The indicated verbs in the given sentences are objective transitive, used absolutely in the form of the active voice. This kind of verbal meanings of the action performed by the subject upon it is classed as "reflexive". The same meaning can be rendered explicit by comparing the verb with the reflexive "self-pronoun". Let us take examples of another type: The friends will be meeting tomorrow. Unfortunately, Nillie and Christopher divorced two years after their magnificent marriage. Are Phil and Glen quarreling again over their toy-cruiser?
The cited reflexive and reciprocal uses of verbs are open to consideration as special grammatical voices, called respectively, "reflexive" and "reciprocal". The reflexive and reciprocal pronouns within the framework of the hypothetical voice identification of the uses in question should be looked upon as the voice auxiliaries.
To distinguish between the two cases of the considered phrasal-derivative process the former can be classed as "organic", the latter as "inorganic" reflexivization.
The derivative, i.e. lexemic expressions of voice meanings may be likened, with due alteration of details, to the lexemic expression of aspective meaning. In the domain of aspectuality we also find derivative aspects, having a set of lexical markers and generalized as limitive and non-limitive.
Of course, the factor of semantics as the criterion of the dynamic force of the construction is quite in its place, since the dynamic force itself is a meaning factor of language.
But the "technically" grammatical quality of the construction is determined by the categorical and functional properties of its constituents, first and foremost, its participial part. Thus, if this part, in principle, expresses processual verbality, however statal it may be in its semantic core, then the whole construction should be understood as a case of the finite passive in the categorical sense. E.g.: The young practitioner was highly esteemed in his district.
Thus, with the construction in question the context may have both voice-suppressing "statalising" effect and voice-stimulating "processualising" effect. It is very interesting to note that the role of processualising stimulators of the passive can be performed alongside of action-modifying adverbials, also by some categorical forms of the verb itself, namely, by the future the continuous, and the perfect – i.e. by the forms of the time-aspect order other that the indefinite imperfect past and present.
The fence is painted. – The fence is painted light green. – The fence is to be painted. – The fence has just been painted. The fact that the indefinite to this graduation of dynamism in passive constructions.
Chapter II. Contextual and functional features of the Passive forms in English and Russian
2.1 The formation of the Passive Voice
The passive voice is formed by means of the auxiliary verb to be in the required form and Participle II of the notional verb.
a) The present, past, future indefinite passive are formed by means of the present, past, and future indefinite of the auxiliary verb to be and Participle II of the notional verb.
| The Present Ind. Passive | The Past Ind. Passive | The Future Ind. Passive |
| I am invited | I was invited | I will be invited |
| He is invited | He was invited | He will be invited |
| We are invited | We were invited | We will be invited |
| You are invited | You were invited | You will be invited |
| They are invited | They were invited | They will be invited |
b) The present, past, future indefinite passive are formed by means of the present, past, and future pefect of the auxiliary verb to be and Participle II of the notional verb.
| The Present Perfect Passive | The Past Perfect Passive | The Future Perfect Passive |
| I have been invited | I had been invited | I will have been invited |
| He has been invited | He had been invited | He will have been invited |
| We have been invited | We had been invited | We will have been invited |
| You have been invited | You had been invited | You will have been invited |
| They have been invited | They had been invited | They will have been invited |
c) The present continuous, past continuous passive are formed by means of the present continuous, past continuous of the auxiliary verb to be and Participle II of the notional verb.
| The present continuous passive | The past continuous passive |
| I am being invited | I was being invited |
| He is being invited | He was being invited |
| We are being invited | We were being invited |
| You are being invited | You were being invited |
| They are being invited | They were being invited |
The Future Continuous, the Present Perfect Continuous, the Past Perfect Continuous and the Future Perfect Continuous are not found in the Passive Voice.
2.2 The use of Passive Voice in English
Passive voice can be used:
a) Without the doer of the action being mentioned. In this case the doer is either unknown or unimportant. E.g.: In silence the soup, was finished excellent if a little thick and fish was brought. Tom Tusher was sent off early, however, to a school in London (Thackey).
b) With the doer of the action being mentioned. This occurs only with the doer of the action is to some extent emphasized. The noun or pronoun denoting the doer of the action is introduced by the preposition by. E.g.: He was wrenched from his blank wretchedness by the sound of the door opening from his mother’s room (Galsworthy). This room was dimly lighted from the ceiling by a single electric lamp (Bennett).
