Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

The passive | 795

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Most people 

are worried by the thought of what a surgeon’s going to do. 

(passive clause)

They’re just 

tired of each other.

(They’re just tired by each other.)

The table below gives examples of be-passive structures (in green) in different

tense-aspect combinations. The passive elements are realised in the final 

be

-auxiliary and the -ed participle (in bold). The examples marked with an

asterisk (*) represent very rare types.

Examples of be-passive structures

tense-aspect form

example

present simple

They 

are sold

in three sizes.

present progressive

The house 

is

being sold

.

past simple

Alison and Jane 

weren’t asked

for their views.

past progressive

Did you feel as if you 

were

being ignored

?

present perfect simple

Has

her father 

been told

?

present perfect progressive He 

has been 

being watched

by the police for about three weeks.*

past perfect simple

I saw at once how it 

had 

been done

. 

past perfect progressive

The town 

had

already 

been 

being visited

by three coaches full of

tourists.*

modal simple

The top 

can 

be left

on.

modal progressive

They

’ll be 

being interviewed

when we’re in our meeting.

modal perfect simple

He fears that a man 

may have 

been hanged

because of his

carelessness.

modal perfect progressive

The house 

might have been 

being watched

while we were away,

before they burgled it.*

THE GET-PASSIVE: FORMATION

479

The get-passive is formed with get + the -ed participle of the verb. As with be, a

range of tense-aspect forms is possible, though in fact a narrower range of forms

actually occurs. These are the most frequent:

Do you know how much lawyers 

get paid for an hour, the best ones?

[reference to a company receiving a fine for safety violations]

They

’re getting fined by the Health and Safety Executive.

All of a sudden they 

got raided by the police.

[student talking about upcoming hectic social timetable]

I

’ve got invited to the school ball as well.

We found some parcels that 

had got pushed into the corner.

They 

may have got mixed up the first time we used them.

796 | The passive

Cambridge Grammar of English

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Reflexive structures occur with get-passives when the recipient of an action/event

is felt to share at least some of the role of agent:

She 

got herself locked out.

(it was an accident, but partly her fault; compare: ‘She got locked out’, which

was not her fault)

A get-passive structure similar to the pseudo-passive with have occurs

occasionally in informal spoken language. The construction enables a person

affected by an action or event to be made the grammatical subject:

[talking of strict customs searches at airports]

I 

got my belt searched once when I went to Sweden.

(non-causative; similar to: I had my belt searched/my belt was searched …)

I’ll 

get you sorted out with some boots for the walk, cos it’ll be muddy.

(causative: I myself will give you the boots or I’ll find someone else to give them

to you)

Prepositional phrases expressing an agent, although they do occur with get-

passives, are far rarer than with be-passives:

She 

got arrested

by the Austrian police

.