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2014 ايلول( 3( العدد )4لمجلد )ا
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Iraqi EFL Learners' Performance on Middle Verbs
Hawraa Hasan Oraibi
College of Education for Humanities
English Department
List of Abbreviations and symbols S Subject
N Noun
V Verb
O Object
Od. Direct object
Np. Noun phrase
* Ungrammatical sentence
Act. Active voice
Pass. Passive voice
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Abstract
While almost all passive sentences contain transitive verbs, not all transitive verbs can participate in passive constructions, e.g. middle verbs. Middle verbs are a group of transitive verbs followed by object, but they can't be passive. The present paper aims, first, to know whether the fourth-year students have the ability to recognize and distinguish which transitive verbs can be turned into passive and which ones cannot. Second, to show why the sentence of middle verbs cannot be passive? And finally, do the learners know the semantic effect of transitivity on the passive construction?
In view of the preceding aims, it can be hypothesized that: most the fourth year students suppose that all the active transitive sentences can be converted into passive ones. They are unable to differentiate the middle verbs from other types of transitive verbs.
This study is limited to fourth year students, Department of English, College of Education, University of Thiqar for Humanities during the academic year (2015-2016).The fourth year students have been selected because they have been taught this topic during the second and fourth years of study.
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The research has adopted the following steps in order to achieve the objectives of this paper.
1- Producing, as far as possible, a comprehensive exposition of English middle verbs, depending on the literature available in this field.
2- A test has been submitted to fourth year students in order to pinpoint the problems and difficulties that may face in using English middle verbs.
3- Analyzing the results of the test, on the bases of which conclusions have been presented.
الملخصفي الوقت الذي تحتوي فيه جميع جمل المبني للمجهول تقريباً افعالآ متعديةً، فإنه ليس
Middle . جميع الأفعال المتعدية يمكنها المشاركة في تراكيب مبنية للمجهول مثل Verbs
Middle Verbsان تأخذ صيغة هي افعال متعدية بمفعول به واحد لكن لايمكنهافي ما إذا الى معرفة يهدف البحثُ الحاليالمبني للمجهول أي أنها دائما مبنية للمعلوم.
كان لدى طلبة المرحلة الرابعة القدرة على إدراك وتمييز أي من الأفعال المتعدية التي يمكن لك، وهي أن تتحول إلى أفعال مبنية للمجهول، وأي من تلك الأفعال المتعدية لا يمكنها ذ
". ثانيا لماذا لا يمكن للجملة التي تحتوي على" "Middle Verbsالمعروفة ب"Middle Verbs ان تكون مبنية للمجهول ؟ وأخيراً هل لدى الطلبة دراية كافية
بمفهوم التعدي ومدى تأثيره على تكوين تراكيب المبني للمجهول؟
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ضييتين، الأولى: إن جميع طلبة المرحلة في ضوء ما تقدم من أهداف تضع الدراسة الحالية فر الرابعة يفترضون أن أي جملة مبنية للمعلوم، أياً كان الفعل، يمكن ان تتحول الى مبنية للمجهول، والفرضية الثانية: إن الطلبة غير قادرين على تمييز الأفعال المعروفه ب
"middle verbs .من الأنواع الأخرى من الأفعال المتعدية "
لباحث باتباع الخطوات الآتية، أولًا: قدم الباحث جانباً نظرياً لمجموعة الأفعال قام ا"، ثانياً: صمم اختباراً Middle verbsالمتعدية المبنية للمعلوم دائماً والمعروفة ب "
لطلبة المرحلة الرابعة لتشخيص الصعوبات والمشاكل التى تواجههم في استخدام مجموعة "، ثالثاً: تحليل نتائج Middle verbsلمبنية للمعلوم المعروفه ب "الأفعال المتعدية ا
الاختبار .
وتتخذ هذه الدراسة عيِّنةً لها وهم طلاب المرحلة الرابعة لقسم اللغة الإنكليزية في كلية (. وتم اختيار 3102-3102التربية للعلوم الإنسانية في جامعة ذي قار للعام الدراسي )
عه لانهم درسوا هذا الموضوع في المرحلتين الثانية، والرابعة حيث جرى طلبة المرحلة الراب . اختبارهم
1 .Passive Voice Verb is one of the important lexical categories; often defined as "a type of word which expresses an action, process, state, condition or mood of existence" (Simpson: 1979: xvi-xvii). Grammatically speaking, verb can be subdivided into transitive and intransitive. Transitive verb is followed by one object (direct object), ditransitive verb is followed by two objects (direct and indirect); intransitive is not.
