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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
Usage
Can "Remain" Implement the Passive Voice?
For example,
http://www.uiowa.edu/~histwrit/passive and active voice.htm
Asserts that you can identify the use of the passive voice by finding instances of the verb "to be".
But if I write...
I remain amused by flying monkeys.
Is that not the a passive way of writing the active:
Flying monkeys continue to amuse me.
?
Does anyone recognize a classification which would classify my first example above as using the passive voice? After all, I could change "remain" to "am", putting the sentence clearly into the passive voice, and change the meaning of the sentence very little. One could find lots of analogous examples.
Does anyone recognize a classification which distinguishes assertions (noun "to be" adjective) as a different type of passive voice from the use of "to be" together with a participle or gerund, with an actual or implied indirect object? (And does or does not the indirect object in "by flying monkeys" indicate the passive voice just as much as the verb "to be"?)
Do I engage here in some well-known fallacies?
Can anyone point me to a list of verbs, in addition to "to be", that writers can use to construct sentences which some authorities would consider to be in the passive voice?
Or has life filled me with unpleasant substances?
Adrian.
And I did do some web-searching first...
http://www.uiowa.edu/~histwrit/passive and active voice.htm
Asserts that you can identify the use of the passive voice by finding instances of the verb "to be".
But if I write...
I remain amused by flying monkeys.
Is that not the a passive way of writing the active:
Flying monkeys continue to amuse me.
?
Does anyone recognize a classification which would classify my first example above as using the passive voice? After all, I could change "remain" to "am", putting the sentence clearly into the passive voice, and change the meaning of the sentence very little. One could find lots of analogous examples.
Does anyone recognize a classification which distinguishes assertions (noun "to be" adjective) as a different type of passive voice from the use of "to be" together with a participle or gerund, with an actual or implied indirect object? (And does or does not the indirect object in "by flying monkeys" indicate the passive voice just as much as the verb "to be"?)
Do I engage here in some well-known fallacies?
Can anyone point me to a list of verbs, in addition to "to be", that writers can use to construct sentences which some authorities would consider to be in the passive voice?
Or has life filled me with unpleasant substances?
Adrian.
And I did do some web-searching first...
Top answer
" aren't passive voice, they're just active sentences in the past tense, which doesn't give much credibilty to the rest of it. The writer's being fair enough if he wants to describe the examples as woolly, but passive voice they aren't. " I was expecting "well this is a gross over-simplification"...
- " aren't passive voice, they're just active sentences in the past tense, which doesn't give much credibilty to the rest of it.
- The writer's being fair enough if he wants to describe the examples as woolly, but passive voice they aren't.
- " I was expecting "well this is a gross over-simplification"...
- I think maybe I detect the ol', "I'm a lecturer in the Deptartment of History, let me tell you about the English style I like to see in my students assignments" syndrome.
- html is brilliant.
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100 Answers
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[nq:1]For example, http://www.uiowa.edu/~histwrit/passive and active voice.htm Asserts that you can identify the use of the passive voice by finding instances of the verb "to be".[/nq]
Examples on that page such as
"On July 14, 1789, there were poor people who stormed the Ba
Examples on that page such as
"On July 14, 1789, there were poor people who stormed the Ba
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[nq:1]For example, http://www.uiowa.edu/~histwrit/passive and active voice.htm Asserts that you can identify the use of the passive voice by finding instances of the verb "to be". But if I write... I remain amused by flying monkeys.[/nq]
Sorry, a quick PS... another way of think
Sorry, a quick PS... another way of think
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Django Cat (Email Removed) wrote,
[nq:2]For example, http://www.uiowa.edu/~histwrit/passive and active voice.htm Asserts that you can identify the use of the passive voice by finding instances of the verb "to be".[/nq]
[nq:1]Examples on that page such as "On July 14, 1789, t
[nq:2]For example, http://www.uiowa.edu/~histwrit/passive and active voice.htm Asserts that you can identify the use of the passive voice by finding instances of the verb "to be".[/nq]
[nq:1]Examples on that page such as "On July 14, 1789, t
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Django Cat (Email Removed) wrote,
[nq:2]For example, http://www.uiowa.edu/~histwrit/passive and active voice.htm Asserts that you can ... But if I write... I remain amused by flying monkeys.[/nq]
[nq:1]Sorry, a quick PS... another way of thinking of this is that 'amused' is
[nq:2]For example, http://www.uiowa.edu/~histwrit/passive and active voice.htm Asserts that you can ... But if I write... I remain amused by flying monkeys.[/nq]
[nq:1]Sorry, a quick PS... another way of thinking of this is that 'amused' is
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(Email Removed) (Adrian Pepper) wrote,
[nq:1]That is, doesn't the use of "by something" in conjunction with usually a form of "to be" and a gerund ... can fairly mechanically be turned around to be "different" even if one isn't actually making them "active" instead of "passive".[/nq]
Okay, that specific claim was definitely a bit too general...
