous infinitives, depending on whether the verb in
the reported clause was simple or continuous.

If the time frame is the present, then both the passive in the main clause and the
infinitive in the subordinate are present:

My son’s football coach is said to be very strict.

They say my son’s football coach is very strict.
Se spune despre antrenorul de fotbal al fiului meu că este foarte sever.
George R.R: Martin is rumoured to be writing a new book.
Rumour has it that George R.R: Martin is writing a new book.
Se zvonește că George R.R: Martin scrie o carte nouă.

If the time frame is the past, then the passive in the main clause is past, but the
infinitive in the subordinate can still be present to render the idea of simultaneity:

Paul was thought to be in the house.

Everybody thought Paul was in the house.
Se credea că Paul era în casă.
Paul was reported to be staying in Paris at that time.
They reported Paul was staying in Paris at that time.
S-a raportat că Paul locuia pe atunci la Paris.

In the following examples, the verb in the reported clause of the original sentence
was passive, so we use passive infinitives in the new sentence. Although these
examples differ structurally from the ones above, the Romanian translation is
similar to the one for the structures above.

If the time frame is the present, both verbs are in the present:

The manuscript is believed to be owned by Mr. Smith.

They believe the manuscript is owned by Mr. Smith. / They believe Mr. Smith
owns the manuscript.
Se crede că manuscrisul este deținut de dl. Smith.
The statue is said to be being restored. (rarely used)
They say the statue is being restored. / They say that some experts are
restoring the statue.
 Se spune că statuia se află în proces de restaurare.

If the time frame is the past, the main verb is past, the infinitive is present to
preserve the idea of simultaneity:

The money was thought to be provided by private funding.

They thought the money was provided by private funding. / They thought
private funding provided the money.
Se credea că banii erau oferiți prin finanțare privată.
The spy’s phone was believed to be being tapped. (rarely used)
The CIA believed that the spy’s phone was being tapped. / The CIA believed
that someone was tapping the spy’s phone.
Se credea că telefonul spionului era pus sub ascultare.

If the reported event happens before the reporting, we use perfect or perfect
continuous infinitives, depending on whether the verb in the reported clause was
simple or continuous.

If the reporting happens in the present and the reported event in the past:

He is believed never to have smiled at anyone.

They believe he never smiled / has never smiled at anyone.
Se crede că nu a zâmbit nimănui niciodată.
She is known to have been writing poems for years.
They know she was writing / has been writing poems for years.
Se știe că scrie poezii ani de zile.

If the reporting happens in the past and the reported event in an earlier past:

Susan was assumed to have left the day before.

They assumed Susan had left the day before.
Se presupune că Susan a plecat ieri.
The organizers were thought to have been preparing for days.
Everybody thought the organizers had been preparing for days.
Se crede că organizatorii s-au pregătit zile în șir.

In the following examples, the verb in the reported clause of the original sentence
was passive, so we use passive infinitives in the new sentence.

If the reporting happens in the present and the reported event in the past:

The picture is known to have been painted by Rembrandt.

They know that the picture was painted / has been painted by Rembrandt. /
They know that Rembrandt painted / has painted the picture.
Se știe că tabloul a fost pictat de Rembrandt.
The picture is believed to have been being painted for years. (rarely used)
 They believe that the picture was being painted / has been being painted for
years. / They believe that the artist was painting / has been painting the picture
for years.
Se crede că tabloul a fost / s-a pictat ani de-a rândul.

If the reporting happens in the past and the reported event in an earlier past:

The documents were claimed to have been signed by the manager.

They claimed that the documents had been signed by the manager. / They
claimed that the manager had signed the documents.
Se pretinde că actele s-au semnat / au fost semnate de către manager.
The tree was reported to have been being chopped when the accident happened.
(rarely used)
The investigators reported that the tree had been being chopped when the
accident happened. / The investigators reported that the woodcutters had been
chopping the tree when the accident happened.
S-a raportat că arborele a fost tăiat în momentul în care a avut loc accidentul.

In conclusion, Romanian prefers the same structure in the case of reporting verbs
irrespective of the presentative passive structure used, namely a reflexive
impersonal, of the type se crede, se spune, se zvonește etc.

9. Middle constructions

Besides the passive construction, English has another interesting structure

available for rendering something as neutrally as possible, i.e. the middle
construction. The middle construction echoes the passive in meaning, but retains the
appearance of an active sentence. Let us illustrate with the following examples:

(68) a. The poem reads both easily and naturally.

Poezia se citește ușor și natural în egală măsură.
b. Half the audience feels that the play reads better than it acts.
Jumătate din public este de părere că piesa se citește mai bine decât se
joacă.
c. This fabric washes easily and requires little care and almost no ironing.
Acest material se spală ușor și nu cere prea multă grijă și nu necesită
călcare.

In all of the sentences above, the interpretation of the sentence is clearly

passive, since the apparent subject in the sentence undergoes the action denoted by
the verb. The appearance of the structure is that of an active sentence, in that no
passive auxiliary is used whatsoever.
Properties of the English Middles

 No agent is present in the middle sentence. The agent may be understood as

‘someone’, ‘one’ or ‘people in general’, although sometimes it may be
specified in case it occurs in another clause as in (2) below.

(69) The coffee machine handles smoothly whenever Susan turns it on.
Aparatul de făcut cafea merge ușor ori de câte ori îl pornește Susan.

 Intransitive verbs that do not have an expressed agent, not even an implicit
one, can occur with phrases such as all by itself, in the sense that something
happens without any external aid, without any implicit agent, unlike middles.
If we are to compare the two structures, we can notice that both the examples
in (71) below and the middles in the set of examples in (69) above make use of
the impersonal reflexive in Romanian.

(70) a. The barge sank all by itself. intransitive verb with no expressed agent
Barja s-a scufundat de una singură.
b. *The play acts well all by itself. middle construction
Piesa se joacă bine de una singură.

 The meaning of the subject of a middle sentence is different from the meaning
of the subject in a passive sentence, as can be seen from the different
interpretation they acquire in the examples below.

(71) a. This volume reads easily. [Someone else does the reading and the
volume is the object of the reading.]
Acest volum se citește ușor.
b. Small children scare easily. [Someone scares the children and they
experience the scare.]
Copiii mici se sperie ușor.
c. The barge loads easily. [Someone does the loading and the barge is just
the location where this happens]
Barja se încarcă ușor.

Example (72a) can be paraphrased as “this volume has the necessary

properties that allow it to be easily read”. Somehow the subject is responsible for the
action denoted by the verb.

