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Common Difficulties

Common Difficulties. 1. When to use the passive voice 2. Adjective vs. Passive 3. Middle Voice. When to use the Passive V oice (1/2). Most languages in the world use different voices to put different constitutes in initial position.

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Common Difficulties

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  1. Common Difficulties 1. When to use the passive voice 2. Adjective vs. Passive 3. Middle Voice

  2. When to use the Passive Voice (1/2) • Most languages in the world use different voices to put different constitutes in initial position. In the Bantu languages, the passive voices are used if the agent is inanimate and the receiver is animate. e.g.) The election bothered Nancy. Nancy was bothered by the election. (o)

  3. When to use the Passive Voice (1/2) B. The subject is negatively affected by the action portrayed in the verb(Adversative passive voice). Japanese students may puzzle over when to use the passive voice in English. e.g.) John gaameni fur-are-ta. John (topic marker) rain by fall. John was fallen by rain.

  4. Adjective vs. Passives (1/2) • A past participle can function as a passive verb and adjective in a sentence. • How to distinguish the passive participle from the adjective at a sentence-level? • The use of by with a noun phrase to mark an gent in the passive voice. e.g.) The beans were refried by someone (passive) (adjective)

  5. Adjective vs. Passives (2/2) • Not all adjectival and passive participle pairs are pronounced the same. The suspect was alleged to have taken the money. /əlédƷd/ The alleged thief… /əlédƷid/

  6. Middle Voice (1/3) • English allows a representation of processes in terms of actions and happening. In other words, English uses active, passive, and middle voices in order to express processes. • English uses ergative, or change-of-state verbs to express spontaneous occurrences.

  7. Middle Voice (2/3)

  8. Middle Voice (3/3) The middle voice can also be expressed by intransitive verbs that take the focus of the process as subjects. However, they do not occur in the passive voice since intransitive verbs have no transitive counterparts.

  9. Difficulties related toMiddle Voice (1/3) • When the “change-of-state” sentences are preferred to passive sentences? • When the focus is on the change of state and the agent is irrelevant. The bank closes at 5. p.m. • When the writer’s or speaker’s objective is to create an aura of mystery of suspense. That is, when things seem to be happening without the intervention of an agent. We were sitting quietly after dinner, when suddenly the door opened. • When the subject is something so fragile or unstable that it can break, change, dissolve, and so on without any apparent intervention on the part of any agent. Left hanging on the fence, the red balloon suddenly burst.

  10. Difficulties related toMiddle Voice (2/3) 4) When it is natural to expect to occur (based on physical, social, or psychological laws). The ice on the pond melted earlier than usual. 5)When there are so many possible causes for a change of state that it would be misleading to imply a single agent. Prices increased due to a variety factors.

  11. Difficulties related toMiddle Voice (3/3) B. Which verbs are ergative? Many of the old buildings in the center of town have recently demolished. (X) C. Intransitive verbs cannot occur in the passive voice. The accident was happened last night. D. Wrong instruction: Some Chinese students have been taught that sentences with grammatical subjects that are not the agent require the passive in English. Students will need to learn about the middle voice.

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