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The verbal grammatical categories of verb are: tense, aspect, mood and voice. Where tense and aspect work together to place an event or state with a time frame, voice provides a strategy for focusing on different participants in an event. English contains two voices: the active and the passive. Active sentences are unmarked; in other words, if a sentence is not specifically marked passive, it is technically active. Most passive sentences contain the auxiliary (be or get) followed by a verb in past participle form (Jack was pushed by Jill).
Palmer (1965:81-83) claims that the passive is the grammatical
structure which uses the concept of transformation. The transformation involves a change in position of the subject and the object where the active subject becomes the passive agent and the active object becomes the passive subject and the addition of the preposition by which is introduced before the agent. To make it clear, Palmer introduces following formula for the formation of the passive voice from the active voice: NP1 Vact NP2 → NP2 Vpass by NP1. (ibid).
Passive is not merely a formal variant of the active voice, but Jespersen (1933: 120f) summarizes the reasons
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for using passive as follow: (a) the agent is irrelevant or unknown (b) the agent is self evident from the context (c) mentioning the agent is avoided due to special reasons (d) there is a greater interest in the passive subject (e) as a cohesion –building tool in discourse.
In English, the passive is only possible with transitive verbs that have direct object, for example the active sentence:
1. (a) The boy ate the yellow apple. (b) The yellow apple was eaten by the boy.
The characterization of the basic passive involves only one object, i.e. the direct object. However, ditransitive verbs in English can also be passivised. Thus, the active sentence (2a) has the passives in (2b) and (2c)
2. a Tom gave Mary a present. b. Mary was given a present by Tom. c. A present was given Mary by Tom.
Therefore, English does not form the passive with intransitive verbs, which don't take objects. In the active sentence (3a) for days is not the object of the verb but an adverbial. 3. a They travelled for days. b. * For days were travelled by them.
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And some "verb + noun" combinations, which have the force of intransitive verb, can never take the passive:
4. The medicine soon took effect.
5. The plant will soon take root. In the above sentences "effect" and "root" are nouns and seemingly function as the objects of took and take respectively. But take effect and take root are actually phrasal verbs used to indicate the sense of work and put down. This kind of forms is mostly treated as single- word verb and they are intransitive verbal phrases. They certainly take no passive counterparts.
Also the verbs of reflexive objects can't have passive 5. Henry hates himself. The same applies to reciprocal pronouns and possessive pronouns referring to the subject. (Quirk et al. : 1985)
6. They loved one another. * One another was loved.
The locative adverbial containing a preposition and a locative noun (functioning as the object of the preposition) can not perform as a subject in a sentence,
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so the sentence in active voice cannot be transferred into passive one:
7. He has traveled in America.
*America has been traveled in by him.
8. The piano won't go through the narrow entrance. * The narrow entrance won't be gone through by the piano.
Even more, there is a group of transitive verbs that have objects but never occur in passive. These verbs are called middle verbs.
2. Middle Verbs In English, the term Middle verbs is used by different grammarians to refer to "a transitive verb whose subject is not an agent, especially a relational verb (have, deserve), but sometimes also a verb of perception, cognition or emotion" (Trask: 1993:171)
Quirk et al. (1985: 735) use the term middle verbs for "a small group of apparently transitive verbs, the most
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common of which is have, normally occur only in the active. They are all stative relational verbs and therefore normally do not occur in the progressive."
Stagrberg (1981:209) also uses the same term when he states that "there is in English a tiny group of transitive verbs called middle verbs that do not form the passive "
Jacobs (1995: 163) claims that the middle verbs refer to states rather than actions or processes: "some verbs that appear to be transitive, in that they are followed by a noun phrase, and yet do not occur in the passive voice."
In addition to linking verbs, the English middle verbs include: have, resemble, lack , hold, become, took after, suit, fit, boast, weigh, numbered, equal, mind, befell, fail, marry, met, agree with, measure, cost, run, possess, strike, contain, mean, know, join, grew, look like and consist of .
