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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Intransitive verb: no passive form?

Hi. I think it is right to say that an intransitive verb can't have a passive form and I think the words "sleep" and "vanish" are intransitive verbs.

I think it also is correct to say that for a transitive verb the participle part of what seems to be a passive verb could be an adjective as in "His work is done." Here, I think the participle "done" in what seems (looks) to be the passive verb form "is done" is an adjective.

Going back to the issue of intransitive verbs and what I think are two examples, the words "sleep" and "vanish," would you say these are not correct?

1. He is vanished.

2. He is slept.

I think no. 2 is incorrect, but for no. 1, I think the verb "vanished" carries the sense of an adjective (I could be mistaken) and seems not to be part of a passive structure. If that is an adjective, could that be a valid ground for an exception to what I think is the general rule that an intransitive verb can't be (have??) a passive form?
  

Top answer

1-- possible 2-- not possible There is no violation of the 'rule' when the participle is adjectival.

— Mister Micawber

  • 1-- possible 2-- not possible There is no violation of the 'rule' when the participle is adjectival.
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24 Answers
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1-- possible
2-- not possible

There is no violation of the 'rule' when the participle is adjectival.
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Many learners are confused about past participles. I for one was.

If I said "he was completely consumed for the past few days with the conference preparation."

Do you consider "consumed" as participle adjective? Or passive construction? I was trained to look at it as passive. but I think they are both correct as ong as one can use them properly.
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I'm puzzled by "he is vanished." I would have called it incorrect.
Even Google ( Emotion: rolleyes ) gives it only 127,000 hits against 2
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AvangiI'm puzzled by "he is vanished." I would have called it incorrect.
To me, a native, it also seems very wrong.
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AvangiKing James' boys came up with "He is risen ..."
That's the same flavor I get from "He is vanished".
AvangiIs it generally okay to use the past participle as an adjective when the verb has no transitive usage?
I doubt it. I can't think what data we would use as evidence of such a claim. The counterexamples are numerou
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Hi. Can you please tell me what you meant when you said "I doubt it" in your response below? Were you saying it was (would be, perhaps?)doubtful to you that the past participle form of intransitive nouns like "vanish" and "sleep" could function as adjectives? Could that be for past participle forms of all intransitive nouns? Was that what you meant?

You said:


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AnonymousCan you please tell me what you meant when you said "I doubt it" in your response below?
Certainly. I would be glad to.

I meant that I don't think it is generally okay to use the past participle as an adjective when the verb has no transitive usage. (There may be a few cases of it, but I don't see how this principle could apply general
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Anonymousdoubtful to you that the past participle form of intransitive nouns like "vanish" and "sleep" could function as adjectives?
Just as an aside, we should remark the difference between the present and past participles in this respect.
The intransitive "to sleep" (no transitive usage) gives us the common adjective, "the sleeping
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Hi. I think the following are correct as phrases, with past participles of the two intransitive verbs "appear" and "wait" functioning/acting as adjectives in a pre-noun position. I think the words "wait" and "appear" are intransitive verbs.

1. a much waited dance performance

2. a much appeared news item
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