Microsoft Word Theoretical Course of English Grammar

Nino Kirvalidze
53
The children were sent to the camp.
(Short passive) 
The children were sent to the camp by their uncle.
(Long passive)
Short passives are about six times as frequent as long passives (Biber et al. 2003: 167). Sid-
ney Greenbaum and Randolph Quirk, the famous British grammarians indicate that speakers 
and writers use agentless passives for the following reasons (Greenbaum & Quirk 1991: 45-46):
a)
When they do not know the identity of the agent of the action: 
Many lifeboats were launched from the Titanic only partly filled. 
b)
When they want to avoid identifying the agent in order not to assign or accept respon-
sibility: 
My letter has not yet been answered. 
A mistake has been made in calculating your change. 
c)
When they feel that there is no reason to mention the agent because the identification 
is unimportant or obvious from the context: 
He was arrested and sent to prison for stealing a car. 
Nowadays cancer can be cured if it is detected early enough.
d)
In scientific and technical writing, authors often use the short passive to avoid the 
constant repetition of the subject 
I 
or 
we
and to put the emphasis on processes and ex-
perimental procedures. This use of the passive helps to give the writing the objective 
tone that the writers wish to convey:
Long passives are used for the following purposes: 
a)
to put emphasis on the agent of the action; 
b)
to avoid what would otherwise be a long active subject; 
c)
to retain the same subject in later parts of the sentence. 
The following sentence exemplifies a combination of all three reasons for using the long 
passive:
As a cat moves, it is kept informed of its movements not only by its 
eyes, but also by messages from its pads and elsewhere in its skin, its or-
gans of balance, and its sense organs of joints and muscles. 

---

Theoretical Course of English Grammar 
Script by prof.