The main characteristics of these verbs involve that they are transitive (monotransitive verbs), active, without passive counterparts, and agentless.
2.1 Classification of Middle Verbs
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According to the classification of Quirk et al (1985:735), all the middle verbs belong to the stative verb class that includes "being" and "have", while Dixon (2005: 361) adds that they can be classified into three main groups:
the verbs may be symmetrical ,
verbs that refer to a static relationship, and
verbs that inherently focus on the subject .
2.1.1. Symmetric verbs Symmetrical or reciprocal verbs are referring to a state or activity that relates equally to two entities: subject and object (Dixon: 2005: 361). A relation is symmetrical if it holds for the arguments in both directions, so that only one term, not two, is required: if John is married to Mary, Mary is married to John (Palmer 1981: 98). The middle symmetrical transitive verbs are: marry, resemble, meet, mean, and look like:
House means maison then Maison means house.
Mary resembles Kate. It has the same meaning as: Kate resembles Mary.
2.1.2.Verbs that refer to a static relationship
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Have, mean, fit, contain, consist of, cost, weigh, took
after, suit, elude, boast, lack, number, equal, mind, befal,
hold and last are classified as transitive stative middle
verbs. The stative verbs are related to a state (a situation
that does not change) and not to an action (Palmer: 1965:
97). They show a state, quality or description of the
subject.
9. He lacks confidence.
10. I haven't any money.
11. Your humor eludes me.
2.1.3. Verbs that inherently focus on the subject
The third class of middle transitive verbs is the linking
verbs. Linking verbs link the subject to their
complements. Their subject is an experiencer. The
experiencer subject experiences a sensory perception or a
psychological state (which is normally human). In other
words, the verbs that co-occur with experiencer subject
relate to consciousness; they are verbs that reflect
'private' internal states (Berk: 1999: 17). Sentences with
experiencer subjects don't make passives.
12. She became Queen.
*A Queen was become by her. ( Eckersley & Eckersley:
1970:222)
13. Martha wants this book. *This book is wanted by
Martha.
In addition to the above classification of the middle verbs,
there are other verbs behaving as middle verbs (the
passivisation is impossible) .These verbs are: possess,
join, believe, and know.
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14. I believe them. *They are believed by
me.
Quirk et al. (1985:735) claim that the noun phrases of
measure (denoting measure and phrases of extent in
space), that coming after middle transitive verbs as cost,
run, measure, weight grew, numbered, are either direct
objects or adverbials:
15. In length it measures seven feet.
16. He ran a mile to work.
17. It costs ten dollars.
18. It weighed almost a ton.
They allow adverbial questions: How far did he run?
How much does it cost? But the measure phrases can also
be questioned by "what" What does it measure? What
does it cost?
3. Transitivity The term transitive derived from the Latin
Trans, "across" and ire, "go",i.e. "going
across"(Matthews: 2007:413). Traditionally, the concept
of transitivity is understood as a global property of an
entire clause, such that an activity is ‘carried-over’ or
‘transferred’ from an agent to patient
(Hopper&Thompson:1980:251). Thus transitivity in this
view involves necessarily at least two participants, i.e., the
action is transferred from the subject (which is more or
less agentive, which can be animate or not) to the object
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(the patient, which can be more or less effective) through
the verb.
19. a. Kim broke the vase. (active voice ) b. The vase was broken by Kim. (Passive voice)
Transitivity involves a number of components,
only one of which is the presence of an object of
the verb. Hopper and Thompson (1980:252)
explain the formal and semantic features of
transitivity as the following: 1. Participant: At least two participants are
involved.(agent, object direct or indirect )
2. Kinesis: only action verbs can transfer the action from
one participant to another; states cannot.
3. Aspect: an action viewed from its endpoint as: a telic
action (the activity is viewed as completed and the
transferred is carried out in its entirety) and the atelic
(the activity is only partially carried out).
4. Punctuality: an action has a more marked effect on
their patients than actions which were inherently on-
going.
5. Volitionally: the action is volitional.
6. Affirmation: this is the affirmative/negative
parameter.
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7. Mode: this refers to distinction between 'realis' and
'irrealis' encoding of events.