(72) a’. This volume was easily read.

Acest volum s-a citit ușor.

If a sentence contains an intransitive verb without an agent, the subject cannot

be interpreted as responsible because it refers to a concrete entity.

(72) The door opens with difficulty.

 Ușa se deschide cu greutate.

Let’s generalize!
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.

Let us summarize below the most important features of middle constructions:

Table 7
Properties of middle sentences
[+ generic] They do not describe particular events in time.
They are interpreted as stative predicates without an end point.
They are compatible with an adverb such as always.
This book always reads easily.
Această carte se citește ușor mereu.
[-progressive When they occur in the progressive they denote a change
aspect] between successive stages.
The manuscript is reading better and better.
Manuscrisul se citește din ce în ce mai bine.
[-imperative] Middles cannot occur in the imperative.
*Handle smoothly, car!
Condu ușor mașina!
[+obligatory The modification can be a manner adverbial, a locative
adverbial adverbial, a clausal modifier (non-purpose), a negative adverb or
modification] a modal verb. The role of the modifier is to make the predicate
stative.
This book translates easily. (manner)
Cartea aceasta se citește ușor.
Make sure the address reads through window. (place)
Asigură-te că adresa se poate citi prin fereastră.
Civil servants bribe even before reaching high office. (adverbial
clause of time)
Funcționarii publici se mituiesc chiar înainte de a ajunge la
ranguri înalte.
This text does not translate. (negation)
Acest text nu se traduce.
This text will not translate. (overt modal and negation)
Acest text este imposibil de tradus.
[-agent- These adverbs are labelled as agent-oriented because their
oriented interpretation is oriented towards the agent in the sentence
adverbs] rather than towards the manner in which the event takes place.
As such they cannot combine with middle constructions.
*Civil servants bribe evidently.
Funcționarii publici se mituiesc evident.
It is evident that civil servants get bribes.
 Este evident că funcționarii publici primesc mită.
* Civil servants get bribes in an evident manner.
Funcționarii publici primesc mită în mod evident.

Which verbs enter the middle construction?

 Transitive verbs whose direct object pre-exists the event described by the verb
enter middle structures. Objects that are a result of the event denoted by the
transitive verb cannot occur in a middle sentence.

(73) *A novel writes easily. (The novel is the result of the writing process.)
Un roman se scrie ușor.

 Verbs denoting activities (drive) or causation + change-of-state (read a book)

occur in middle sentences, state verbs (know) and verbs denoting just change
of state (notice) do not allow middle formation.

(74) a. The bike rides smoothly.

Se merge ușor cu bicicleta.
b. The book reads easily.
Cartea se citește ușor.
c. *The truth knows readily.
Adevărul se știe iute.
d. *Such mistakes notice quickly.
Astfel de greșeli se observă repede.

 Verbs that denote causation and have an instrument or manner component

appear in middle structures.

(75) Bread cuts easily. (The implied instrument is a knife.)

Pâinea se taie ușor.

III. TIPS FOR TRANSLATION

1. The GET Passive

Translating the get passive into Romanian may prove to be a difficult task if one
wants to draw a distinction between the get passive and the be passive. Get
expresses action and change and is only used with action verbs, not state verbs:

John was fired because he was always late with his deadlines.
John got fired because he was always late with his deadlines.
(fire is an action verb)
John a fost dat afară pentru că întârzia mereu cu termenele limită.

Nothing is known about her whereabouts.

 Nu se știe nimic despre locul unde se află.
*Nothing gets known about her whereabouts. (know is a state verb)
Nu se află nimic despre locul unde se află.

As get in the passive voice expresses action, it makes it possible to differentiate

between an action and a state if it is not otherwise clear. This is possible because
of the two distinct interpretations of the constructions in English; however,
Romanian does not seem to be able to differentiate between the two.

The window was broken. (state or action)

The window got broken. (action)
S-a spart geamul.

2. Translating middles

Middles are translated into Romanian either by using a reflexive structure.

The shirt washes easily.
Cămașa se spală ușor.

or by using a copulative (e ușor) and a supine (de spălat):

Cămașa e ușor de spălat.

This structure is easily adaptable since Romanian manner adverbs have the same
form as masculine adjectives, therefore the transition to a copulative structure is
feasible.

It appears that the middle construction may be paraphrased in a very similar

way to what we have in the case of the presentative passive:

Presentative Passive Middle construction

a) It is reported that Bill committed a
murder.
(S-a raportat că Bill a comis o crimă.)
b) Bill is reported to have committed a
murder.
(S-a raportat despre Bill că a comis o crimă.)
a) The shirt washes easily.
(Cămașa se spală ușor.)
b) The shirt is easy to wash.
(Cămașa e ușor de spălat.)

If we look at the translation of the middle construction, we can notice that the
translation of the paraphrase slighty changes in Romanian. In a) we use the
reflexive se spală, whereas in b) we use the supine de spălat.
The difference between the two structures (presentative passive vs. middle
construction) lies in the overt passive morphology of the former and the implied
passive interpretation of the latter.
 Food for thought
Transform the following middle constructions following the pattern:
e.g. The shirt washes easily.  The shirt is easy to wash.

1. The microwave oven cleans effortlessly.

2. Bill frightens easily.
3. This fabric washes well but irons even better.
4. This sheet of cardboard folds perfectly.
5. The salami slices handily.
6. The car rides comfortably.
7. His latest novel translates nicely.
8. The coffee machine loads without difficulty.
9. Accidents happen conveniently.
10. Public opinions sway quickly.

IV. EXERCISES

1. Fill in with the correct passive form of the verb in brackets, paying
attention to the auxiliaries:

1. The lamp gave out; each flight of stairs ……… (illuminate) by a push-button light
timed to switch off before you reached your destination.
2. He ……… (lead) willingly, but without understanding why, down two flights of
stairs, past piles of junk mail.
3. Between the restaurants, though, many of the shops ……… (close down) and
……… (board) over; or they ……… (convert) to thrift or charity shops.
4. Each dish ……… (display) in rectangular steel pans beneath a glass counter, and
on each ……… (tape) a sign indicating what it was. The food ……… (heat) in two
microwave ovens which sat on a shelf.
5. While waiting for college life to start, he had wanted ……… (challenge)
intellectually and in every other way.
6. Seeing dozens of exhibitionists and all sorts of maniacs roaming freely about the
neighbourhood, one has to wonder whether the nearby asylum ……… (close down).
7. That was a road that he was becoming familiar with; so far most of his notions
about Londoners ……… (base) on it.
8. It ……… (rumor) that college reunions ……… (hold) in the county jail.
9. Caesar ……… (say) ……… (dice) with death when he decided to cross the
Rubicon.
10. It was at least plain that nothing very honest or clear ……… (settle) between us.

