Timeline for Using of the passive voice
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
13 events
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| Jun 15, 2020 at 7:40 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Jul 10, 2015 at 19:05 | comment | added | F.E. | @Araucaria Isn't there a EL&U thread on passives? A thread that had recently gotten a bounty? Is this it? How can I reliably and accurately identify the passive voice in writing or speech? . . . hmm . . . | |
| Jul 10, 2015 at 18:57 | history | edited | F.E. | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 22 characters in body; edited tags
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| Jul 10, 2015 at 15:07 | comment | added | John Lawler | This isn't about active versus passive; this is about what the semi-modal need can take as a complement clause -- four choices, active or passive forms of infinitive or gerund clauses -- and the possibilities vary with other things, likee the verb in the complement, as well. So it's a complex situation, and one where there is a lot of dialectal variation as well. | |
| Jul 10, 2015 at 14:21 | comment | added | deadrat | Isn't that what I said about Mr. Alsop? The passive sense (i.e., meaning) is "concealed" behind an active voice verb (i.e., syntax). | |
| Jul 10, 2015 at 14:16 | comment | added | Araucaria - Him | @deadrat " "It needed washing anyway'. 'That rash needs looking at by a specialist.' In these examples washing and looking are gerund-participles, but the sense is still clearly the one that indicates the passive — the subject of wash does not denote the person who does the washing, and the subject of look does not denote the specialist." | |
| Jul 10, 2015 at 14:15 | comment | added | Araucaria - Him | @deadrat Many writers including esteemed contributors at Language Log refer to sentence 2 as a "concealed passive". A quote from here "The participle in a passive clause is nearly always a past participle, but not quite always: most dialects of English have a construction called the concealed passive in which the verb of the passive clause is in the gerund-participle form, the one that ends in -ing. Most commonly a concealed passive clause involves the verb need, as in these examples: ... | |
| Jul 10, 2015 at 11:02 | answer | added | chasly - supports Monica | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jul 10, 2015 at 10:34 | comment | added | WS2 | @deadrat +1 Yes you confirm more or less what I thought. | |
| Jul 10, 2015 at 10:03 | comment | added | deadrat | The second one isn't passive. The subject ("He") is performing the action of needing, which takes a direct object ("looking after"). In the passive voice, the subject is the recipient of the action, and there can be no direct object. It's true that Mr. Alsop (if he's lucky) will be the recipient of some looking after, but that doesn't affect the voice of the main verb. A passive construction would be something like "Mr. Alsop is needed at the front desk." | |
| Jul 10, 2015 at 9:34 | comment | added | Sanjar Igamov | Yeah, I know 1st one is passive infinitive, and 2 nd one is pasive (need+ gerund) like " my hair needs cutting". Just I want to know about differences in meaning. | |
| Jul 10, 2015 at 9:28 | comment | added | WS2 | The first is a passive infinitive. I do not recognise the second as a passive at all. It may be a gerund, but I am not an authority on grammar of this kind that some contributors are. | |
| Jul 10, 2015 at 8:35 | history | asked | Sanjar Igamov | CC BY-SA 3.0 |