8. Agency: the subject is high in agency can effect
transfer of an action in way that those low in Agency
cannot.
9. Affectedness of object: object totally effective.
10. Individuation of object: object is highly individuated.
According to these components, we can specify the
transitivity of each sentence (either high transitivity or
low transitivity), for example:
20. a. John eats the sandwich. b. Jerry knocked Sam
down.
The sentence (b) is higher in transitivity than (a) because
it displays the following properties: Kinesis: action,
aspect: telic, punctual, affectedness of object: total, and
individuation of object: high, referential, animate, and
proper.
It's cited above that middle verbs do not permit the
passivisation, and to understand this point clearly, we
should analyze the structure of the middle verbs
syntactically and semantically.
4. Passivity of the Middle Verbs
From a syntactic point of view, the sentence of the
middle verb consists of three grammatical elements:
subject + transitive verb (middle) + object. Here the
transitive relation may be hold. As we know that the
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transitive relation is hold for three arguments as Palmer
(1981:84) explains: "a relation is transitive if, for three
arguments x, y, and z, the relation that holds both for x
and y and for y and z also holds for x and z". This may be
led us to the possibility of the middle verb to be passive.
21. He has a car.
S V O
22. He married her. .
S V O
23. John resembles his father.
S V O
24. The car lacks a mirror.
S V O
25. He run mile to work.
S V O
In fact, the relation of the middle verb is binary relation,
there is only one argument the subject and a property of
the subject is given. Thus, the sentence of the middle verb
is as a copula clause that consists of (subject + verb). And
it can be analyzed into two parts: subject and predicate,
as in the following examples:
He has a car. *A car is had.
Subject predicate
He married her. *She was married by him.
Subject predicate
John resembles his father. *His father is resembled by
John.
Subject predicate
The car lacks a mirror. *A mirror is lacked by the car.
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Subject predicate
He ran a mile to work. *A mile is run to work by him.
Subject predicate
The middle verbs (has, marry, resemble, lack, and run)
are followed by complements that have more or less the
status of object. A car, her, his father, and a mirror are
merely the complements of the verb without being an
object. For this reason, Duskova et al.(1994:259) claim
that "the semantics relation between middle verbs and
copular verbs can be demonstrated by the possibility of
using a periphrastic construction including copula''. She
compares:
26. It costs five pounds. The price was five pounds.
27. It weighs two pounds. The weight is two.
The transitive middle verbs are lack to passivity not
merely from syntactic point of view but also semantically
they are lack to transfer as we will explain in the next
section.
5. Middle verbs: semantically speaking
In semantics, the transitivity depends totally on the idea
of transfer, i.e., transfer the action from the subject to
object through the verb. (Cf. Lazard:1994:248). The
process of transfer appears as property of the whole
clause and functions as a semantic continuum, which
makes it necessary to take into consideration various
parameters of transitivity.
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Hooper & Thompson (2006:251) explain these
parameters saying: "the subject of the active is agentive,
the object is effected in some way in order to become the
subject of the passive as a consequence of the transfer.
And finally the verb is dynamic." All such parameters
account for possibility or impossibility of passivization.
Quirk et al. (1983:741) focus, also, on the semantic
importance of the transfer in forming a passive:
the most typical semantics role of a subject in a
clause that has a direct object is that of agentive
participant: that is, the animate being instigating
or causing the happening denoted by the verb.
And the direct object is affected participant: a
participant (animate or inanimate) which does
not cause the happening denoted by the verb, but
is directly involved in some other way.
The agentivity of the subject is variable and depends on
the verb. Agentivity can be described as a continuum, for
example, the subject is decreasingly agentive, the degree
of transitivity lower and lower (but never absent). But
when the semantic role of the subject is not agent, there’s
normally no transfer possible from the subject to the
object through the verb as in the case of middle verbs,
thus the passivization is unacceptable.
28 -The book weighs a pound. * A pound was weighed
by the book.
29 -The jar holds oil. *Oil is held by the jar. (Palmer:
1987:81-2)
30 -The reforms will benefit women. *Women will be
benefited by the reforms.