2. Fill in with the correct form of the verb in brackets, using the get passive:

1. I pretend like he has one hour left, if he ……… (rescue) by then, it’s all over.
2. The shoeshine boys tried to steal some of the oranges that ……… (run over) but
father and another man made them put them back in the old woman’s basket.
3. He ……… (pay) for helping them, he just gets some cigarettes or one week of
freedom where they don’t try to kill him.
4. The only time I ever served was when I was seventeen, I ……… (send) to
Blackwell’s Island for heisting.
5. I ……… (dress) and take you to lunch.
6. I worried that I might ……… (lose) in the cellars, or that my room in the west
wing would be haunted by a headless nun.
7. But we wanted ……… (marry) with minimum fuss, in Hampstead Registry Office
just over the road.
8. ‘Don’t you ……… (pay) for giving interviews?’
9. He always turns his back ……… (undress) and he makes too much noise when he
eats.
10. He says that the public always assume that all famous people know each other,
so they never properly ……… (introduce).

3. Turn the following sentences into the passive:

1. They offered vast rewards for the baby’s safe return. 2. It was a suggestion which
they welcomed most warmly. 3. They had drawn a veil of secrecy over the whole
alien landing and any communication which they had made with them. 4. They gave
descriptions to search parties and they sent them on their way. The next thing you
know poor the aliens had snatched away poor Miss Bowen. 5. People saw the
mayor’s retreat as a minor victory so a great deal of cheering and chanting and
stamping of feet accompanied it. 6. Susan admired herself in the mirror. 7. Bill gave
the flowers to Monica. 8. They gave me a push so I fell off the edge and hurt my
knee. 9. He insisted upon the very formal invitation. 10. They talked about the movie
for hours on end. 11. The two gala tickets cost £50. 12. The police had caught him
shoplifting and brought him home. 13. The house stands by the hill. 14. He availed
himself of the opportunity. 15. They did away with that obsolete 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 owns this flat. 31. They expect the Congress will appoint him leader of the
party. 32. Somebody broke the vase during the party. 33. Some crazy kids destroyed
my neighbour’s car last night. 34. They gave up the search after three hours since the
equipment had provoked a failure. 35. Someone should look into the matter before it
gets too complicated. 36. We had to put off the implementation until our Department
proved it wouldn’t mean an increase of the expenses. 37. They gave me to
understand that they would call on my services if they needed them. 38. Don’t plug
the machine until we tell you to do so. 39. He will stop showing off if people take no
notice of him. 40. His bank manager turned down his request for a loan, giving
redundancy as a result. 41. You must account for every pound you spent in case the
manager requires an explanation. 42. They pointed out that no one could deal with
the matter until they knew all the facts. 43. Events will bear out the truth of what I’m
saying. 44. They hate people making fun of them.

4. a) Match the following idioms to their correct equivalent; b) fill in the gaps
with the appropriate idiomatic expression; c) try to turn the sentences into
the active:

a)
1. to break the news; to lose one’s nerve; to make a living; to drop a clanger; to lose
face; to surf the net; to spill the beans
2. to earn a salary; to make a blunder; to tell a secret; to be humiliated; to break
down; to announce; to browse

b)
1. Practical measures were then planned to support those patients likely to be most
affected when the news was broken.
2. Too much face would be lost by those who convinced the public and politicians in
2003 and 2006 that embryo experimentation and cloning was essential if children
were to be cured of their afflictions.
3. It is a matter of wonder how a living is made by all the newsstands on the
corners.
4. With everyone else out, speaker volumes were raised and the net was surfed for a
good couple of hours.
5. It looks as if a clanger were dropped in keeping Assad in power through sheer
embarrassment.
6. Nerves were lost, and my head was filled with images of rejection.
7. That secret lasted for a few months before the beans were spilled all over the
Kremlin.

5. Turn the following sentences into the active voice, paying attention to the
idiomatic expressions:

1. There were no longer several major powers, but a bipolar world evolved where the
shots were called by the United States and the Soviet Union.
2. However, the ice was broken, and it suddenly became possible to mention the
prince’s name again.
3. The day came when the news was broken that he would be leaving the seaside resort
for the greener pastures of New York City.
4. With the assistance of several colonels of the Paris garrison, Napoleon attempted
to seize control, but his bluff was called, and he was shot.
5. With such men and materials as were at hand in the emergency wonders have been
done.
6. The door-plates probably cost twenty dollars apiece, no man was thrown out of a
job, and no “face” was lost.
7. If you were saying something when your temper was lost, all your words would
look like holes, leaving scars in people’s heart.
8. A living is made by exercising political power, through commerce, agriculture, or
the crafts.
9. A compliment was paid to 20,000,000 Americans of German birth or descent who
refused to have anything to do with Nazism in the United States.
10. The news release didn’t identify the winner but said the jackpot was hit on
Thursday.
11. It looks like the gun was jumped before the ink was even dry on the contract.
12. Sometimes, when the queue is jumped without proper regulation, accidents
happen.
13. A party was thrown the night of our stay at the hotel so sleep was impossible.
14. Regardless, whether a fit was thrown or not, that still doesn’t excuse complete
incompetence of the customer service worker.
15. Strings were pulled to extricate the actress from other commitments, and filming
began in late spring.
16. The cat was put among the pigeons when the visitors suddenly scored.
17. It is critical for the western institution to take local advice in understanding the
market before the plunge is taken and this could help avoid expensive mistakes.
18. I think the biscuit was taken yesterday by Denmark’s Prime Minister, who on the
day on which Denmark formally assumed the leadership of the EU Council also had
to announce that the leaders’ meeting planned for January 30th in Brussels has had to
be rescheduled to January 29th because of a planned general strike in Belgium on that
day.
19. A blind eye was turned to what was usually regarded as prudent and hopes were
lodged in the belief of a “new economy” where new rules prevailed.
20. If you had watched the televised debates you should feel very annoyed that the
wool was pulled over your eyes.
21. It was only matter of time before two and two were put together, and a lynch mob
would be banging on the door.
22. The city was put on the map, when a fossilized mammoth was discovered in the
area about 10 years ago in a sand pit.
23. Of course, all three alibi witnesses stoutly denied that the books were cooked.
24. The question was popped, the date has been set, and now the planning begins.
25. These bands have official websites and when the net is surfed, there is a list of the
names of bands that play wedding music and can be hired.
26. Very little shop was talked because there was no common ground for ‘shop’.
27. I think a clanger was dropped in the first place, by ensuring that people could take
the right to this payment abroad.
28. Once my nerve was lost the natural thing to do when I got out of my car at the
hospital was to make sure that there was nothing wrong with it.
29. But since the beans were spilled by Mr. Snowden, the criticism has exploded with
multiple articles and news reports filling up the TV screen.
30. Nothing could ever be proved, but a rat was smelled by all who had ever known
about the drug, which, however, were not many.
 6. Turn the following sentences into the passive by paying attention to the
presentative passive:

