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Why is being used in the sentence below, and what does it mean?

Lisa is upset about not being invited to the party

Are they trying to use the passive voice?
If yes, how would the sentence look if we use the active voice to frame the same sentence?

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The example sentence is

  • Lisa is upset about not being invited to the party

There are two clauses.
The main clause

  • Lisa is upset about np[S]

has a psych predicate adjective upset (which requires an auxiliary be),
and a gerund complement clause indicating the source of the upset, namely

  • (Lisa('s)) not being invited to the party

(Note that the subject of not being invited has to be Lisa.)
The subject is deleted under identity with the subject of be upset.
So we'll never know whether it was sposta be Lisa or Lisa's; both are possible.
(they're called the ACC-ing and POSS-ing complementizers, respectively.)

OK, so what is the purpose of being in the complement?
Well, it turns out that the complement is a passive construction,
and passive constructions require some form of the auxiliary verb be,
followed by a past participle.
That's the

  • being invited

part. Being is a form of be, and invited is a past participle.

That explains why it's a form of be, but it doesn't explain why being was the form chosen.
The reason is that the predicate in the main clause,

  • is upset about

takes a gerund complement, and the gerund form of be is being.
See the Verb Phrase Study Guide for further details.

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While this is a case of active versus passive, it is complicated by the use of a gerund. Being is a gerund, a verb form used as a noun. The full verb in this case is being invited

Lisa is upset about clowns

Lisa is upset about being a clown

The phrase being a clown is a noun phrase using the gerund being.

The phrase not being invited is a gerund phrase that is basically passive in its intent. Lisa is not the one doing the inviting, it is someone else.

If you wanted to transform it to an active voice, you need to bring in the person doing the inviting.

Lisa is upset that her friend did not invite her to the party.

or

Lisa's friend upset her by not inviting her to the party [preserving the gerund form].

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  • Inorder to convert an active to passive voice, we need to make conversion like S-V-O -> O- tobe(is/was) - Participle of Verb. I tried to convert the above sentence using the same formula, however i got confussed, is my understanding wrong? Please suggest.
    – Naresh
    Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 23:39
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    There are two verbs in the sentence. "Lisa was upset" and being invited. The subject of being invited did not appear in the original and needs to be added to make it active. Who did not invite Lisa? A friend.
    – bib
    Commented Aug 7, 2013 at 0:16
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being invited is the gerund form of to be invited, as you suggested, a passive construct. If I were to write this sentence, I would make it more clear by writing the following.

Lisa is upset by her not being invited to the party.

However, more likely, I would opt for a that clause instead. The following switched to the active voice.

Lisa is upset that she was not invited to the party.

Conversion to the active voice directly would be the following.

Lisa is upset by the host's not inviting her to the party.
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3
  • Inorder to convert an active to passive voice, we need to make conversion like S-V-O -> O- tobe(is/was) - Participle of Verb. I tried to convert the above sentence using the same formula, however i got confussed, is my understanding wrong? Please suggest.
    – Naresh
    Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 23:37
  • 'she was not invited to the party' : "she" - subject, "invited" - verb and "party" - object ? is that correct. I think i am missing something.
    – Naresh
    Commented Aug 6, 2013 at 23:45
  • @Naresh to convert directly to active voice, the "possessor of the gerund" needs to switch from the implicit her, made explicit in my rephrasing, to the host's for example.
    – matt3141
    Commented Aug 7, 2013 at 0:32
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This is passive voice because the expression in English uses the passive voice: to be invited to a party. to be swindled by a coworker. to be driven to work Without the infinitive, one says: Being invited to parties is fun. Being swindled by coworker is terrible. Being driven to work is not fun.

Now, you can mix and match all those with other verbs of emotion: to be happy/upset about by or about, was happy about to be annoyed by, was annoyed by to be angry about, was angry

Just trying to elucidate the structure while avoiding too much tech talk.

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The forms of the gerund and participle

The gerund has four forms — two for the active voice and two for the passive. The forms for the participles are the same.

----------------Active--------------------Passive

Present ----loving-------------------being loved

Perfect------having loved---------having been loved

From en.wikipedia, gerund Link

"about not being invited" is the preposition about + a gerund, the negative gerund present passive. Another gerund present passive would be: (the) being chosen.

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