Ana GrbićZita HuszkaNikola KrnetaLjubiša Puškaš

The Passive Voice

Voice is a grammatical category which makes it possible to view the action of a sentence in two ways, without changing the facts reported.

When the subject is the agent or doer of the action, the verb is in the active voice. When the subject is the patient, the target or undergoer of the action, the verb is said to be in the passive voice.

Eg. The policeman arrested the suspect. (A)

The suspect was arrested by the policeman. (P)

Active – Passive relation

When we change a sentence from active to passive the clauses require rearrangement, plus an addition:

The active subject becomes a passive agent, the active object becomes a passive subject and the preposition BY is inserted before the agent.

Noun phrase 1 + active verb phrase + NP2

~ NP2 + passive verb phrase + (BY NP1)

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ACTIVE

PASSIVE

Present kisses ~ is kissed

Past kissed ~ was kissed

Modal may kiss

~ may be kissed

Perfective has kissed

~ has been kissed

Progressive is kissing

~ is being kissed

Modal + Perfective

may have kissed

~ may have been kissed

Modal + Progressive

may be kissing

~ may be being kissed

Perfective + Progressive

has been kissing

~ has been being kissed

Modal + Perfective + Progressive

may have been kissing

~ may have been being kissed

Several types of active sentences can be interpreted both semantically and syntactically as being passive. The first of these types falls under one category appropriately named 'Case' relations.

'Case' relations

It is common knowledge that some verbs in the English language can function as both transitive and intransitive verbs, i.e. RING, BREAK, FLY, LAND as seen in the examples:

He rang the bell. The bell rang. The stone broke the vase.The vase broke.

The main point of this that the roles change, as the object of the transitive verb is the subject of the intransitive one. And, as can be seen from the following examples, this form of lexical passive really looks like the passive, syntactically and somewhat semantically but lacks the auxiliary BE:

The bell rang.The bell was rung.The vase broke.The vase was broken.

Then again, verbs such as OPEN exist.

The door opened. (goal)The boy opened the door. (actor, goal)The key opened the door. (instrument, goal)The boy opened the door with the key. (actor, goal,

instrument)

As can be seen in the examples, a verb can have up to three NPs directly associated with it, appropriately referred to as the 'agent' (the boy), the 'goal' (the door) and the 'instrument' (the key). Another way of describing them is by use of three 'cases' (Fillmore 1968), as the 'agentive', 'objective' and 'instrumental'.

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All of these may function as the grammatical subject, but there is a strict hierarchy of which NP has subject priority:

First and foremost, the goal or objective must always be present, as can be seen from the following examples.

*The key opened. (instrument)*The boy opened. (actor)

Secondly, the goal can only be the subject when the other two are absent.

*The door opened with a key. *The door opened by the boy.

Lastly, the instrument takes the position of the grammatical subject only when the agent is not present.

*The key opened the door by the boy.

This hierarchy can be visually displayed as:

Agent > Instrument > Goal

However, case rules do not apply when the actual passive is implemented.

The door was opened with a key.The door was opened by the boy.

This is why certain verbs like OPEN must be handled together with voice.

These examples showcase how the lexical passive is close to both active and passive sentences, intransitives being quite similar to the agentless passive where the 'agent' is left out.

Causative element

However, the so-called 'causative' element comes into play, showing that this division is simply not enough in certain cases like:

The soldiers marched.The sergeant marched the soldiers.

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It is clear from the example above that, even though the first example fits the criteria to be lexical passive, the soldiers being the agent of the sentence since marching is a voluntary action. The sergeant represents a further causative element, as the one who caused the action to take place. This difference in meaning can be seen when the sentence is passivized:

The soldiers were marched.

There are also examples where there is little to no causation:

He walked the children across the road.I'll run you to the station.

Both of these examples denote a certain sense of accompaniment. The first means that this person walked with the children in question whereas the latter example signifies that some sort of motorized transport is being used to reach a destination with both parties in it. Although semantically tricky, syntactically it is obvious that these forms resemble voice.

'Adverbial' passive

Several verbs can be used in a sort of 'passive' sense this way, by adding this adverbial element.

These shirts wash well.Those chairs stack neatly. The meat cuts easily.

There is a noticeable difference between these and the intransitives ('case' relations) that were elaborated on in the previous section. This can be illustrated with the example:

The door doesn't open in wet weather.

This ambiguous sentence can mean one of two things, either that the door stays shut for a reason or that it is physically impossible to open it. But, in the following example, ambiguity is not a problem:

The door opens with a key.

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There is an obvious disregard for the case rules that were mentioned in the previous section, since the instrument is present, it should be the grammatical subject, permitting only The key opens the door. However, this is not the case, therefore it has to be interpreted as an adverbial passive. The real meaning of this sentence is 'The door can be opened with a key.' This form of lexical passive is adverbial in the sense that they normally surface with adverbs and show how these items are or are being washed, stacked, cut, etc.

There are, however, stranger cases of adverbial passive where the meaning isn't as clear, where the adverbial part may reference different things. There is little doubt in an example like:

Oranges are selling cheaply today.

But, when we introduce a contrastive pair of sentences like:

They're selling like experts.They're selling like hot cakes.

There is a clear distinction that in one case they are selling something and in the other something is being sold. The adverbial part relates to different parts of the sentence in these two examples. This should best be treated in terms of transitivity and of case relations, because the progressive aspect denotes a certain activity, not characteristic but the intransitive usually requires some sort of adverbial expression. In this case, a quality or characteristic is indicated as well, not just an activity.

Serbian equivalents

The Serbian language is an „active“ language so to speak. This means that the argument has an active meaning and that the predication has an active form, rather than passive. Because of this, even though Serbian also has multiple forms of Passive – they are not compatible when looking for an equivalent.

What is used when searching for a Serbian equivalent of lexical passive is the so called “SE” passive, or “Vicarious Passive“ (zamenički pasiv).

Oni zidaju kuću. – Kuća se zida.

In the example above, we can see that when constructing a passive in Serbian a reflexive pronoun must be inserted.

Other examples:

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The object of the first sentence becomes the subject of the second sentence, as can be seen in this example where the lexical passive is present in Serbian.

When translated, the sentence retains the active voice although it implies a passive meaning.

In the example below the agent is in a manner “invisible“, yet we know that it exists because the meat cannot cut itself. Both the Active voice and passive meaning are retained when translated.

The meat cuts easily.Meso se lako seče.

Conclusion

After having reviewed these examples of lexical passive in both English and Serbia, in all its forms, we can see that both of these languages seem to be more complex than first meets the eye. English has its 'case' relations and 'adverbial' passives and Serbian has its 'SE' passive, both using active sentences to convey passive meaning while still imitating the passive voice semantically and/or syntactically. It is important to pay attention to the slight nuances that distinguish the passive voice from its lexical mimic.

References:

Huddleston, R. and Pullum G.K. (2002) The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, Cambridge: CUP.

Palmer, F. R. (1989). The English Verb, London, Longman

Piper, P. et al. (2005), Sintaksa savremenoga srpskog jezika, prosta rečenica, Beograd: Institut za srpski jezik SANU/Beogradska knjiga, Novi Sad: Matica srpska.

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The vase was broken.

Vaza je bila slomljena.

The vase broke. (case)

Vaza se slomila.

Quirk, R. et al. (1989) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, London and New York, Longman.

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