I was walking by the lake.
In th
[nq:1]That is, doesn't the use of "by something" in conjunction with usually a form of "to be" and a gerund ... can fairly mechanically be turned around to be "different" even if one isn't actually making them "active" instead of "passive".[/nq]
Okay, that specific claim was definitely a bit too general...
I was walking by the lake.
In th
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[nq:1]Doesn't the "by flying monkeys" pretty automatically identify the agent? That is, doesn't the use of "by something" in conjunction ... or participle indicate an agent which has been turned into an indirect object through the use of the passive voice?[/nq]
I don't think passive voice can use a gerund, except "being" and "getting" as part of a continuous-tense construction: I was being yel
I don't think passive voice can use a gerund, except "being" and "getting" as part of a continuous-tense construction: I was being yel
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[nq:2]That is, doesn't the use of "by something" in conjunction ... if one isn't actually making them "active" instead of "passive".[/nq]
[nq:1]Okay, that specific claim was definitely a bit too general... I was walking by the lake. In that case it ... operating on "I". Might that be a very good example of a non-passive use of the verb "to be" ?[/nq]
It's an example of a standard construct
[nq:1]Okay, that specific claim was definitely a bit too general... I was walking by the lake. In that case it ... operating on "I". Might that be a very good example of a non-passive use of the verb "to be" ?[/nq]
It's an example of a standard construct
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Robert Lieblich (Email Removed) wrote, in article (Email Removed):
[nq:1]It's an example of a standard construction known as the progressive (or continuous) aspect (or tense). Any form of "be" ... the active voice. At the risk of suffering a counter-example, I'll hazard the statement that there is no passive progressive.[/nq]
What about "was being"?
"The dog was being walked by John."
[nq:1]It's an example of a standard construction known as the progressive (or continuous) aspect (or tense). Any form of "be" ... the active voice. At the risk of suffering a counter-example, I'll hazard the statement that there is no passive progressive.[/nq]
What about "was being"?
"The dog was being walked by John."
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[nq:2]Sorry, a quick PS... another way of thinking of this ... low by flu' 'I remain green with pink spots'... DC[/nq]
[nq:1]I was never saying that all uses of "remain" would indicate a use of the passive voice, and you say that the presence of the verb "to be" does not indicate it either.[/nq]
Well, of course not, not in every single sbj + to be + obj clause. We teach the passive as work
[nq:1]I was never saying that all uses of "remain" would indicate a use of the passive voice, and you say that the presence of the verb "to be" does not indicate it either.[/nq]
Well, of course not, not in every single sbj + to be + obj clause. We teach the passive as work
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[nq:2]I remain amused by flying monkeys.[/nq]
[nq:1]Sorry, a quick PS... another way of thinking of this is that 'amused' is a past participle adjective, rather than passive voice (could we ever identify an agent doing the amusing? Probably not[/nq]
How so ? It seems very straightforward to identify the agent doing the amusing in that particular case as the "flying monkeys". CV
[nq:1]Sorry, a quick PS... another way of thinking of this is that 'amused' is a past participle adjective, rather than passive voice (could we ever identify an agent doing the amusing? Probably not[/nq]
How so ? It seems very straightforward to identify the agent doing the amusing in that particular case as the "flying monkeys". CV
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