1. The teacher reminded us that we should finish our home assignment by Monday.
2. The trainer encouraged the new recruit to work harder in order to catch up with
the others.
3. Bill invited his colleagues over for a homemade dinner.
4. The church had commissioned the artist to paint the mural in six months.
5. The law firm instructed the solicitor to meet with the witness.
6. The general exhorted the troops to hold the line of defence.
7. The Minister of Justice urged civil servants to resist any temptations of receiving
bribes.
8. You can trust him not to let the cat out of the bag.
9. The authorities did not license the selling of alcoholic beverages in that
establishment.
10. Most parents usually warn their children against talking to strangers.
11. The head of department summoned him to report at once.
12. Her friends had cautioned her against driving in bad weather.
13. The audience challenged the illusionist to perform a dangerous act.
14. The laws of the country require ministers not to be members of the Parliament.
15. The pack of bullies dared the lonely teenager to drive the car at 100 mph.
16. The immigrants petitioned the Parliament to change the law preventing them
from obtaining a working permit and health insurance.
17. The new legal stipulations empower the authorities to expel any unwelcome
immigrants without prior notice.
18. The riot police urged the protesters to scatter immediately or face fines.
19. The defendant implored the judge to reconsider his case.
20. The new regulations entitle the management to receive regular reports on the
employees.

7. Translate the following sentences into English by using the passive:

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

Argentina în 1978.
2. I s-a interzis să mai intre în ţară pentru că îi expirase viza așa că a trebuit să
depună cerere pentru una nouă la consulat.
3. Se pune întrebarea dacă va fi întâmpinat la gară de mașina firmei sau dacă va
trebui să cheme un taxi?
4. Mare parte din ce s-a spus la întrunire a fost notat în procesul verbal.
5. Directorului i s-a trimis o invitaţie din partea consiliului administrativ să se
prezinte pe data de 20 a lunii în curs şi să justifice propunerile ce fuseseră făcute
privind modificarea organigramei întreprinderii.
6. Operaţia la care a fost supus a durat mai mult decât s-au așteptat rudele.
7. S-a auzit un strigăt de la celălalt capăt al coridorului şi s-a văzut o umbră neagră
furișându-se pe lângă perete.
8. Hotărârea sa de a nu merge împreună cu colegii la conferință a fost aprobată de
întreaga familie.
9. Multe obiecte de artă deosebit de valoroase s-au distrus în timpul inundației
provocate de țeava spartă.
10. Se ştie că nimeni nu putea să-l sufere când era directorul acelei organizații
nonguvernamentale.
11. S-a convenit asupra faptului că firmele din domeniul transporturilor ar trebui să
se găsească în zonele din apropierea granițelor.
12. După un timp vaporul s-a pierdut din vedere.
13. Nu-mi vine să cred că aceste veștminte au fost purtate de Regina Maria.
14. Cum treceam pe lângă tejghea mi s-a dat o tavă cu pahare de vin pline ochi şi am
fost rugată să-o aduc la masă.
15. Se pare că s-a descoperit un nou medicament pentru a lupta contra cazurilor de
astmă la copii.
16. Este posibil ca în următoarele câteva zile să fie eliberat un nou grup de prizonieri
politici.
17. Aproape întreg programul conferinţei a fost alocat unui raport despre situaţia din
Irak.
18. Nu ştiu cum, dar în cele din urmă am fost convinsă să-mi cumpăr o motocicletă.
19. S-a căzut de acord să se amâne întrunirea.
20. Toată lumea se aştepta ca daunele să fie deosebit de mari.
21. Se vede clar că preţurile au scăzut vertiginos în luna septembrie.
22. S-a luat hotărârea să se construiască un nou drum comunal.
23. Ni s-a comunicat că ministrul de finanţe şi-a dat demisia.
24. Încă nu s-a admis oficial că situaţia dramatică a învăţământului superior
românesc este cauzată în mare parte de subfinanţarea cronică.
25. Actualmente există opinia că informaţiile sunt transmise la creier de către diverse
substanţe chimice.
26. Se crede că mai există încă multe obstacole în calea procesului de pace din
Orientul Apropiat.
27. În 1977 se cunoştea existenţa a doar doi specialişti în acea boală extrem de rară în
toată lumea.
28. S-a formulat acuzaţia că pârâtul ar fi fost implicat într-un jaf armat.

8. Translate into Romanian paying attention to the passive voice:

a) All this was hard to effect, for in a few minutes several of the men were upstairs
with him, taking axes to the furniture, tearing the curtains down, and soaking
everything with kerosene.
There was an attic floor, and when Clarke went up there he was stunned to find a
child – a girl, bare-legged – standing in front of a mirror and wrapping around her
shoulders a beautiful red shawl with threads of gold as calmly as if the house
weren’t being destroyed under her. Only when she raised her eyes and stared back
at him in the mirror did he realize she was a white Negro, white like white
chocolate. […]
There was nothing else for it but to let the darkies find places for themselves and
their belongings in the wagons, sitting amid the plunder or up beside the teamsters.
They had come up with a pony cart for the old granny. Clarke was made somber by
their joy. They could not be usefully conscripted. They were a hindrance. There
would be no food for them, and no shelter. About a thousand blacks were following
the army now. They would have to be sent back, but where? We do not leave a new
civil government behind us. We burn the country and go on. They are as likely to be
recaptured as not – or worse, with guerillas riding in our wake.
(The March – E.L. Doctorow)

b) It was a large, dark room, furnished in a funeral manner with black horsehair, and
loaded with heavy dark tables. These had been oiled and oiled, until the two tall
candles on the table in the middle of the room were gloomily reflected on every leaf;
if they were buried, in deep graves of black mahogany, and no light to speak of could
be expected from them until they were dug out.
(A Tale of Two Cities – C. Dickens)