As mentioned above, the middle verbs (stative,
symmetrical and linking) can't be turned into passive
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since they lack transfer. For middle stative verbs, the
transfer is impossible because they indicate a static
relationship between two things, i.e. nothing "happens"
and so a passive construction, which normally describes
the results of an activity, could not be used. For
examples:
31. He has lots of money. *lots of money are had by him.
32. Two and two equal four. *Four is equaled by two and
two.
33. The meeting lasted all morning.* All morning was
lasted by the meeting.
Within middle symmetrical verbs, the transfer is also
impossible, for example:
34. Sophia resembles Alexander. *Sophia is resembled
Alexander.
35. House means maison. *House is mean maison
.
36. Othello married Desdemona. *Othello was married by
Desdemona.
37. John met Kate at the station. *She was met by John at
the station. (the meeting was not scheduled)
Symmetrical verbs do not co-occur with passive
because in the passive there is typically an agent or
instrument subject and an affected object party. That
dichotomy simply does not exist with symmetrical verbs.
Clearly the verbs resemble, mean, marry and met are
symmetrical transitive followed by object complements
(Alexander, maison, Desdemona, and the station), but the
object cannot be a subject to form the passive. These
verbs are unusual semantically because the subject and
direct object have the same relationship to one another: if
Sophia resembles Alexander then Alexander resembles
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Sophia. If Othello married Desdemona then Desdemona
married Othello.
The middle linking verbs have lack of transfer because
their subjects are experiencer but not agent, and the
objects are uneffected (stimulus). The subject of linking
verbs is not really engaging in action and hasn't a direct
effect upon the direct object. So the passivization is
impossible, for examples:
38. Mary is a teacher.
39. Susan loves stamp collecting.
40. Sheila trusts her son.
41. Kat can't believe in love.
42. Dick lacks courage and intelligence.
On the other hand, the above middle verbs can be
turned into passive when they denote acitivity or when
they are used dynamically, for examples:
43. We have sandwiches. *Sandwiches are had by us. (
have in stative meaning we took sandwiches with us)
44. We have sandwiches. Sandwiches are had by us. (
have in dynamic meaning we ate sandwiches) (Palmer:
1987: 162)
45. The jar holds oil. *Oil is held by the jar.
46. The thief was held by the police. (ibid:81)
47. Two and two equals four.*Four is equalled by two
and two.
48. The king possessed great wealth. *Great wealth was
possessed by the king.
49. The city was soon possessed by the enemy. (ibid:82)
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Symmetrical verbs resemble, look like, met, marry and
fight can be passive, for example Marry is a middle verb
in the sense "enter into a marriage", so passive is
impossible. While Marry in the senses "give in marriage"
or "perform the marriage ceremony for" is a transitive
verb occurring in the passive (Quirk et al.: 1983: 736):
50. David and Judith are marrying off their eldest son
next week.
51. Father Brown will be marrying Ron and Joan.
Met is non–symmetrical verb if it has the meaning "he
went to the station to meet her off a train" and here the
passive is possible (Dixon: 2005: 362): John met Mary at
the station. Similarly, fight may be symmetrical with a
human as object: Harry fought Tom in 1979. *Tom was
fought by Harry in 1979, or non-symmetrical with an
activity noun as object:
52. Tom fought a fierce battle.
6. The Test A diagnostic test has been designed in order to reveal
the difficulties
encountered by fourth-year students in using transitive
middle verbs. The random sample of the test consists of
(50) students taken from Department of English/ College
of Education for Humanities/ University of Thiqar for the
academic year 2015-2016.
The test consists of one question (see Appendix I),
including twenty-eight items in which students are asked
to underline the verb, classify it either as a transitive
verb, or middle verb and then change the sentence into
passive form if possible. Some items of the test are
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modified in the light of jury members' notes (1)
. The
question measures the subjects’ responses at two levels:
the recognition and the production.
1-Jury members include: 1.Prof Dr. Mahammed Al-
Seady 2.Asst.Prof. Dr. Raad Al-Nawas 3.Asst.Prof.
Mr.Ali Aubd Al-Rudh 4. Dr. Rheem Al-
Zubiadi(Lecturer).
7. Results and Discussion The following table explains the performance of fourth
year students at recognition level. The students are asked
to underline and distinguish the transitive middle verbs.