2.3 The uses of the tenses in the Passive Voice
The use of tenses in Active and in the Passive voice is the same:
| Indefinite | Present | New schools are built every year. |
| Future | New schools will be built in spring. | |
| Past | New schools were built a month ago | |
| Perfect | Present | New schools have been built this year. |
| Future | New schools will have been built by May. | |
| Past | New schools had been built by the 1st of May. | |
| Continuous | Present | New schools are being built in Khiva |
| Past | New schools were being built when I came. |
All boys have shells…in other words, they are never seen, or if seen would (b) not be recognized (Th.Dreiser).
The news was brought that the little boy at the "Three Castles" was ill (Th.Drieser).
Further meeting will be hold tonight and tomorrow night (Th.Drieser).
You have been told three times this week that she is coming home for a year for her health (Th.Drieser).
I have been very unhappy since she died. I have been slighted and taught nothing and thrown upon myself and put to work not fit for me (Th.Drieser).
By 12 o’clock a jury reasonably satisfactory to both sides had been chosen (Th.Drieser).
Don’t you disturb him? He is working at his wonderful poem.
An immortal work of art is being created (Th.Drieser).
When he got to the stables, a horse was being saddled (Th.Drieser).
To express an action going on at a definite moment in the future only the Future Continuous Active is possible. Thus the Russian sentence Когдавыпридетевлабораторию, опытужебудетпроизводиться must be translated in the following way: When you come to the laboratory, we shall already be making the experiment.
To denote an action which began before a definite moment in the present, past or future perfect continuous active are generally used.
Уже два часа как правят корректуру.
They have been reading the proofs for two hours.
Когда пришел главный редактор, корректуру правили уже два часа.
When the editor-in-chief came, they had been reading the proofs for two hours (Th.Drieser).
The Present Perfect Inclusive Passive and the Past Inclusive Passive are found with verbs not used in the Continuous form, in negative sentences and with sonic non-terminative verbs. She has always been admired (Th.Drieser). The library has not been used for months (Th.Drieser).
2.4 Ways of translating the Passive into Russian
There are three ways of translating the Passive Voice into Russian:
a) Bytheverb быть+краткая форма причастия страдательного залога. In the present the verb is not used.
b) By verbs in –ся.
c) By means of indefinite personal construction (неопределенно-личныепредложения). The last way of translating is possible only if the doer of the action is not mentioned.
Houses are built of stone.
Дома строятся из камня.
Дома строят из камня.
The house was built in1932.
Домпостроилив 1932 году.
The experiment was made by a famous scientist.
Опыт был произведен знаменитым ученым.
Опытпроизводилсязнаменитымученым.
2.5 Uses of the Passive Voice peculiar to the English language
There are cases when the use of the Passive Voice seems to Russian students very peculiar because we find no analogous constructions in Russian. These cases are as follows:
1. The verbs to accord to advice, to allow, to ask, to award, to deny, to envy, to forbid, to forgive, to give to grant, to offer, to order, to pay, to prescribe, to promise, to refuse, to show, to teach, to tell are used in the Passive Voice. These verbs always take an object expressed by a noun or an infinitive. The action expressed by the Passive Predicate passes on the subject and the object. This subject corresponds to the Russian indirect object. E.g. He was granted ten day’s leave has he been shown the documents? The patient was prescribed a strict diet. He was ordered a change of scene. We were to wait (Th.Dreiser).
Note – These verbs admit of another type of passive construction if the object is expressed by a noun. Thus, we can say not only I was given a book. He was shown a book, but also A book was given to me, A book was shown to him. The choice of the construction depends on the logical stress: in I was given a book. The book shown to him the person is emphasized.
