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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
Present active and passive: the same time frame or not?
Hi. I think a present passive tense is that a present tense turned passive. But what I am not sure is that the time frame that is covered in the sentence by the use of either tense is different or not. I think the time frame involved in both tense situations is the same but I am not so sure.
eg,
For the two below, the time frame seems to be the same (not definite in my assessment).
Joe kicks the ball. (active)
The ball is kicked by Joe (passive)
But this pair seems to give a different impression as to the time frames involved (see my comment).
Joe does the homework. (active)
The homework is done by homework. (passive)
To me, the second one has a feeling of the homework having been completed, no matter how little soon after that might be. For the active sentence, I think the action is in the process of being done. What do you think?
eg,
For the two below, the time frame seems to be the same (not definite in my assessment).
Joe kicks the ball. (active)
The ball is kicked by Joe (passive)
But this pair seems to give a different impression as to the time frames involved (see my comment).
Joe does the homework. (active)
The homework is done by homework. (passive)
To me, the second one has a feeling of the homework having been completed, no matter how little soon after that might be. For the active sentence, I think the action is in the process of being done. What do you think?
Top answer
Well, of course the homework is done by Joe, not by the homework, but I think that the time frames are the same for both voices in the same tense. I do not get the feeling you do, although I think I know why you get that feeling: 'done' is also used as an adjective of completion.
- Well, of course the homework is done by Joe, not by the homework, but I think that the time frames are the same for both voices in the same tense.
- I do not get the feeling you do, although I think I know why you get that feeling: 'done' is also used as an adjective of completion.
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3 Answers
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Well, of course the homework is done by Joe, not by the homework, but I think that the time frames are the same for both voices in the same tense. I do not get the feeling you do, although I think I know why you get that feeling: 'done' is also used as an adjective of completion.
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Hi. Thank you so much. Allow me to correct a mistake in my last post.
I wrote:
The homework is done by homework. (passive)
The sentence I wrote should have been this:
The homework is done by Joe. (passive)
I wrote:
The homework is done by homework. (passive)
The sentence I wrote should have been this:
The homework is done by Joe. (passive)
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Hi
A few comments to your question...
Traditionally, ESL students have been taught passive tense by adding "by" to an agent in the sentence.
This rule can be misleading, or at least proved confusing to some learners.
Not all verbs and sentence are passive compatible, at least idiomaically.
For instance:
John tripped over his pants and fell dow
A few comments to your question...
Traditionally, ESL students have been taught passive tense by adding "by" to an agent in the sentence.
This rule can be misleading, or at least proved confusing to some learners.
Not all verbs and sentence are passive compatible, at least idiomaically.
For instance:
John tripped over his pants and fell dow
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