Table (1) Students' Performance of middle verbs at
Recognition Level
Items No
No. Correct
answers
% No. Incorrect
answers
%
1. 35 2.59 15
1.11
2. 5 0.37 45 3.33
3. 8 0.59 42 3.10
4. 24 1.71 26 1.92
5. 10 0.71 40 2.96
6. 23 1.70 27 1.99
7. 30 2.22 20 1.48
8. 19 1.40 31 2.29
9. 30 2.22 20 1.48
10. 38 2.81 12 1.03
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The table shows that the numbers of incorrect answers
have been scored highly (818, 60.54%) out of the total
11. 30 2.22 20 1.48
12. 11 0.81 39 2.88
13. 11 0.81 39 2.88
14. 9 0.66 41 3.03
15. 9 0.66 41 3.03
16. 23 1.70 27 1.99
17. 18 1.33 32 2.36
18. 32 2.36 18 1.33
19. 10 0.71 40 2.96
20. 46 3.40 4 0.29
21. 8 0.59 42 3.10
22. 6 0.44 44 3.25
23. 47 3.47 3 0.22
24. 25 1.85 25 1.85
25. 18 1.33 32 2.36
26. 3 0.56 47 3.47
27. 16 1.18 34 2.51
28. 38 2.81 12 0.88
Total
1351
533
39.45
818
60.54
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number (1351), while the correct answers scored (533,
39.54%).
It is clear that the fourth-year students are unable to
recognize and distinguish the middle verbs. They have
only the ability to recognize the verbs in the test as
transitive ones. In addition to that, they suppose that the
noun phrases followed these verbs function as direct
objects. As in items No. (1, 7, 9, 10, 11, 20, 23, 28):
*They have (Vtran) a nice house (Od).
*His son look after (Vtran) him(Od).
*The car weighs (Vtran) two tons(Od).
*The humor eludes (Vtran) me(Od).
*I ran (Vtran) a mile to work(Od).
As we mention earlier, the above noun phrases (a nice
house, him, two tons, me, and a mile to work) are not
objects but they are merely the complements of the
middle verbs (have, look after, weighs, eludes, and ran).
So their passivity is unacceptable. Learners' syntactic
knowledge has led them to analyze all items of the test
into {SVO}without paying any attention to the semantic
transitivity:
*The barrel (S) holds (V) petrol (Od).
*This dress(S) doesn't become (V) you (Od).
*A strange adventure (S) befell (V) him(Od).
*He(S) failed (V) her (Od) (= 'he let her down').
*The enemy (S) numbered (V) over 20,000(Od).
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*They(S) parted (V) company (Od).
Generalization plays a great role in the learners'
responses. They have generalized that each verb in the
test is transitive verb since it is followed by a direct object
so it can be passivized, as in their answers to items: (26,
21, 22, 14,15,16,19,5,12,13,25,27, 8).
The second part of the test measures the students'
performance at the production level. They have been
asked to rewrite the sentences into the passive form if
possible. The following table explains their responses.
Table (2) Students' Performance of Middle Verbs at
Production Level
Items.
No
No. Correct
Answers
% No. Incorrect
Answers
%
1. 18 1.28 32 2.28
2. 5 0.35 45 3.21
3. 12 0.85 38 2.71
4. 16 1.14 34 2.42
5. 10 0.71 40 2.85
6. 26 1.85 24 1.71
7. 17 1.21 33 2.35
8. 11 0.78 39 2.78
9. 10 0.71 40 2.85
10. 10 0.71 40 2.85
11 13 0.92 37 2.64
12 13 0.92 37 2.64
13 12 0.85 38 2.71
14 9 0.64 41 2.92
15 5 0.35 45 3.21
16 7 0.5 43 3.07
17 11 0.78 39 2.78
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18 18 1.28 32 2.28
19 11 0.78 39 2.78
20 13 0.92 37 2.64
21 39 2.78 11 0.78
22 14 1 36 2.57
23 10 0.71 40 2.85
24 36 2.57 14 1
25 41 2.92 9 0.64
26 15 1.07 35 2.5
27 12 0.85 38 2.71
28 9 0.64
41 2.91
Total 423
30% 97 70%
The result of the table explains that the students'
incorrect answers are scored highly (70%) than correct
answers (30%) out of the total number (1400). Most of
them answer items (21, 24, and 25) correctly:
My father gave me this watch.
