The boy was bitten by the dog.

Question

Hi there, I am wondering is the word "bitten" a verb or an adjective? ThanksThe boy was bitten by the dog.

Jack_back · Accepted Answer

Bitten here is past participle.

BarbaraPA · Answer

The sentence is in the passive. It's the verb.

The dog bit the boy. The boy was bitten by the dog.

I wrote the note. The note was written by me.

It can be hard in some cases to tell whether it's passive or an adjective. For example: I was tired - it's cleary an ajective here. But: I was tired out by that long hike. You can say "The long hike tired me out" so it sure looks passive, but I'd still call it a desciption of my state (and therefore an adjective), rather than passive.

CalifJim · Answer

You can say "The long hike tired me out" so it sure looks passive, but I'd still call it a desciption of my state (and therefore an adjective), rather than passive.

If tired is an adjective in The long hike tired me out, which of the other words is the verb? hike? me? out?

Or am I misreading what you're saying?

CJ

BarbaraPA · Answer

No, sorry, I meant the sentence that came before that one. I was tired out by the long hike.

CalifJim · Answer

Got it. [Y] I knew it had to be one of those.

CJ

BarbaraPA · Answer

But I'd like your opinion.

I was tired out by the hike.

Do you think it's a passive sentence or do you think "tired out" is an adjective?

CalifJim · Answer

It certainly seems to be one of those ambiguous cases where either the "state" interpretation or the "action upon the subject" interpretation is possible.

I was surprised/frightened.
The door was closed/locked.
Fran and Tom were married.

An animate agent in a by clause pushes us strongly toward a passive interpretation, but an inanimate can go either way.

I was surprised by the explosion seems more like a passive.
I was surprised by Bob's attitude seems less like a passive and a little like an adjective.
I was surprised by the foggy weather seems even less like a passive and more like an adjective.

Other words in the sentence can push the interpretation one way or the other. Here the first line has examples of the passive married, and the second has examples of the adjective.

They were married last week. They were married yesterday. They were married in a church.
They were happily married. They were married for years. They were married and living in Peoria.

According to Palmer there is sometimes no exact line dividing the two, but a gradual blending from one type to another. He calls this "passive gradience". (The English Verb)

The possibility of both interpretations in some situations is not surprising, because the same state-or-action ambiguity exists in other parts of the language as well.

Lucy had a child.
____

In the specific case of being tired out by a hike, I think that most native speakers think of the adjective meaning first, the by being thought of as more like a because of, not really the by that introduces the agent of an action.

CJ

The boy was bitten by the dog.

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