2. The Passive Voice is possible with intransitive verbs used with preposition: to account for, to agree upon, to allude in, to arrive at, to call for, to call upon, to comment upon, to depend on, to dispose of to hear of to insist on, to interfere with, to laugh at, to look down, to look up, to provide for, to put at, to put up with, to read to, to run over, to send for, to speak about, to store at, to talk about.
At last an agreement was arrived at. His strange behavior was largely commented upon. He can be depended upon to keep strict silence. This is certainly to keep strict referred to.
The composite verb to do away with the proposition with can be used in the Passive Voice.
In our country illiteracy was done away with many years ago. Note – To send for can be used only in connection with people. E.g. The doctor was sent for.
3) The following verbal phraseological units can be used in the Passive Voice: to find fault with, to lose sight of, to make fun of, to make use of, to pay attention, to put an end to, to set fire to, to take care of.
4) Quite peculiar is the case when the subject of the Passive predicate corresponds to Russian adverbial modifier. This is the case with the intransitive verbs tolive and tosleep with the proposition in. e.g. The bed was not slept in. the room is not lived in (Th.Dreiser).
5) There are a number of transitive verbs in English which correspond to intransitive verbs in Russian. They are: to affect, to answer, to assist, to attend, to follow, to help, to influence, to join, to watch.
These verbs naturally admit of the passive construction while their Russian equivalents cannot be used in the Passive Voice.
She was greatly affected by the scene (Th.Dreiser).
The report was followed by a discussion (Th.Dreiser).
Such sentences are rendered in russian by indefinite – personal sentences unless the latter case either the Active Voice is used which occurs rather seldom or the Passive Voice.
The poor child was always being found fault with (Th.Dreiser).
2.6 The grammatical semantics of the combination to be + Participle II
The combination to be + Participle II can denote an action in which case it is a simple predicate expressed by a verb in the Passive Voice. It can also denote a stse, then it is a compound nominal predicate consisting of a link verb and a predicative.
As the director was ill, the documents were signed by his assistant (Th.Dreiser).
The compound nominal predicate expressed by the verb to be and Participle II can be translated only by the verb быть + краткаяформапричастия. In the present the verb быть is not used.
The statue is broken (Th.Dreiser).
Статуяразбита.
When I come the papers were signed and lay on the secretary’s table (Th.Dreiser).
Когда я пришел, документы были подписаны и лежали на столе у секретаря.
The use of tenses is closely connected with meanings combination to be + Participle II.
When I came up to the gate, it was already locked (Th.Dreiser).
Когда я подошел к воротам они уже были заперты.
The predicate indicates an action completed before a definite moment in the past
Don’t try to pen the gate. It is locked (Th.Dreiser). (state).
It has just been locked (Th.Dreiser). (action).
Conclusion
passive grammar semantics translation
The category of voice differs radically from all other hitherto considered categories from the point of view of its referential qualities. Indeed, all the previously described categories reflect various characteristics of processes, both direct and oblique, as certain facts of reality existing irrespective of the speaker’s perception. For instance, the verbal category of person expresses the personal relation of the process. The verbal number, together with person. The verbal primary time denotes the absolutive timing of the process, i.e. its timing in reference to the moment of speech. The category propect expresses the timing of the process from the point of view of its relation. But we cannot say the same about the category of voice.
As a matter of fact, the situation reflected by the passive construction does not differ in the least from the situation reflected by the active constructions – the nature of the process is preserved intact, the situational participants remain in their places in their unchanged quality. What is changed then, with the transition from the adjective appraisal of the situation by the speaker the plane of his presentation of it. It is clearly seen when comparing any pair of situation by the speaker, the plane of his presentation of it.
The property of the category of voice shows the its immediate connection with syntax, which finds expression in direct transformational relational between the active and passive constructions
The said fundamental meaningful difference between the two forms of the verb and the corresponding constructions that are built around them goes with all the concrete situational contexts. In particular, we find the object – experience featuring achieved by the passive in its typical uses in cases when the subject is unknown or is not to be mentioned for certain reasons, or when the attention of the speaker is centered on the action as such respectively.
Another act of terrorism has been committed in Argentina. Dinner was announced, and our conversation stopped.
All the functional distinctions of the passive both categorical and contextual connotative are sustained in its use with verbids.