The boy kicked the football.
The lazy man lay in bed until noon.
Here the students know that the verb "gave" is dynamic
ditransitive verb followed by two objects (indirect 'me'
and direct 'this watch'). Also the verb "kicked" is
dynamic monotransitive verb followed by direct object.
Both verbs can have a passive form, while the verb "lay"
cannot be passive because it is intransitive verb. Clearly
here learners rely on their grammatical knowledge
without concern to the semantic transitivity.
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In the following items No.(3,4,12,13,14,15,and 23), the
students have turned all these sentences into passive and
this is unacceptable :
He lacks the necessary money. *The necessary money is
lacked by him.
John resembles his father. *His father is resembled by
him.
The apples cost fifty cent. *Fifty cent is costed by the
apples.
The car weighs two tons. * Two tons are weighted by the
car.
Adam met Mary at the station. * Mary was met at the
station by Adam.
It is clear that the syntactic knowledge alone cannot be
used to convert the above sentences into passive ones. The
students' ignorance of semantic transitivity led them to
score highly numbers of incorrect answers for most of the
items but more specifically for items (2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
13, 14,15,16, 19, 23,and 28):
*Everybody had a good time. A good time was had by
everybody. This sentence simply can be converted into
passive. Syntactically it has three elements (SVO).
Semantically the transfer is possible because the verb
"had"(spend) is dynamic transitive verb. In fact the
students answered it wrongly. They consider the verb
"had" is transitive stative verb and it can't be turned into
passive. Learners
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This dress doesn't become you. * You aren't became this
dress
Here no possibility of passive. Syntactically this sentence
consists of two elements (SV) and "you" is not effected
object. Semantically the transfer is impossible because
the verb "become" is stative. Fourth year students
answered it wrongly and they turned it into passive and
this is unacceptable.
The apples cost fifty cent. *Fifty cent is coasted by the
apples.
Syntactically the sentence consists of three elements
(SVO), but the noun phrase "the apples" is not the agent
and the complete (noun phrase of measure "fifty cent") of
the active can't become subject of the passive since the
object equal the subject. Semantically the transitivity is
uncompleted because the verb "cost" is used statively. No
passive is possible. According to students' answers, this
sentence can has a passive form. It has three grammatical
elements (SVO) the noun phrase "fifty cent" is object of
the dynamic transitive verb "cost".
In this way the fourth year students have answered the
following sentences incorrectly:
The suit fits me. *I am fitted by this suit.
The car weighs two tons. *Two tons are weighed by this
car
Two and two equal four. *Four is equaled by two and
two
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A strange adventure befell him. *He was befell by a
strange adventure
Learners
Jack married Jill. *Jill was married by Jack
Adam met Mary at the station. * Mary was met at the
station by Adam.
John resembles his father. *His father is resembled by
John.
Kate agreed with Paul. * Paul was agreed by Kate.
He grew three centimeters. * Three centimeters are
grown by him.
*I ran a mile to work. *A mile to work is run by me.
In addition to that, the students' ignorance of the verbal
meanings (i.e., stative: verbs of inert perception and
congnition, relational verbs and dynamic verbs: activity
verbs, process verbs, verbs of bodily sensation and
transitional event verbs (Quirk and Greenbaum:
1973:46)) led them to give incorrect answers, for example,
their answers to items No. (1, 2, 10, 11, 16, 17, 22, and 23):
They have a nice house. * A nice house are had.
The verb have is middle transitive stative verb in
meaning relational verb (own). The passive is impossible
The car weighs two tons. *Two tons are weight by the
car.
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Here the stative meaning of the verb weigh is (cost,
appear) and it is followed by noun phrase of measure "
two tons"
Jack married Jill. *Jill was married by Jack.
The passive in this sentence is impossible because the
middle verb marriage is symmetrical one (enter into a
marriage)
Tom grew carrots .
Here the verbs (have, weigh, marry and grow) are middle
verbs. The possibility of their passive is impossible
because they are used stativily. Have, weigh, marry and
grow verbs can be passivized if they are used dynamically
as in the following:
Everybody had a good time.