c) A large cask of wine had been dropped and broken, in the street. The accident had
happened in getting it out of a cart; the cask had tumbled out with a run, the hoops
had burst, and it lay on the stones just outside the door of the wine-shop, shattered
like a walnut-shell.
All the people within reach had suspended their business, or their idleness, to
run to the spot and drink the wine. The rough, irregular stones of the street, pointing
every way, and designed, one might have thought, expressly to lame all living
creatures that approached them, had dammed it into little pools; these were
surrounded, each by its own jostling group or crowd, according to its size. Some
men kneeled down, made scoops of their two hands joined, and sipped, or tried to
help women, who bent over their shoulders, to sip, before the wine had all run out
before the fingers. Others, men and women, dipped in the puddles with little mugs
of mutilated earthenware, or even with handkerchiefs from women’s heads, which
were squeezed dry into infants’ mouths; others made small mud embankments, to
stem the wine as it ran; others, directed by lookers-on up at high windows, darted
here and there, to cut off little streams of wine that started away in new directions;
others devoted themselves to the sodden and lee-dyed pieces of the cask, licking,
and even champing the moister wine-rotted fragments with eager relish. There was
no drainage to carry off the wine, and not only did it all get taken up, but so much
mud got taken up along with it, that there might have been a scavenger in the street,
if anybody acquainted with it could have believed in such a miraculous presence.
[…]
The wine was red wine, and had stained the ground of the narrow street in the
suburb of Saint Antoine, in Paris, where it was spilled. It had stained many hands,
too, and many faces, and many naked feet, and many wooden shoes. The hands of
the man who sawed the wood, left red marks on the billets; and the forehead of the
woman who nursed her baby, was stained with the stain of the old rag she wound
about her head again. […]
The time was to come, when that wine too would be spilled on the street-stones,
and when the stain of it would be red upon many there.
(A Tale of Two Cities – C. Dickens)

d) If we start at the top of the job ladder, we find the captain of the industry. This
expression was coined by Thomas Carlyle, who used ‘Captains of Industry’ as a
chapter heading in his book Past and Present in 1843. It became a popular expression,
particularly in newspapers, to describe the leaders of big business, but now has a
slightly old-fashioned ring to it. Such people are nowadays more likely to be called
the much less respectful fat cats. They may also be self-made men. A term from the
first part of the nineteenth century, ‘self-made man’ is used to describe someone who
has won wealth and position through his own efforts, rather than through the
advantages of birth. It is rarely used without some element of snobbery or an
indication that the person is at best a rough diamond, and the quotation books
abound in jokes made at his expense. One of the best known of these is Disraeli’s
comment on being told that he was perhaps being too hard on John Bright, as he was
a self-made man, to which Disraeli replied, I know he is and he adores his maker’. If
this boss heads a merger they can be said to get into bed with another company, well
used since the 1970s. […] Then in the 1980s came the golden hello, where someone is
paid a sum just for joining a company.
(The Cat’s Pyjamas – The Penguin Book of Clichés – J. Cresswell)

e) Riaz’s room was larger than Shahid’s, with the same curling wall-paper. But it was
infinitely more cluttered with books, papers, files and letters. They were piled up on
the floor and overflowed from filing cabinets and were somehow pasted to the
window-sill, perhaps by mango chutney or Lucknow pickle. Shahid was sure that
some of the crispy-looking files were made of nan and dried chapattis, contained old
poppadoms and were secured by cobwebs.
Upstairs, someone was playing a Donna Summer record and male squeals could
be heard. Shahid was about to smirk, but intuited quickly that neither of his new
friends would share his amusement.
(The Black Album – H. Kureishi)

f) Now then. Let’s say it’s dark. The suns, all three of them, have set. A couple of
moons have risen. In the foothills the wolves are abroad. The chosen girl is waiting
her turn to be sacrificed. She’s been fad her last, elaborate meal, she’s been scented
and anointed, songs have been sung in her praise, prayers have been offered. Now
she’s laying on a bed of red and gold brocade, shut in the Temple’s innermost
chamber. […] The bed itself is called the Bed of One Night, because no girl ever
spends two nights in it. Among the girls themselves, when they still have their
tongues, it’s called the Bed of Voiceless Tears.
At midnight she will be visited by the Lord of the Underworld, who is said to be
dressed in rusty armour. The Underworld is the place of tearing apart and of
disintegration: all souls must pass through it on their way to the land of the Gods,
and some – the most sinful ones – must remain there. Every dedicated Temple
maiden must undergo a visitation from the rusty Lord the night before her sacrifice,
for if not, her soul will be unsatisfied, and instead of travelling to the land of the
Gods she will be forced to join the band of beautiful nude dead women with azure
hair, curvaceous figures, ruby-red lips and eyes like snake-filled pits, who hang
around the ancient ruined tombs in the desolate mountains to the West.
(The Blind Assassin – M. Atwood)

g) Given all the hysteria of a new Empress arriving in Villjamur, Eir had hoped for a
better night of celebrations. It was now days after her father’s funeral, but this final
evening of celebrations had been talked about and anticipated so highly by everyone
from councilors to servants. People in the city had been looking for anything to hang
their good mood on given the assault of ice, and Rika’s new position had certainly
offered them that.
But as the evening’s festivities died away, Eir found herself seated at a table
being lectured on how the general behaviour of ladies in Villjamur had diminished
of late. Lord Dubek was a cousin’s stepfather, a gruff old man dressed in the same
dreary blue garments he always wore. Though nearing fifty, he was rumored to have
a keen eye for younger women. As his vision drifted across her exposed shoulders,
she pulled up her green velvet gown and glowered at him.
‘Thing is,’ he said, swilling a cup of red wine ‘we live in an age with little war.
Your generation is ruined by that. You’ve all grown up without hardly ever seeing
real fear in your parents’ eyes…’ He brushed down his moustache, and leaned in a
little closer.
(Nights of Villjamur– M. Newton)

9. Translate into English paying attention to the passive voice:

a) Pe țărmurile despre Lipova, de la pod la deal, e Sărăria, o mare șură de scânduri,

