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Candy Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

Adjectives or past participles?

0Hello05002br
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01i00The park was 01u00covered02u00 with snow. 02i02br
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01i00Mr. Smith is 01u00known02u00 to everyone in this town.02i02br
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01i00The legislator participates in the delegation and is 01u00involved02u00 in sweeping reforms.02i02br
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00Are these underlined words considered adjectives or past participles in passive voice?02br
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00Many thanks for your help in advance.02br
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00Candy 051010id111id1
  

Top answer

0 Past participles can be used as adjectives, so there is nothing contradictory about saying that these are both at the same time. The situations presented are static and no agent is involved, so these are not examples of passive voice. As the sentences stand, without further context, no one actually covered the park with snow, and no one actually involved the legislator in sweeping reforms.

— CalifJim

  • 0 Past participles can be used as adjectives, so there is nothing contradictory about saying that these are both at the same time.
  • The situations presented are static and no agent is involved, so these are not examples of passive voice.
  • As the sentences stand, without further context, no one actually covered the park with snow, and no one actually involved the legislator in sweeping reforms.
  • 02br 02br 00 CJ0-
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28 Answers
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0 Past participles can be used as adjectives, so there is nothing contradictory about saying that these are both at the same time. The situations presented are static and no agent is involved, so these are not examples of passive voice. As the sentences stand, without further context, no one actually covered the park with snow, and no one actually involved the legislator in sweeping refor
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0Hi CJ,02br
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00Thanks for your reply.02br
00(...and sorry for my late 'thank you'....!!)05002br
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00I'd like to add a little more context on each example sentence, but acutally they don't have much context at all. I quoted them from a grammar book.02br
00The phrases such as 'be accustomed to, be known to, be covered with,
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0 00Hi candy,02br
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00There are verbs in English that can be used as “adjectives” or “passive voice”. Many of them are understood as passive verbs without the preposition “by”. Depending on the reader’s interpretation, some may considered them adjectives while others are persuaded to believed they are past participles used as passive voice. Consider the following exam
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0 Hello02br
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00I think the question Candy raised here is one of those most of English learners in Japan would have. The problem seems to come from the fact that students in Japan are being taught in school that the past participle is a form of verbs along with the present and past forms and that teachers introduce the past participle for the first time when they begin to
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0 Interesting observations, Paco, and good advice! 02br
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00 You seem to have your finger on the pulse of English grammar sources, so maybe you could tell me. In your readings do you find that most authorities believe there is such a thing as an agentless passive? Or is there a preference for talking about past participles as adjectives (with no attempt to call the
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0Hello CJ02br
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00I have four English grammar books. Two are written in Japanese and both treat an agentless passive as a kind of passive, although one of them introduces the concept of "stative passive" to explain the usage of agentless passive. English-written grammar books are Quirk's CGEL and Alexander's Longman English Grammar. 02br
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00Quirk us
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0 agentless passive, pseudo passive, semi passive02br
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00 As I suspected, there are a lot of shades of difference. It's almost as if there is a complex continuum of possibilities between the two poles of plain adjective and agentive passive.02br
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00 Thanks, Paco.02br
050010id1
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0 Hello CJ02br
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00Yes, you are right. Quirk explains the gradation of passives giving the examples as follows in the order from 'central passive' to 'true adjectival'.02br
01font001. The violin was made by my father.02br
002. The conclusion is hardly justified by the result.02br
003. Coal has been replaced by o
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0 01font00He is buried in the cemetery. (adjectival / stative passive)02br
00He was buried in the cemetery. (true or dynamic passive)02br
00We learned he was buried in the cemetery. (adjectival / stative passive)02br
02font02br
00They are really messy to us ESL students. If I were Gregorius Buscius the Second, I
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0Sorry ! I messed up on the post0-
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