THE passive voice forms

Verbs in the passive voice have the same tense forms that occur in the active voice, except for the Future Continuous and Perfect Continuous forms. The passive forms are built according to the pattern:

be + participle II

The form of the verb be shows the tense of the passive form.

Present Indefinite: am/is/are + participle II

Past Indefinite: was/were + participle II

Future Indefinite: will be + participle II

Future Indefinite in the Past: would be + participle II

Present Continuous: am/is/are being + participle II

Past Continuous: was/were being + participle II

Present Perfect: have/has been + participle II

Past Perfect: had been + participle II

Future Perfect: will have been + participle II

Future Perfect in the Past: would have been + participle II

Books are sold here.

The letter was received yesterday.

The rule will be explained tomorrow.

He promised that the tickets would be booked.

The article is still being translated.

This district was being built when we came to work here.

This book has been translated in many languages.

He started eating before the table had been laid.

When we get there at last, everything will have been already discussed.

She said the project would have been completed by summer.

In compound verbal modal predicates the passive form of the infinitive is used:

This letter must be sent immediately.

This question cannot be answered.

The work is to be finished on time.

THE USE OF THE PASSIVE VOICE

Transitive verbs are usually used in the Passive Voice:

All the questions were answered.

The Passive Voice is used when the agent is obvious or not important:

She was born in 1982.

The time-table has been changed.

It may be used to avoid mentioning the person performing the action:

The job will be done.

It is often used in reports and official announcements:

The refugees were fed and settled.

Delegates are registered downstairs.

The Passive Voice is used to describe processes:

The vegetables are washed and then they are frozen.

The Passive Voice is often used in scientific texts:

The construction is used after a number of verbs.

There are some peculiarities concerning the use of the Passive Voice:

1. The verbs report, announce, say are often used with the introductory it:

It was announced that our flight was delayed.

2. When we use verbs that have both the direct and the indirect object, either object can be the subject of the passive sentence:

He gave me this book.

The book was given to me. I was given the book.

However, the subject denoting a person is more common:

He was taught English.

She will be told the news when she comes.

If the preposition to with the indirect object is obligatory (explain to, describe to, suggest to), only the direct object can become the subject of the passive sentence:

The reasons were explained to them many times.

If the direct object is expressed by a subordinate clause or an infinitive phrase, the introductory ‘ it ’ is used as the formal subject:

It was explained to us how to get to the station.

3. When we use verbs having prepositional and non-prepositional objects, only the non-prepositional object can become the subject of a passive sentence:

I haven't been told about their arrival yet.

4. We mention the agent only when this information is important:

The book was written by the man who is absolutely unknown.

5. When the agent is mentioned, the preposition by is used if the agent is responsible for the action:

The door was opened by an old woman.

The preposition with is used when the instrument of the action is mentioned:

The letter was written with a pencil.

Some verbs make it possible to use either by or with:

The building was surrounded by policemen.

The building was surrounded with policemen.

6. Intransitive verbs used with prepositions can form the passive voice:

He is often laughed at.

Other verbs are:

account for agree upon arrive at (an agreement) call for deal with

depend on hear of insist on interfere with laugh at listen to

look after look at look for put up with rely on refer to

send for speak about/of stare at talk about/to think of write about

7. Phraseological units such as find fault with, make fun of, pay attention to, take care of can be used in the passive voice too:

Don't worry; everything will be taken care of.

8. The subject of a passive construction can correspond to the adverbial modifier of place of the active construction:

This house is not lived in.

9. A number of transitive verbs are not used in the passive voice. They are have, lack, fit, suit, resemble.

PASSIVE VOICE AND THE COMPOUND NOMINAL PREDICATE ‘BE + PARTICIPLE II’

The simple verbal predicate expressed by a verb in the Passive Voice can be homonymous with the compound nominal predicate expressed by the link verb be + Participle II.

The simple verbal predicate expresses an action, while the compound nominal predicate expresses the state of the subject.

We left the house and the door was closed behind us.

The door was closed and we had to knock.

The simple verbal predicate is translated into Russian by a verb denoting an action, while the compound nominal predicate can be translated by the verb “быть” and the short form of the participle (e.g. “закрыли”, “была закрыта”). If it refers to the Present the verb “be” is not translated into Russian.

