IS or HAS BEEN ?

Question

The door is closedThe door has been closedAre the meanings of this two sentences same ?  Please help

Tamguatlay · Accepted Answer

The door is closed. = It is not open.

The door has been CLOSED. = Somebody has closed the door.

Ravinath · Answer

Then

The door is closed

is not in passive voice right ? I thought it was in passive voice

Vsuresh · Answer

The first states how something is at present.
The second can mean that situation was different a little while ago; maybe it was open

And as far as the first is concerned there is no indication of an agent or in other words who did it but the second tells us that someone has done it.

Let us wait for the native speakers to give their views.

Vsuresh · Answer

Ravinathis not in passive voice right ? I thought it was in passive voice

No. Closed is an adjective (here) just as married here. She is married.

Ravinath · Answer

Thank you <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

CalifJim · Answer

RavinathThen The door is closed is not in passive voice right ? I thought it was in passive voice

With so few words it is impossible to say whether it is passive or not. The passive usually requires additional words (typically adverbs) to allow an interpretation of 'passive', especially in the present tense, thus:

The door is closed every evening at 8 o'clock. (passive) [ Here you have enough information to interpret this as a regularly recurring action. ]

The door is closed. (passive action? active showing the state of the door?) [ Here there is not enough information to say definitely that it's passive, so we say it's not passive. ]

Similarly,

The swimming pool is drained by the pool boy once every three months. (passive action)
The swimming pool is drained. (???) Probably not a passive action, just a description of the pool. It's empty.

But with the right context:

— What happens to the swimming pool every three months?
— It is drained. (passive)

CJ

Ravinath · Answer

Thank you very much <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

IS or HAS BEEN ?

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