Transcript The choice of the Passive and Active Construction

The choice of the Passive
and Active Construction in
Literary English
Done by
Vira Zakernychna
EPh group 13
The aim of this presentation is to tell
what voices of the verb there are in
English language and to show the
cases of choosing the active and
passive constructions in literary
English.
Urgency of the explored theme is to
avoid difficulties with mentioned
structures perception reading the
literary text translations.
Main tasks
1. To submit the theme in the next way:
• to give the nominalization for active and passive voice
• to tell about the formation of the active and passive
constructions in English language
• to compare them and show the sphere of their usage
• to mention the peculiarities of usage and translation the
passive constructions
2. To make the conclusion
3. To give a short test for checking the attention of the
audience
Voice is the form of the verb which shows
the relation between the action and its subject,
indicating whether the action is performed by the
subject or passes on to it.
Accordingly there are two voices in English: the active
and the passive.
The Active voice shows that the action is performed by
its subject, that the subject is the doer of the action.
The passive voice shows that the subject is acted upon,
that it is the recipient of the action:
Active
She hated narrow,
deprived life. (p. 546)
Passive
The minister was
murdered.
When We Use Active and Passive?
Active
• Is less awkward and
clearly states relationship
between subject and
action
Bessie had closed the
nursery-door upon me…
• It is shorter and more
direct
He drew the heavy
curtains. (not The heavy
curtains were drew by
him.)
Passive
• The agent (doer) of the
action is unimportant
Your hand will be X-rayed.
• The agent is common
knowledge, and
mentioning it would be
redundant
The rubbish hasn’t been
collected.
• The agent is unknown
I am told she has left
Moscow.
• The writer desires to
control focus of sentence
He finished the book.
• To avoid an awkward or
ungrammatical sentence
When he arrived home (a
detective arrested him) he
was arrested.
• When the subject of the
verb would be ‘people’
He is suspected of receiving
stolen goods (People
suspect him…)
The Formation of the Passive voice
to be + Participle II
The passive voice is an analytical form in Modern English:
it is formed by means of a corresponding tense of the
auxiliary verb to be and the past participle of the given verb.
He was arrested .
When the agent is mentioned, it is preceded by by :
This picture was painted by Duffy.
When we are dealing with materials used, not with agents,
we use with:
The room was filled with smoke.
When a verb+preposition+object combination is put into
the passive the preposition will remain immediately after the
verb: He must be written to.
Tense Forms Used in the Passive
Present
Past
Future
Indefinite
The best gifts
are never
wrapped.
(p.384)
She […] drew out
the card where
these words were
printed...(p.548)
The letter will be
written tomorrow.
Continious
The letter is
being written
now.
The letters was
being written at 5
o’clock.
The letter had
already been
written.
The letter had
been written by 5
o’clock.
Perfect
---------
The letter will
have been written
by 5 o’clock.
There are two more passive forms which are not
used so often:
Future in-the-past indefinite
He hoped she would be delighted…(p.548)
Future in-the-past perfect
She was one of those lovely, charming young women who
should have been born into a rich family.(p.546)
Infinitive constructions after the passive verbs are
possible in sentences of the type People
consider/know/think/believe/ suppose/say etc.
He said to be… jealous for her. (=People said he was
jealous for her.)
Verbs Used in the Passive Voice
Transitive verbs:
to write – to be written
to take - to be taken
…they were joined by the sister…
Intransitive (objective) verbs:
to look (at…) – to be looked at
to rely (on…) – to be relied on
to laugh (at…) – to be laughed at
The doctor was sent for.
Phraseological units (verb+adverb), (verb+noun):
to do away (with…) – to be done away with
to look up (to…) – to be looked up to
to loose sight (of…) – to be lost sight of
He has always been looked up to as a high
authority…
Modal verbs: can/could, may/might, must/have
to, should/would, needn’t + be done/have been
done also are possible to use in passive constructions
It must be done.
A few active verbs ( to clean, to wash, to show)
are sometimes used with the passive meaning:
This surface cleans easily. (=is cleaned easily)
This clothes wash well. (= are washed well)
The verb to get is sometimes used in
Modern English as an auxiliary of the passive:
He got thrown against the tree.
He got struck by a stone.
But when the participle II indicates the state
In which the subject is, serving as a
predicative, the verb to be is a link-verb and
they both form the nominal predicate (not the
passive voice!)
Ways of translating the Passive
Voice into Ukrainian
1. By the verb бути + predicative. In the Present the
verb бути is not used.
2. By verbs in –ся
3. By means of indefinite-personal constructions.
The last way of translating is possible only if the
doer of the action is not mentioned.
Houses are built of stone. Будинки будують(ся) з
каменю.
Conclusion
In dependence of the situation in which the action
goes on there are two types of constructions in
Literary English to express this action - active and
passive.
The Active voice shows that the action is performed
by its subject, that the subject is the doer of the
action. It is shorter and more direct. It is also less
awkward and clearly states relationship between
subject and action.
The passive voice shows that the subject is acted
upon, that it is the recipient of the action. This voice
has a lot of peculiarities of usage.
Test
Think you understand active and passive
constructions?
1. In an active construction,
• the subject is concrete.
• the direct object is active.
• the subject is the doer of the action.
• the agent is expressed by the indirect object.
2. In a passive construction,
• the subject is usually plural.
• the subject is the receiver of the action.
• the subject is indefinite.
• the subject is understood.
3. Select the sentences that are active.
• The olives were eaten by the hungry patrons.
• John opened the can.
• The date was set for the wedding.
• He lost the bet.
4. Select the sentences that are passive.
• The cat caught the mouse.
• The window was shattered by the bullet.
• A letter is written whenever there is a problem.
• Sam bought a sports car.
Decide whether the sentences are written in Active or
Passive
1. The museum may be visited by crowd this weekend.
2. Has this house been sold yet?
3. Susan has not been understood .
4. Lots of houses were destroyed by the earthquake.
5. She is reading an e-mail.
Which voice should be used in next situations?
1. The agent (doer) of the action is unimportant.
2. Less awkward and clearly states relationship between
subject and action.
3. The writer desires to control focus of sentence.
4. The agent is common knowledge, and mentioning it
would be redundant.
5. It is shorter and more direct.
6. The agent is unknown.
Literature
• Алєксєєва І. О. Курс теоретичної граматики
сучасної англійської мови: навчальний посібник. –
Вінниця: Нова Книга, 2007. – [p.123-128]
• Дроздова Т. Ю., Берестова А. И., Маилова В. Г.
English Grammar: Reference and Practice. СПб: ООО
Издательство “Химера”, 2000. - [p.102-105]
• Паращук В. Ю., Грицюк Л. Ф. Практикум з
граматики англійської мови: Навчальний посібник
для студентів іноземних мов,спец. “англійська
мова”. – Вінниця: Нова книга, 2002
[p.99-100]
• Crystal Stairs. – Macmillan/McGraw – Hill School
Publishing Company, 1991 [examples were taken from
this book]
• M. A. Ganshina, N. M. Vasilevskaya. English Grammar
. – Ninth edition revised, -Moscow: Higher School
Publishing House, 1964 [p.187-198]
• Larsen – Freeman Diane, Marianne Celse- Murica. The
Grammar Book: an ESL/ EFL Teacher’s Course.
Heinle & Heinle Publishers. Boston, 1983 [p. 221-234]
• Thomson A. J., Martinet A. V. A Practical English
Grammar. – Fourth Edition, - Oxford University Press,
1999 [p. 263-268]
• http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/passivev
oice.html
• http://legacy.lclark.edu/~writing/handouts/Active%2
0Voice.pdf