în care se adună sarea adusă pe luntri de la ocnele din Ulioara, ca să fie vândută
pentru satele dimprejur. În fața Sărăriei sunt vara-iarna, ziua-noaptea o mulțime de
care, iar din sus de Sărărie e șirul de mori plutitoare de-a lungul țărmului. Persida și
Trică se strecurară printre care, ocoliră Sărăria și înaintară spre mori. De câte ori,
vara, au trecut ei Mureșul pe luntrița de la vreo moară!
Acum însă nu era vară, ci primăvară și Mureșul era lat, foarte lat, tulbure-gălbui
și plin de spume și de vâltori. Morile, care altădată se aflau în apropierea țărmului,
de care erau legate prin podișcă, acum rămăseseră departe spre mijlocul râului, de
unde abia lise auzeau tocăniturile monotone. Cum să ajungă ei acolo, ca să roage pe
vreuna dintre calfele de morar să-i treacă!?
(Mara – I. Slavici)

b) Confort englezesc, chelneri în haine naţionale, orchestră până la patru dimineaţa

sub geamuri, în grădină... Nedeprinsă să dorm la concert, am profitat de ocazie şi m-
am cultivat. Am citit toate articolele, toate telegramele, toate informaţiile, toate
foiletoanele şi toate anunţurile din jurnalele în care erau împachetate cumpărăturile.
Să te pun în curent: prinţesa de Meklenburg s-a logodit cu ducele de Hessa, sau
poate el e prinţ şi ea ducesă; Radivon vinde ceasornice de aur cu doi lei bucata şi mai
dă pe deasupra ca premiu un ac de cravată tot de aur; împărăteasa Germaniei a făcut
cadou împăratului doi prinţi gemeni; preţul rapiţei s-a urcat; Pepita Ximenez s-a
înamorat de cumnatul ei, don Diego. Vezi că nu ştiai? După marş, a cântat un ofiţer
de două ori Luna doarme. Şi pe urmă am adormit şi eu“.
Masa era acum inundată şi peretele tapetat de gângănii de o sută de specii,
bijuterii cu forme curioase, imitând animale cunoscute şi necunoscute — ca o
reducţiune a lumii mari — de diferite culori, pe care Adela le definea, comparându-
le cu pietre preţioase, cu metale, cu stofe... „Petpedecul“ se auzea la răstimpuri, în
grădină. „Steaua nebună“ înainta alarmant de repede spre plop. „Petpedecul“...
poreclă dată de Adela unei prepeliţe, care spune mereu, conştiincios, în fiecare
noapte, aceleaşi trei silabe, singurele pe care le ştie: „Petpedec!“; „steaua nebună“...
luceafărul albastru, care ne anunţă unsprezece ceasuri şi sfârşitul sindrofiei când
ajunge deasupra unui plop, al treilea, dintre cei cinci din ograda vecină. Numele i l-a
dat tot ea, într-o seară, când ni s-a părut că a luat-o prea repede spre plop,
înfrângând legile naturii.
— Ai isprăvit itinerarul? m-a întrebat ea. Ai să-mi povesteşti pe urmă tot, tot, nu-i
aşa?... Cum? Nu eşti sigur că ai să faci excursia?
Şi zâmbetul ironic şi afectuos i se stingea şi i se aprindea mereu în ochi, ca şi
lucirea stelei de pe cer.
(Adela – G. Ibrăileanu)

c) M-am aşezat la masă făcându-mi cruce după datină când, deodată, un răcnet:
călcasem, se vede, cu potcoava cizmii, pe un cotoi bătrân, care era sub masă.
Cocoana Marghioala sare repede şi deschide uşa de perete; cotoiul supărat dă năvală
afară, pe când aerul rece năpădeşte-năuntru şi stinge lampa. Caută chibriturile pe
bâjbâite; caut eu încolo, caută cocoana-ncoace — ne-am întâlnit piept în piept pe-
ntunerec... Eu, obraznic, o iau bine-n braţe şi-ncep s-o pup... Cocoana mai nu prea
vrea, mai se lasă; îi ardeau obrajii, gura-i era rece şi i se zbârlise pe lîngă urechi puful
piersicii... În sfârşit iacă jupâneasa aduce tava cu de mâncare şi cu o lumânare.
Pesemne om fi căutat mult chibriturile, că ţilindrul lămpii se răcise de tot. Am
aprins-o iar...
(La hanul lui Mânjoală – I.L. Caragiale)

d) Bunicul a murit magnific, așa cum i se cădea lui să moară. Eu nu eram în țară, dar
mi s-au povestit detaliile. Numai o săptămână a ținut boala. La cel dintâi pericol a
fost dus la București, la doctori mari. Inutil În ziua de Paști a murit. L-au transportat
în orașul lui, într-un vagon, și în alt vagon luase loc toată familia. De la un timp,
familia, de prea multă durere, a început să râdă. Un unchi a anunțat pe bunica dar n-
au fost scenele groaznice la care te puteai aștepta. Bunica a ghicit imediat și era
perfect pregătită, semn că se gândise de mult la această posibilitate. De altfel,
bunicul, bine socotit ca întotdeauna, când implinise șaptezeci de ani, făcuse cavou la
cimitir. Deci, dacă se vorbea de moarte de obicei între ei, certitudinea morții era pusă
în socoteli, dar atunci când trebuie, la bătrânețe și nu pe neașteptate. Când a trecut
carul mortuar prin fața casei, toți pomii erau în floare… Mi s-a spus că priveliștea era
superbă.
 (Bunica se pregătește să moară – A. Holban)

e) Cum au izbutit bunicii să întemeieze o gospodărie așa de însemnată și să poarte de

grijă pentru fiecare din atâția copii, cu toate că au început fără bani mulți, cu leafa
unui profesor de odinioară? Fiecare cheltuială a fost bine chibzuită și dacă
îmbunătățirea nu făcea salturi și se îndeplinea încet, totuși era sigur. De multe ori,
noi, cei tineri, ne scandalizam că bunicul nu se pricepe să fie generos nici la urmă,
când scăpase de nevoi. Bunica nici acum nu face imprudențe cu banii, dar la
economii nu se mai gândește. Statul se pricepe el să pună dezordine în orice
socoteală și să transforme aproape lunar pensia, și ea achitată la date neprecise.
(Bunica se pregătește să moară – A. Holban)

References

Books and articles:

Avram, Larisa. 2006. English Syntax. The Structure of Root Clauses, Bucureşti: Oscar Print
Quirk, Randolf, Sydney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, Jan Svartvik. 1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of
the English Language, London and New York: Longman
Toyota, Junichi. 2008. Diachronic Change in the English Passive. Palgrave Studies in Language History
and Language Change, London: Palgrave Macmillan
Zernlk, Url. 1987. “Learning Idioms - With and Without Explanation” in Proceedings of IJCAI-87, pp.
133-136

