1. Passive Voice 1 Active sentences and passive sentences

2. Rules of change into the passive  Most of the SVO / SVOO / SVOC patterns can be made passive.  Rules of transformation are as follows:

3. Voice constraints  Not all the active sentences can be made passive. Some transitive or stative verbs.  for example, Do not occur in the passive. This plane holds about 150 people. These students lacked experience.

4. TTransitive verbs with reflexive or reciprocal objects do not passivize: He hurt himself when he fell from the ladder. We should help each other.

5.  S Some "verb + noun" combinations, which have the force of an intransitive verb, can never take the passive. TThe medicine soon took effect. The plant will soon take root.

6.  There is no active transformation for the following seemingly passive sentences: He is gone. = He has gone. The moon is risen now. -- The moon has risen now. Conversely, with some verbs only the passive is possible: She was born in Shanghai. She/s reputed to be the best singer in Europe.

7. 2 Passive voice of phrasal verbs （ 1 ） Passive voice of basic phrasal verbs (a) verb + preposition: Iook after, look into, talk about: The children are well looked after. This matter is being looked into.

8. （ b ） verb + adverb particle: set up, put off, bring about: When was the hospital set up? The sports meet is to be put off. A new outburst of revolutionary enthusiasm will soon be brought about.

9. (c) verb + adverb particle ~ preposition: do away with, face up to, put up with: That sort of thing should be done away with. There's no running away from the facts They just have to be faced up to. Such a state of things cannot be put up with.

10. (2) Passive voice of "verb + noun + preposition" He took great care of his books. → His books were taken great care of. He took great care of his books. → Great care was taken of his books.

11. 3 Passive voice of non-finite verbs (1) Passive infinitive I am proud to be thus chosen. I hope to be nominated.

12. If the infinitive does not share the subject with the main clause, the logical subject of the passive infinitive must be expressed: It is impossible for lost time to be made up. To fetch water before breakfast seemed to them a rule never to be broken.

13. In some contexts, the infinitive can occur either in the active or in the passive without any difference in meaning, e.g.  There is so much work to do / to be done,

14.  But in some other cases, for instance, in the construction of "there was nothing to see / to be seen", the active infinitive and the passive mean differently.  Compare: There was nothing to see. ( = There was nothing for one to see. ) There was nothing to be seen. ( = The thing being looked for was not there. )

15.  Sometimes, usage requires the active infinitive rather than the passive, even though the logical subject of the infinitive is the recipient of the action: This house is to let. You are not to blame for what happened. A lot remains to do.

16. (2) Passive-ing participle When the logical subject of the –ing participle is the recipient of an action, the –ing participle should occur in the passive, e.g. The problem being discussed is of vital importance. I object to being kept waiting. I insisted on him / his being invited.

17.  Compare: He wants to be invited. He enjoys being flattered. He likes to be consulted / being consulted. He forgot to be photographed. (= He forgot that he had to be photographed. ) He forgot being photographed. ( = He forgot that he had been photographed. )

18. If a passive non-finite verb functions as prepositional complementation or as object of a phrasal verb, it can only be an –ing form.

19. Cases where the passive is used The use of the passive is determined by factors as follows: (a) The passive is used when we are more interested in the event itself than in the agent, e.g. Hundreds of passengers were killed in the crash. Everything under the sun is sold on the bazaar from hairpins to camels.

20. (b) The passive is used when the agent is unknown or when we wish to make a statement sound impersonal perhaps out of modesty or tactfulness, e.g. This book was published in the 16th century. This proposal was generally considered as not very practical.

21. (c) The passive is used and the agent with "by" is expressed when we wish to stress the doer of the action. e.g. Who invented the telephone? → It was invented by Graham Bell.

22.  In many cases, the choice between the active and the passive depends on the semantic intention implied by the context. e.g. It rained heavily last night. The rain destroyed the flowers. A. The flowers are all gone. What happened to them? B: They (The flowers) were destroyed by the rain. All this boils down to one point: active and passive forms are structurally interchangeable, but semantically only one form is possible in a specific context.

23. Two related types of passive sentences  There is a kind of active sentence which may be transformed into two possible passive forms. e.g. People believe that he is ill. → It is believed that he is ill. (type I ) → He is believed to be ill. (type II )

24. Active constructions expressing passive meanings  There are verbs that can be either transitive or intransitive and which can be active in form but passive in meaning.  The following two points may be noted.  The first of these, which occurs chiefly in the present progressive, is found in some of the daily expressions and professional jargons known as remnants of Old English.

25. The house is building. The book is printing. The dinner is cooking. Verbs used in this way can also be made passive. Compare: The house is being built. The book is being printed. The dinner is being cooked.

26.  The second type occurring frequently in the simple present is only found when the subject is represented as having certain inherent qualities which promote, hamper, or prevent the realization of the idea expressed by the predicate verb. e.g. Tomatoes bruise easily. My voice doesn't carry well. Nylon dries quickly. The door won't lock.

27.  By the side of the active constructions under discussion there exist corresponding passives, but they have a demonstrably different meaning. Compare: His novels don't sell. His novels are not sold.

28.  When we say that his novels don't sell, we suggest that they have certain inherent qualities which prevent or adversely affect their sale, that they definitely do not belong to the category of best-sellers;  When we say that his novels are not sold, we make a mere statement of fact about them.

29. Ergative 作格动词（ active in form passive in meaning ） （ 1 ）状态变化： age, begin, bend, bleach, break, bum, burst, change, close, continue, crack, darken, decrease, diminish, disperse, double, down, dry, empty, end, fade, finish, grow, improve, increase, open, quicken, rot, shatter, shrink, shut, slow, split, spread, start, stick, stop, stretch, tear, thicken, upset, widen, worsen, etc.

30. (2) 烹饪、运动、位移： bake, broil, cook, defrost, fry, melt, roast, simmer, quicken; balance, drop, move, rest, rock, shake, spin, stand, steady, swing, turn; back, crash, drive, fly, park, reverse, run, sail, etc.

31. (3) 固定搭配： catch (an article of clothing), fire (a gun, rifle, pistol), play (music), ring (a bell, the alarm), show (an emotion such as fear, anger), sound (a horn, the alarm), etc.

32. (4) Multy-word ergative: (a) v.+ adv: back up, block up, blow up, book in, break off, break up, buck up, build up, bum up, check in, check out, cheer up, close down, dry up, get off, heat up, hurry up, line up, move on, open up, peel off, pull through, rob off, shut up, sign up, slow down, spread out, start off, thaw out, warm up, wear down, wind up, etc. The noise woke me up.—I woke up. You’ll soon wear your clothes out.—your clothes will soon wear out.

33. (b) V.+ prep/adv: blow off, get down, get through, get up, move down, move up, poke through, stick in, stick on, etc. He peeled the skin off the potato/He peeled off the skin of the potato.—The skin peeled off the potato. Or: The skin of the potato peeled off.

34. Passive constructions or "linking verb + complement" constructions --ed participles can be used either as part of a passive construction or as adjectives (and their comparatives} functioning as complement of a linking verb.

35. Compare: -ed as adjective -ed as part of a passive construction I am (very) annoyed with him. I was annoyed by mosquitoes all night. I am {very} interested in chess. I was interested in what you told me.