The use of tenses is connected with the type of predicate. Perfect forms are more common if the predicate is simple verbal.

The door had been already locked when we came. (S. V. Pr.)

The door was locked when we came. (C. N. Pr.)

The predicate is simple verbal expressed by the verb in the Passive Voice in the following cases:

a) When the doer of the action is indicated:

They were shown into the room by the maid.

b) When there is an adverbial modifier of place, frequency or time:

The newspaper is published in Rostov.

They are always invited to these parties.

This book was written several years ago.

c) When the verb is used in a Continuous or Perfect form:

The breakfast is being cooked. The breakfast has been cooked.

We have the compound nominal predicate in the following cases:

a) The verb has the form of the Present, Past or Future Indefinite:

The door is (was, will be) locked.

b) The verb is in the Present or Past Perfect, while to denote an action we need a Perfect Continuous form:

The suit cases had been packed for three hours but we still couldn’t leave. We had been packing the suit-cases for three hours before we finished.

c) Participle II denotes a state of mind and the object introduced by the preposition by denotes the cause of the state but not the doer of the action:

We were frightened by the perspective.

TRANSLATION OF THE SENTENCES WITH THE PASSIVE VOICE INTO RUSSIAN

1. In some cases the structure of Russian and English passive sentences is the same:

The book was written a couple of years ago. –

Книга была написана пару лет назад.

2. The English Passive sentence can have the Russian equivalent with the Active Voice:

He was born in London. — Он родился в Лондоне.

3. The subject of the Passive predicate in English may correspond to the adverbial modifier in Russian:

The house was not lived in. – В доме не жили.

В доме никто не жил.

4. A number of transitive verbs in English correspond to intransitive verbs in Russian. In these cases English Passive constructions have no Russian Passive equivalents:

The questions were answered. — На вопросы ответили.

The lecture was followed by demonstration. – За лекцией последовал показ.

5. Passive constructions with the verbs like report, announce, say, explain are often translated into Russian by means of the indefinite personal constructions:

It was reported that the victims of the accident were taken to hospital. – Сообщалось ,... Сообщили ,...

 

MODAL VERBS

GENERAL NOTION

There is a group of verbs, which are called modal verbs or modal auxiliaries. They are used to express speakers’ judgement, attitude or interpretation of what they are speaking about. Modal verbs can perform different communicative functions. They can express requests, offers, advice, suggestions, invitations, asking for or granting permission, commands, prohibitions, etc. Modal verbs can also present a situation as possible, probable, obvious, doubtful, necessary, unnecessary, desirable, etc.

What meaning modal verbs express very often depends on the context: on the sentence structure, on the form of the infinitive of the notional verb, on the situation described in the sentence, and on the situation in which the sentence is uttered. Even intonation can sometimes change the meaning of the modal verb. We will show it detail when we deal with separate modal verbs.

There are pure modal verbs, which can express only modal meanings - can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, ought, will, would. There are also semi-modal verbs and phrases, which can also function as notional verbs - have to, be to, need, dare, be able to, had better, be going to.

Pure modal verbs have the following morphological characteristics:

1) They don't take the ending ‘-s’ for the 3d person singular, Present Simple;

2) They are followed by the bare infinitive of the notional verb, with the exception of ‘ ought ’;

3) The negative form is built by adding the negative particle ‘ not ’ to the modal verb;

4) Modal verbs are inverted with the subjects to form questions;

5) Only the modal verbs can, may and will have past forms (could, might and would respectively), while the other modal verbs have no past forms.

Semi-modal verbs have to, and the phrase be able to have the same paradigm as notional verbs and they are followed by an infinitive with the particle ‘ to ’. The verb be to and the phrase be going to are not used in future tenses. The verbs need and dare combine the morphological features both of modal verbs and those of the notional verbs. The phrases had better and would rather have only one form each.

CAN

The modal verb can has two forms - can for the present and could for the past.

The modal verb can is used to express the following meanings.

1. The verb can is used with non-perfect infinitive of the notional verb to denote physical or mental ability of the subject of the sentence to perform the action denoted by the notional verb. The form could is used to express ability in the past: