Grammar and speaking

1. Repeat the material conserning “Complex Subject” and “Complex Object”. Find in the text given above the Grammar constructions.

2. Translate sentences paying attention the “Complex object” and “Complex Subject”.

Grammar in Use. Passives and pseudo-passives

Observations

You have probably learned how to form passive sentences by changing the position of the object in a sentence and using the verb be + past participle. That is to say, standard passives are formed by 1) placing the object at the beginning of the sentence 2) using the verb to be + past participle or have + be + past participle which agrees with the first placed item 3) placing the subject other the verb phrase in a phrase with by before the noun:

‘Seven candidates took the examination.’ (active)

‘The examination was taken by seven candidates.’ (passive).

Observations

- In passive constructions the agents are only mentioned when necessary, or when thought to be interesting to the reader or listener.

When there is an understanding of who carried out the action it is always incorrect to add the agent:

‘The hospital where Maggy in Little Dorrit was treated for fever’.

- Some verbs are very close to being be + complement (e.g. an adjective) rather than a passive form. For example, be called in B1 (a) above implies duration:

‘The patients called the baby ‘John.’ (i.e. decided to name him John), but he was called ‘Jimmy’ all his life.’ (i.e. was known as).

• Academic texts generally contain a high density of passives which both make the style more formal and impersonal, and allow ideas or research to be described without naming a human agent.

The form and function of different passive constructions

• Sort the passive constructions in the following sentences according to their structure.

Choose from the following structures: get + past participle; have + object + past participle; ‘standard’ passive.

• What contexts do you think they were used in?

a) This poor bloke who got charged in nineteen eighty eight is still looking for justice.

b) If I went and worked and I earned two hundred and fifty a week, over the year it’s a lot of money. But if I was given that lump sum right at the beginning of the year just think of the interest!

c) He had his stitches taken out yesterday.

d) This woman was abducted by a youth and er I think her gold ring was taken off or some jewellery and er that was a cause of concern for us because we are so close to the place.

e) So do the results of that get fed back into the management process then?

f) So I said ‘Oh well we’ll go down and have it looked at then. Down to the accident and emergency department.’

g) And they said ‘What questions do you get asked most?’ and they said ‘Well one of the silliest ones we often get asked is ‘Do the crew sleep on board?’

Observations

- Phrases such as ‘I had my hair cut’ or ‘I got my leg stuck’ are called pseudo-passives. They are not formed in the same way as passives but they are passive actions in that subjects have things done to them or for them.

- Get passives are a little more informal than have passives, and are more likely to occur in spoken than in written English. They are normally used without an agent.

- The get passive should not be confused with the form of get which means “become”: ‘I get bored on long flights.’ = I become bored on long flights.

- Have-passives should not be confused with standard passives in the present perfect: ‘The garage has been boarded up.’ (standard passive, present perfect)

‘The garage has had its windows broken.’ (have-passive, present perfect)

- Unlike standard passives, both get and have-passives involve a subject. (‘He got robbed.’ / ‘My sister had her house flooded.’) and yet the meaning is that these subjects were completely uninvolved in the action described. This means that they can be used to give a strong sense of helplessness on the part of the subject, particularly in the case of get-passives.

Grammar in action

Contrasting uses of agented and agentless passives

• Compare the following sets of sentences and make notes on the different meaning conveyed by each sentence.

1 a) I was told you are leaving for another job.

b) Somebody told me you are leaving for another job.

c) Carol told me you are leaving for another job.

2 a) An increase in membership fees was suggested.

b) I suggested an increase in membership fees.

c) Somebody suggested an increase in membership fees.

3 a) The port was blockaded by French lorry drivers.

b) The port was blockaded.

c) They blockaded the port.

4 a) The government have put up taxes again.

b) They’ve put up taxes again.

c) Taxes have been put up again.

Observations

- The agent is omitted from passive sentences if:

We do not know who performed the action.

The agent or ‘doer’ is not particularly important. What is done is more important than who does it.

The agent or ‘doer’ is so obvious that it is not necessary to repeat it.

We do not wish to reveal the agent, either deliberately or out of politeness.

- In some cases the agent is omitted from passive sentences if it would be embarrassing to the agent to mention them or in order to deflect possible criticism. (e.g. ‘I was told you were leaving us for another job’). Altematively, a dummy subject (e.g. they or somebody) can also hide the real subject (e.g. ‘They say you’re leaving us for another job’). The agent is also normally omitted when the action is performed by a large group of nameless people (e.g. ‘The whole city was rebuilt after the earthquake’).