Dictionaries:
Aarts, Bas, Sylvia Chalker, Edmund Weiner. 2014. Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, Oxford:
Oxford University Press
Pearsall, J. (ed) 2001. The New Oxford Dictionary of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Literary works:
Atwood, Margaret. 2000. The Blind Assassin. London: Virago Press
Caragiale, I.L. 1952. Opere. București: Editura de stat pentru literatură și artă
Cresswell, Julia. 2007. The Cat’s Pyjamas – The Penguin Book of Clichés. Penguin Books
Dickens, Charles. 1970. A Tale of Two Cities. Penguin Books
Doctorow, E.L. 2006. The March. London: Abacus
Durrell, Gerald. 1977. My Family and Other Animals. London: Penguin Books
Gordimer, Nadine. 2002. The Pickup. London: Bloomsbury
Holban, Anton. 1990. „Bunica se pregătește să moară”. în Antologia nuvelei românești, București:
Editura Albatros
Ibrăileanu, Garabet. 2006. Adela. București: Editura Minerva
Kureishi, H. 2000. The Black Album. London: Faber and Faber
Newton, M. 2012. Nights of Villjamur, New York: Tor Books
Rhodes, Dan. 2011. Little Hands Clapping. Edinburgh: Canongate Books
Slavici, Ioan. 1952. Opere. București: Editura de stat pentru literatură și artă
Swift, Graham. 1996. Last Orders. London: Picador
English teaching
Johnson: Talking past each other

Mar 19th 2014, 9:45 by R.L.G. | BERLIN

SOME advice is worse than useless. A short list of bullet points from eHow, a website, that is
passing around social networks purports to show “how to write good.” (Each rule was
jokingly broken in explaining it.) Unfortunately, it will not help most people write good. Two
of the rules explained not to split infinitives or end sentences with a preposition. But both
“split infinitives” and sentence-ending prepositions have been native to English, used by the
finest writers, for centuries. The rest of the eHow list included the injunction that “the passive
voice is to be avoided”. But sadly, many writers, even professionals, cannot recognise the
grammatical passive voice. (Here is a compendium of examples of writers calling out others
for using the passive, when no passive has been used.)

The public understanding of grammar is in bad shape. There is blame to go round, but the
simplest approach is to look at the teaching of the subject known as “English” at schools and
universities.

Many schools have downplayed grammar teaching, so much so that pupils often first
encounter words like “past participle” and “subordinate clause” in a foreign-language class,
not in English. Traditional sentence-diagramming, though flawed, at least once taught
students to break a sentence into its syntactic parts. Systematic grammatical analysis is now
as hard to find as an inkwell in a school. Schools focus - rightly, as far as it goes - on getting
students to organise their thoughts into essays. But they have de-emphasised the art of
organising words into phrases, phrases into clauses, and clauses into well-crafted sentences.
Many school-leavers in English-speaking countries cannot even say what a clause is. How are
they supposed to systematically craft good ones?

But the problem goes deeper, to teacher training. Many English teachers struggle as much as
students with phrases and clauses. They can correct common mistakes (“don’t confuse
‘effect’ and ‘affect’”) and teach punctuation (“it’s” versus “its”). But many could not
confidently and correctly break the words of a complex sentence down by function. This
seems to be due to a divorce long ago between the study of language itself and what college
departments teach future teachers in the “English” departments.

In short, university English departments teach literature, not language. In Johnson's brief look
at the English-major requirements for five top American universities, not one requires a
course on the English language itself. The picture is similar in Britain and elsewhere.

English majors become English teachers. They have spent years learning how to analyse
poems, stories, novels and plays—but, in the average case, not a single semester analysing
sentences. This is reflected in schools’ curricula: designed by former English graduates, they
often require year after year of literature, but not a single focused course on the language
itself. Many teachers must squeeze grammar teaching in where possible. Of course many
good English teachers understand, and teach, English grammar well. But it is too often
despite, rather than because of, their own university training.
The study of language itself has fallen to a separate academic field: linguistics.
Unfortunately, linguistics and English departments have little to no interaction. Linguists
have learned much about English grammar in the past century, but since linguistics became
its own discipline, it has focused on its own narrow internal debates, with little of the
influence that (say) psychology or economics have on the wider world, even though language
is a topic of intense interest.

As a result of the divorce of language and literature, linguistics has developed an entire hoard
of basic terms to describe sentences that are utterly unknown to English teachers. Take
“determiner”. This is a basic class of words that includes the, a, an, three, this, that, my, his,
many and many others. The reason linguists talk about determiners is that they all play the
same kind of syntactical role, and are quite different from adjectives, the category they’ve
traditionally been crammed into. Many other basic terms of syntax, like “complement” and
“adjunct”, are virtually unknown outside the field, though they’re crucial for understanding
how English grammar works.

The upshot is that those responsible for teaching English in schools pass on rules they
memorised in high school, rather than a university-level understanding of grammar itself. It
would be as though chemistry teachers taught “don’t drink mercury”, “hydrochloric acid is
corrosive” and “burn this and it will yield a blue flame”, but had only a fuzzy understanding
of particles, atoms and molecules.

Therefore, a small proposal: English departments should require an interdisciplinary class

with linguistics on the grammar of the English language. Literature departments should
cultivate more scholars who focus on language itself rather than literature alone. (Their
academic research could focus on historical changes in English; how literary writers employ
grammar devices; data-driven analysis of great English writing; the use of dialect and non-
standard English; and so on.) In exchange, linguistics departments should require their
students to take an English department class, to let those scientifically minded students
broaden their horizons with the close reading of literary texts.

This should then pass through to schools. Linguistics and English departments should talk at
conferences about how to improve pupils’ and students’ learning of language analysis, with a
view to reviving and modernising grammar in schools. The upper years of high school should
include a course focused purely on the language, rather than squeezing grammar teaching into
literature courses.

Telling students not to split infinitives or end sentences with prepositions is wrong. But it
would be only a small improvement to teach: “Split infinitives and end sentences with
prepositions.” It would be much better to teach what a preposition really does, and how an
infinitive really behaves. Understanding is tougher than memorisation. But on the bright side,
students would come away not just with a memorised list of “do this, don’t do that,” but with
a real appreciation for the intricate clockwork that is English grammar.

