Microsoft Word Theoretical Course of English Grammar

Nino Kirvalidze
52
4. The category of voice 
Most transitive verbs can occur in two voices: active and passive. The active form of the 
verb shows that the action described by the verb is performed by the subject of the sentence, 
while the passive form indicates that the action is performed upon the subject: 
The butler murdered the detective
. (active voice) 
The detective was murdered by the butler
. (passive voice) 
The active is the most common, unmarked voice while the passive is a marked member of 
the voice opposition as it is formed with the auxiliary 
be
+ the past participle of the main verb.
The passive verb forms are less common and used for special discourse functions. Compared to 
active voice, passive voice reduces the importance of the agent (i.e. the doer of the action) and 
allows the receiver of the action to become the subject of the sentence.
However, passive verb phrases can also be formed with the auxiliary 
get
, called the 
get-
passive (e.g. 
get caught, get dressed, get arrested, get run over, 
etc.). 
Get
-passives are usually 
used in conversation or in informal English. For example: 
It’s about these people who got left 
behind in Vietnam.
Changing a sentence from active to passive voice has the following results: 

the subject, if retained, becomes the passive object (1); 

the direct object becomes the passive subject (1); 

the preposition 
by
is inserted before the agent (1); 

if the active verb is ditransitive, the indirect object may also become
the passive subject (2).
(1)
Hurricane demolished more than half a million homes
. (monotransitive active) 
Half a million homes were demolished by hurricane
. (passive) 
(2)
The company gave Mariko permission to go to Osaka
. (ditransitive active) 
Mariko was given permission by the company to go to Osaka
. (passive) 
There are short and long passives. In short passives (also called agentless passives) the 
agent is not specified while long passives contain a 
by
-phrase which specifies the agent of the 
action. E.g.:

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Theoretical Course of English Grammar 
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