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MaXmOuSe Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Verbs in passive

Could someone write all the verbs which can not be used in passive form - I know only the verb remain. Are there any other verbs and if there are - please write them all. Thank you in advance.
  

Top answer

Far too many, I think, Max. Did you check your grammar book? If the list is small and finite, it will be there.

— Mister Micawber

  • Far too many, I think, Max.
  • Did you check your grammar book?
  • If the list is small and finite, it will be there.
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5 Answers
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Far too many, I think, Max. Did you check your grammar book? If the list is small and finite, it will be there.

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In my grammar book ? Ohh, Murphi,Longman or Gaberoff .... But after long searching I couldn't find any section of these verbs...
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OK, I found it in Quirk et al. They call them middle verbs, and there is no list. It includes many of the stative relational verbs (like remain, become):

be
have (I have a car)
possess
suit (This dress suits you)
equal (six times three equals eighteen)
consist (Japan consists of four main islands)
suppose (I suppose so)
etc.
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Hello MaX

As MM told, some verbs are non-passivizable by nature, but I think it's not so useful to sort verbs into passivizable ones and non-passivizable ones. It is because there are many cases such that a verb can be passivizable in a certain context but cannot in another context. For example, "This bed was slept in by Paco's wife" should sound quite weird,
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Interesting, thank you, Paco.
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