1. THE PASSIVE VOICE ETSI. de Telecomunicaciones English

2. THE PASSIVE VOICE DEFINITION: Grammatical category which makes it possible to view the actions of the sentence in two ways without changing the facts reported (Quirk) CLAUSE LEVEL: Putting a sentence into the passive involves the rearrangement of two clause elements as well as one addition. The first rearrangement is the active subject becoming the passive agent, and the second is the active object becoming the passive subject. The addition is the preposition "by" introduced before the agent.

3. THE PASSIVE VOICE In sentences containing Od and Oi there are two passive forms: either one or the other can become the subject of the passive; the Oi form is the most common in English. This generally happens when the Oi is animate. e.g.: The company sent us all the information required

4. THE PASSIVE VOICE THE PASSIVE AUXILIARY: It is usually "to be", though "get" may occur in similar functions. The difference is that "get" expresses getting into a state or situation denoted by the participle. It has a mutative meaning which distinguishes it from the ordinary passive and it is usually restricted to constructions without an expressed animate agent. e.g.: The electron population got pumped up by the trigger mechanism

5. THE PASSIVE VOICE The "get-pass." is avoided in formal style, even in informal English is much less common than the "be-pass.". However, in some sentences containing actional and stative passive, it is preferable to use both so as to avoid ambiguity. "Become" is practically interchangeable with "get", though it expresses that the action took place more gradually.

6. THE PASSIVE VOICE e.g.: Engineers report (that) a new generation of computers has been developed. But we don't know how it got developed. We became fed up with the whole proceeding. English is getting/becoming more important for scientific purposes.

7. THE PASSIVE VOICE VOICE CONSTRAINTS: There are a number of constraints which preclude a simple paraphrase relationship between the active and passive. e.g.: a. Engineers develop new systems (One of their tasks is...) b. New systems are developed by engineers (Every new system is developed...)

8. THE PASSIVE VOICE Five types of restrictions can be distinguished: 1.Relating to verbs 2.Relating to objects 3.Relating to the agent 4.Relating to the meaning 5.Relating to the frequency of use

9. THE PASSIVE VOICE 1. Verbs a. Some verbs which are used in the active only: Intransitive vv., of course, but some transitive can't either: e.g.: Have (non-possessive): The whole system had a breakdown Lack: Though very powerful, Harrison's software lacks reliability Hold (=contain): The classroom holds 150 terminals Resemble: The shape of the antenna resembles a parabola Non-technical: Become: That hair-do becomes you Fit: These shoes don't fit me Suit: Blue suits you

10. THE PASSIVE VOICE b. Some verbs are used in the passive only: "Say" and "repute", with the meaning of "consider". e.g.: The company is reputed/said to be the most important one in the field of optical fibres c. Phrasal Verbs. When they've got a figurative (idiomatic) meaning, the construction in the passive is correct. e.g.: The experts went into the matter / The miners went into the tunnel

11. THE PASSIVE VOICE 2. Objects. Transitive verbs are followed either by a nominal or a clausal object. A nominal object is a NP, though the clausal can be either a finite or a non- finite clause. Non-finite clausal objects can consist in either infinitive or participle phrases.

12. THE PASSIVE VOICE e.g.: The bleeper produced a shrill sound (NP) Everybody thinks that mobile telephones can be quite useful (Subord. finite noun clause) Everybody wants to have a mobile telephone (Subord. non-finite infinitive clause) Everybody likes showing off with mobile telephones (Subord. non-finite -ING clause)

13. THE PASSIVE VOICE A constraint exists when there is co-reference between the subject and the nominal object containing a reflexive or a reciprocal pronoun (or a possessive determiner or pronoun if it refers to the subject), and this prevents passive transformation e.g.: The committee congratulated the professor on the results (Y) The professor congratulated himself on the results (N) The technician inserted the optical fibre with a splicer (ensamblador) (Y) The technician injured my hand with the splicer (Y) The technician injured his thumb with the splicer (N) Of the clausal objects, only those consisting of a finite clause regularly take the passive (though sometimes it's not absolutely correct)

14. THE PASSIVE VOICE e.g.: (?)That mobile telephones are quite useful is thought by everybody **To have a mobile telephone is wanted by everybody Finite clausal objects introduced by "that", "whether" or "if" normally take the passive form with "it" as a subject. And the clause remains in the post-verbal position. If the clause occurs initially, "that" is obligatory; if not, it's optional. e.g.: We could hardly imagine that the system would work at all. (It could hardly be imagined that.../ That the system would work at all could hardly...)

15. THE PASSIVE VOICE 3. Agent.In the active sentence, the subject is compulsory -either expressed or understood-, but in the passive transformation, the agent phrase is optional. (According to Quirk, four out of five sentences have no expressed agent.) The agent is omitted in three cases: when it's unknown, irrelevant or redundant.

