The village is surrounded by hills.

Question

I read in some English grammar books that some of past participles are used like adjectives and they describe the state rather than the action. In the following sentence, "the village is surrounded by hills.", I think the "surrounded" was used as an adjective rather than part of the passive verb and I'm wondering why the "by" was used here, because I read that the passive form of a verb sometimes describes the result of an action like an adjective and in this case other prepositions like at, with, to are preffered instead of "by".

I would appreciate any explanation.

Thanks!

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

This is a kind of grey area, but the end result is equivalent, whether you call it passive voice or a stative verb + past participle as adjective.

The active voice would be:

Hills surrounded the village.

It has the same basic meaning, but the reader's attention is brought more to the hills, rather than the village.

"Surrounded by" is nearly a phrasal verb, so no other preposition works as well as by.

With is the only other option; but it is used with surround as an action verb, e.g. Surround the fruit with dollops of whipped cream.

You can use another verb with a different preposition:
The village is nestled among the hills.

CalifJim · Answer

Bamtoriin this case other prepositions like at, with, to are ~~preffered~~ preferred instead of "by"

Other prepositions may be preferred, but that does not mean that "by" is never used in such cases.

CJ

The village is surrounded by hills. <- surrounded, is it an adjective?

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