stative passive

Question

Hi,I was checking out the book by Betty Schrampfer Azar called Understanding and Using English Grammar, third edition, for more information on stative passive and saw these sentences in Chart 11-5, page 225:(g) Ann broke the window yesterday.(h) The window was broken by Ann.(i) Now the window is broken. I think its side explanation has noted that the past participle functions as an adjective. Of g, h, and i, the sentence showing the characteristics of  stative passive is i. Is 'broken' in the 'i' sentence an adjective?  How would a person make sure that it is not a past participle?

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

Hi Believer

In my opinion broken is a past participle in sentence (i). It is just used as an adjective, or you could say it is used adjectivally. This is possible in English, and it is necessary as well, because there are hardly any inflections in English and yet it must be possible to convey different meanings.

The door is closed at 9 o'clock. (Refers to the act of closing.)
The door is closed all night. (Refers to the state the door is in, it's not open, it is closed.)

Should the closing of the door be such a strenuous process that it takes all night, I don't know how to express that neatly. In my language I would simply say: The door is closed all night, but use a different form of door. In English there is no form for that. I don't know what your native language is, Believer, but if it is Swedish, you will have noticed that as there are three different passive structures in the language, no similar ambiguity is possible because action and state are expressed with different passives.

Cheers
CB

PS: I hope I haven't made many typos. I have a brand-new laptop and some keys are in different places.

PS 2: I just noticed two and corrected them.

Anonymous · Answer

which one is true "it's blessed me" or "it's bleesed for me"

txs

Mister Micawber · Answer

Neither seems right.  What would you like to say?

Anonymous · Answer

Hi in such sentences where it is used as a state passive the action happened in the bast, when we say the window is broken it means the action of braking happened some time ago and now we are just left with the result, also these state passives dont usually have a by-phrase, i hope it was of some help. in general i think that it is pretty difficult for non-natives speakers to understand the meaning of state-passives. but to be honest most of my student can easily answer the questions in betty azar without direct reference to grammar

Nel0506 · Answer

http://guidetogrammar.org/grammar/progressive.htm#stative

Believer How would a person make sure that it is not a past participle?

Hi anyone,

I would like to know why anyone needs to make such a decision at all?

For reference: Breaking news alert = "breaking" is also an adjective.

The past participle is used as an adjective and we know this. What is "stative passive" and why does anyone need to know this?

I am simply curious because another question on this forum recently was about the verb "see" and whether it is stative or dynamic. Does it have anything to do with the information at the link I shared above? What teachers are asking these kinds of questions and for what purpose?

Thanks in advance,

nel

stative passive

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