Mr. Ali weighed the letters.
The Rev. Smith married them.
He grew three centimeters.
8. Conclusions
1. Middle verbs are static transitive verbs. They can
be followed by noun phrase , noun phrase for
measure and noun phrase for extent in space , but
these phrases cannot function as grammatical
object. Middle verbs are antipassive verbs and
agentless.
2. Syntactically, the sentence of the middle transitive
verb, as any other transitive sentence, consists of
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subject, transitive middle verb and object; so that
it can be turned into passive. While semantically, it
lacks transfer, i.e. the middle verbs are unable to
transfer the action from subject to object; so
passive is impossible. For this reason they are,
probably, called middle verbs. Their transitivity is
incomplete so that the middle verbs lack the
passive form.
3. In fact, the passivization is based on the semantic
criteria of transitivity. The results of the test reveal
that the students did not distinguish the syntactic
transitivity from the semantic transitivity so that
there is no way of understanding why middle
transitive verbs cannot be passivized.
4. High numbers of the incorrect answers for fourth
year students at both levels recognition (60 %) and
production (70 %) explain they are unaware that
there is a group of transitive verbs known as
middle verbs never passivised. Their ignorance of
the middle verbs (stative, symmetrical and linking)
and their ignorance of the semantic transitivity has
led them to generalize that each verb in the test is
transitive then it can be passive.
5. It is recommended that the techniques of teaching
passive constructions should emphasize on the
semantic transitivity of the verb not only on
syntactic transitivity because the passivity depends
on the idea of transfer. Students are not required
to memorize the syntactic constructions of passive.
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It is required firstly to understand why certain
verbs can be passive and others cannot.
References
Berk, Lynn, M. (1999). English Syntax. Oxford: O.U. P.
Dixon, R.M.W. (2005). A Semantic Approach to English
Grammar. Oxford : O. U. P.
Duskova, L., et al. (1994). Studies in the English
Language. Prague: Karolinum, Charles University
Press.
Eckersley, C.W. & Eckersley, J.M. (1970). A
Comprehensive English Grammar for Foreign
Students. London: Longman Group Ltd.
Hopper, P. and Thompson, S.(1980). Transitivity in
Grammar and Discourse Language.
Huddleston, R. and Pullum, G. (2002). The Cambridge
Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge:
C. U. P.
Jacobs, R.A. (1995). English Syntax a Grammar for
English Language. Professionals Oxford: O.U. P.
Jespersen, O.(1972). Essentials of English Grammar.
London: George Allen and Unwin LTD
Palmer, F.R.(1981).Semantics. Cambridge: C. U. P.
----------- (1965). The Linguistics Study of the English
Verbs.
London: Longmans.
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---------- (1965). The English Verb. London: Longman.
Quirk et al. (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of the
English Language. London: Longman.
---------- .(1972) . A Grammar of Contemporary English.
London: Longman Group Ltd.
Quirk, R. and Greenbaum, S. (1973) A University English
Grammar. London: Longman Group Ltd.
Stageberg, N.C. (1981). An Introductory English
Grammar. Florida: Holt, Rinehart and
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Appendix (1)
Q1 Read the following sentences carefully, and underline
the verb (and classify it as middle or transitive), and then
state whether the following active sentences can be
changed into passive or not. If they can put ( ) and
change them, if they cannot put (X).
1. They have a nice house.
2. Everybody had a good time.
3. He lacks the necessary money .
4. The barrel holds petrol.
5. This dress doesn't become you.
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6. John resembles his father.
7. His son took after him.
8. The apples cost fifty cent.
9. The suit fits me.
10. The car weighs two tons.
11. Mr. Ali weighed the letters.
12. Two and two equal four.
13. I don’t think they mind your criticism.
14. A strange adventure befell him.
15. He failed her (= 'he let her down').
16. Jack married Jill.
17. The Rev. Smith married them.
18. Adam met Mary at the station.
19. Kate agreed with Paul.
20. The humor eludes me.
21. My father gave me this watch.
22. Tom grew carrots.
23. He grew three centimeters.
24. The boy kicked the football.
25. The lazy man lay in bed until noon.
26. The enemy numbered over 20,000.
27. They parted company.
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28. I ran a mile to work.