16. THE PASSIVE VOICE e.g.: Someone has been sending false data since two weeks ago. They have taken this data seriously The staff has been clearing the system and checking it (The system has been cleared by the staff and checked /The... cleared and checked by the staff) Equally, in passive sentences where the agent is unexpressed, it is often impossible to change them into the active. e.g.: At last, order has been restored without problems

17. THE PASSIVE VOICE 4. Meaning. A shift of meaning may accompany a shift of voice in verb phrases containing auxiliaries which have more than one meaning. In an active sentence, CAN is normally interpreted as expressing ability; but in a passive sentence it is more usual to express possibility. e.g.: The computer cannot do it (it is not able) It cannot be done (non-permission) The computer can use French fluently French can be used fluently (possibility) You cannot teach a computer (are unable) A computer can't be taught (it's impossible)

18. THE PASSIVE VOICE 5. Frequency of use constraints. The main statistic factor which determines the frequency of the passive according to Quirk is the distinction between informative and imaginative use. Obviously, the passive is more common in informative, scientific prose. Six occasions when we actually use the passive: a. To express ideas that require a reflexive or impersonal construction in another language e.g.: Se habla inglés aquí / On parle Français. (English is spoken here)

19. THE PASSIVE VOICE b. When the active voice would involve the use of an indefinite or vague pronoun or noun as the subject. (Unknown or irrelevant subjects). c. As a means of avoiding an awkward change of subject in the middle of the sentence. e.g.: The new speech recognition service was a success and was immediately bought by the National Bank. d. When we wish to make some statement sound impersonal for reasons of modesty or when we have some unpleasant statement to make. e.g.. A lot of care has been taken with the present text. The changes made in the running of the factory may result in redundancy.

20. THE PASSIVE VOICE e. To express an order more forcefully and impersonally e.g.: The device must be unplugged before manipulation. f. When we are more interested in what happened to the subject than in what the agent did. e.g.: The transmission of data was illegally interfered.

21. THE PASSIVE VOICE THE INFINITIVE CONSTRUCTION AFTER SOME VERBS IN THE PASSIVE: There's a series of verbs which have two constructions in the passive: one begins with "it" and the other includes the infinitive. These verbs are think, consider, know, acknowledge, believe, understand, find, claim, report and say The infinitive construction is more common and neater. Usually, we find it with "to be", though it also occurs with verbs like "have", "become", etc. (comment on "special passives" with "have").The construction is also used with the passive infinitive. With verbs of perception, the type of construction is going to be the same.

22. THE PASSIVE VOICE e.g.: People believed the world was flat (The world was believed to be flat) They consider Hollerith a predecessor of computers (Hollerith is considered a predecessor of computers) People acknowledge digital lines to be more efficient than analogical ones (Digital lines are acknowledged to be…) The newspapers report that the Hispasat is not operating at its full capacity (Hispasat is reported not to be operating at…) I saw that the hologram represented a model for a car (The hologram was seen to represent…)

23. THE PASSIVE VOICE "Suppose" in the passive can be followed by the present infinitive of any verb. The construction generally conveys an idea of duty and it's not usually the normal equivalent of "suppose" in the active. e.g.: You are supposed to do your work (It is your duty to do your work) John is supposed to be working (John ought to be working / People suppose that John is working)

24. THE PASSIVE VOICE Put into passive upgrading the subject of the that-clause 1. They claim that this program corrects your style 2. People say that a team of experts is working on the problem 3. They suppose that he discovered the technique by chance 4. They think he was working on something completely different 5. They believe that he is about to resign 6. There are rumors that he has set up his own company 7. They say that the police are looking into the matter 8. People suppose that the group has been putting a lot of pressure on the government 9. They estimate that the cost of the scheme is well over six million pounds 10. Everybody knows that the company has been overspending 11. People report that a new model is about to come out onto the market 12. They say that there’s no solution to this problem

25. THE PASSIVE VOICE Rewrite the sentences in the passive. They gave up the search after three hours since the equipment had provoked a failure. Someone should look into the matter before it gets too complicated. We had to put off the implementation until our Department proved it wouldn’t mean an increase of the expenses. They gave me to understand that they would call on my services if they needed them. Don't plug the machine until we tell you to do so. He will stop showing off if people take no notice of him. His bank manager turned down his request for a loan, giving redundancy as a result. You must account for every pound you spent in case the manager requires an explanation. They pointed out that no one could deal with the matter until they knew all the facts. Events will bear out the truth of what I'm saying. The DTE provides the subscriber with the data reception facilities. He hates people making fun of him.