Jmeker, da
student!
Orice categorie de persoane, indiferent de vârstă sau ocupație,
își are fraerii, dar mai ales jmekerii ei. Astfel că, o specie aparte,
de la sportivi, la ,,vedete” TV, de la jurnaliști, rectori universitari
la, în special, politicieni, o constituie studentul-jmeker. Deși
paradoxal în aparență (având în vedere imaginea ideală a
studentului-viitor-intelectual), el este prezent în ,,cantități” deloc
neglijabile. Studentul-jmeker este imaginea perfectă a studentului
fără dileme. A celui ce crede că deține adevărurile vieții, în cazul
nostru, ale studenției. Dar, dincolo de această primă trăsătură
(totuși definitorie), ce alte caracteristici prezintă el? Oare este
portretul său robot? Bineînțeles, nu există un singur răspuns la
aceste întrebări, ci, mai degrabă, o panoplie de tipuri ce
inevitabil se suprapun.
Avem mai intâi studentul-jmeker pentru care facultatea ce o
urmează este o simplă anexă, o ,,șmecherie”, la ,,afacerile”
cotidiene mult mai importante. El are însă nevoie de diploma ce
îi legitimează statutul său social. Fără ea ar fi un simplu
absolvent de liceu, însă cu ea devine un ,,ilustru” absolvent de
facultate. Oricum, nimeni nu îl mai întreabă ce a făcut în anii
studenției, din moment ce a ,,reușit să se descurce”, însă această
impostură nu este completă fără a fi exhibată. Astfel că, studentul
interesat și dornic să se formeze atât profesional cât și intelectual
devine, în gândirea studentului 'jmeker, fraerul prin excelență.
Un alt tip de student-jmeker este cel experimentat în arta
copiatului la examene. Întreaga sa pregătire din sesiune constă
în gândirea celor mai bune strategii de obținere cu orice preț a
notei de trecere (acolo unde se poate, chiar a unei note cât mai
mari). Așadar, poziția sa în amfiteatru trebuie să-1 facă aproape
invizibil. Mintea îi acționează în detectarea momentelor
prielnice ,,trecerii la acțiune”. La ieșirea de la examen, printr-un
râs strident și în auzul tuturor, se miră de cât de ușoare au fost
subiectele.
O altă formă de exhibare a șmecheriei are loc la aflarea notelor.
Studentul-jmecher este veșnic nemulțumit și se simte nedreptățit.
Sigur, profesorul ,,are ceva cu el”, pentru că lucrarea a fost
,,aproape perfectă”. Restul colegilor trebuie să ia parte neapărat
la ,,drama” sa. Următorul pas îl constituie cererea de explicații
din partea profesorului, prin e-mail sau telefon. Alții, cu mai
puțin spirit de ințiativă, preferă înjurătura sau blestemul (N..., o să
mori de cancer!, spre exemplu), scrise pe lista cu note. Poate că
profesorul va vedea și își va da seama de ,,greșeala” și
,,nedreptatea” făcute.
Mai există, bineînțeles, și studentul-cumpărător-de-examene.
Întregii ani de studenție se constituie din cumpărarea (cu bani
grei) a celor mai multe dintre examene. La sfârșitul facultății,
se revoltă împotriva ei pentru că nu-i oferă nici un loc de
muncă. Abia acum își dă seama de inutilitatea alegerii făcute și
de felurile în care s-ar fi putut folosi de banii irosiți în
cumpărarea notelor. În nici un moment nu se gîndește însă că
,,vina” pentru pierderea anilor în facultate și a banilor aferenți îi
poate aparține. Întotdeauna alții sunt responsabili.
Pe studentul-jmeker îl poți recunoaște chiar de la distanță.
Comportamentul, atitudinea sau simplul sau fel de a fi îl
,,recomandă”. El este cel care se așează cât mai în spate în
amfiteatru sau în sala de seminar și nu pierde nici o ocazie în a-și
face simțită prezența, de regulă, în afara discuțiilor; îl găsești, de
asemenea, împreună cu alții ca el, pe culoarele universității,
țipând, înjurând sau acostând fetele prin cea mai nouă (și mai
șmecherească) sonerie de telefon.
Bineînțeles că aceste tipuri nu irosesc întreaga panoplie de
categorii ale studentului-jmeker, însă sunt oarecum definitorii.
Acest tip de student, parcă tot mai prezent în universitățile de la
noi, se trage dintr-o altă specie, puțin mai naivă - elevul-jmeker și
stă totodată la baza șmecheriei ce poate fi întâlnită mai târziu în
toate instituțiile și domeniile profesionale.
Mișculații, lipeli, la ciuciu
Cuvântul șmecher are o familie lexicală bogată.
Diminutivul șmecheraș) e ironic, depreciativ, minimalizator
(,,un șmecheraș de două parale”); verbul a șmecheri e
polisemantic: în construcția tranzitivă, a șmecheri pe
cineva cu ceva înseamnă ,,a înșela; a truca, a falsifica”; iar ca
reflexiv - a se șmecheri- are sensul ,,a deveni (mai) abil”: ,,e,
ne-am șmecherit”. Din familia lexicală mai fac parte adverbul
șmecherește și câteva substantive, nume de acțiune sau de
calitate: șmecherie, șmechereală, șmecherlâc; primul intră în
locuțiunea la șmecherie. Interesantă e și înmulțirea
adjectivelor: alături de șmecher însuși, care poate fi folosit
adjectival (un tip șmecher, o treabă șmecheră), se folosesc
mai obișnuitul șmecheresc, dar și mai marcatele șmecheros (,,o
roșcovană cu ochi șmecheroși”, Arion 1985) și (provenind din
participiu) șmecherit (,,fercheș, puțin neserios, puțin
«șmecherit»...; cucerise numai inimile fetelor din anii mai
mici”, Dumitriu 1980). Din prima jumătate a secolului al
XX-lea datează falsul nume propriu Șmecherzon, de care
s-a ocupat și Leo Spitzer.
O întreagă rețea lexicală desemnează zona de acțiune a
șmecherului contemporan. Câmpul lexical cuprinde acțiuni
generale - a se învârti, a se descurca, a se orienta, a se prinde. a
fenta, a îmbârliga -, strategii punctuale - mișculații
(miscora(ții), combinații, manevre, lipeli, mistrețuri,
moșmande -, simulări - trucaje de Buftea, figuri, la șto, la ciuciu
-, mijloace verbale - papagal, texte, vrăjeli, caterinci, abureli,
etc. - și, desigur, plasarea justă: pe fază pe felie. Șmecherul -
care e miștocar, pontos, naș, jupân, băiat de băiat — își trage
mașini dichisite, supărate, bengoase; uneori preterițiile îți sunt
ironizate (de alți șmecheri), pentru că prea se dă rotund /
lebadă. / balenă etc.
(Rodia Zafiu - ,,Diversitate stilistică în Romania actuală” /
,,Câmpul semantic al șmecheriei”)
Anul IV • nr. 161 • 9-15 martie 2007 •
DILEMAVECHE