Active or passive
Dear all,
I would like to know whether the following sentences are active voice or passive voice. I feel that they can be treated as either active or passive construction and need more context to decide what type of sentences they are. I would like to get expert opinion on this.
1) My TV is broken
2) My TV was broken.
Thank you.
Top answer
1) My TV is broken. 2) My TV was broken. 1) is unambiguously adjectival, thus active.
- 1) My TV is broken.
- 2) My TV was broken.
- 1) is unambiguously adjectival, thus active.
- 2) is ambiguous, interpretable either as a verbal passive ("Someone or something broke the TV"), or as a complex intransitive with an adjectival complement ("The TV was in that state resulting from prior breaking").
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1) My TV is broken.
2) My TV was broken.
1) is unambiguously adjectival, thus active.
2) is ambiguous, interpretable either as a verbal passive ("Someone or something broke the TV"), or as a complex intransitive with an adjectival complement ("The TV was in that state resulting from prior breaking").
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