English Verb Patterns and Passive Voice

Posted on Apr 21, 2025 in Linguistics and Applied Languages

Copular Verbs (SVC, SVA)

  • Adjectival Complement
  • Nominal Complement
  • Adverbial Complement

Monotransitive Verbs (SVO)

  1. Noun as Object with passive
  2. Noun as Object without passive
  3. That-clause as Object
  4. Wh-clause as Object
  5. Wh-infinitive as Object
  6. To-infinitive as Object without subject
  7. -ing form as Object without subject
  8. To-infinitive as Object with subject
  9. -ing form as Object with subject

Complex Transitive Verbs (SVOC, SVAC)

  1. Adjective
  2. Nominal
  3. Object + Adverbial
  4. Object + to-infinitive
  5. Object + bare infinitive
  6. Object + -ing form
  7. Object + -ed form

Ditransitive Verbs (SVOO)

  1. Noun phrase as indirect and direct object
  2. with prepositional object
  3. Indirect object + that-clause
  4. Indirect object + wh-clause
  5. Indirect object + wh-infinitive
  6. Indirect object + to-infinitive

Intransitive Verbs

Intransitive verbs are those where no complementation occurs. Some verbs can also be transitive with the same meaning and without a change in the Subject-Verb relationship; the intransitive use acquires a more specific meaning. Other verbs can also be transitive, but the semantic connection between the Subject and Verb is different: the intransitive use has an affected participant as subject, whereas the transitive use has an agentive subject.

Middle verbs cannot occur in the passive voice: have, lack, fit, suit, resemble, equal, mean, contain, hold, comprise.

Verbs Not Used in Passive Voice

  1. Intransitive Verbs
    • Definition: Intransitive verbs do not take a direct object.
    • Reason: Since there is no direct object to become the subject of the passive sentence, these verbs cannot be converted to passive voice.
    • Example: Active: “She sleeps.” Passive: (Not possible, because “sleeps” has no direct object)
  2. Stative Verbs
    • Definition: Stative verbs describe a state or condition rather than an action. They include verbs related to emotions, possession, sense perception, and states of being.
    • Reason: These verbs typically do not work well in passive constructions.
    • Example: Active: “She knows the answer.” Passive: “The answer is known by her.” (Awkward and rarely used)
  3. Impersonal Constructions
    • Definition: Sentences where the subject is vague or general, often using “it” or “there” as placeholders.
    • Reason: These sentences do not have a clear direct object that can become the subject in the passive voice.
    • Example: Active: “It seems that…” Passive: (Not possible, because “it” is a placeholder and there is no direct object)
  4. Certain Fixed Phrases and Idioms
    • Reason: Fixed phrases and idioms often have a set structure that does not lend itself to passive construction without losing meaning or becoming awkward.
    • Example: Active: “She gave birth.” Passive: (Awkward) “Birth was given by her.”

Passive Voice Forms by Tense

  1. Present Simple:
    • Active: “She writes the report.”
    • Passive: “The report is written by her.”
    • Form: is/am/are + past participle
  2. Past Simple:
    • Active: “They built the house.”
    • Passive: “The house was built by them.”
    • Form: was/were + past participle
  3. Future Simple:
    • Active: “He will deliver the package.”
    • Passive: “The package will be delivered by him.”
    • Form: will be + past participle
  4. Present Continuous:
    • Active: “She is reading the book.”
    • Passive: “The book is being read by her.”
    • Form: is/am/are being + past participle
  5. Past Continuous:
    • Active: “They were painting the fence.”
    • Passive: “The fence was being painted by them.”
    • Form: was/were being + past participle
  6. Present Perfect:
    • Active: “He has finished the project.”
    • Passive: “The project has been finished by him.”
    • Form: has/have been + past participle
  7. Past Perfect:
    • Active: “She had written the letter.”
    • Passive: “The letter had been written by her.”
    • Form: had been + past participle
  8. Future Perfect:
    • Active: “They will have completed the task.”
    • Passive: “The task will have been completed by them.”
    • Form: will have been + past participle

Sentence Structure Statements

  1. Complex sentences have at least one subordinate clause. T
  2. In a complex sentence, a dependent clause can be the subject, the object, the complement, or the adverbial. T
  3. Coordinators cannot link clause constituents. F
  4. When coordinated heads are preceded by a determiner, the usual interpretation is that the determiner applies to each of the conjuncts. T
  5. Subject-operator inversion after “not only” is used to give a less dramatic effect to clauses. F
  6. Passive voice is used when you want to focus on the doer of the action instead of the action itself. F
  7. Adverbial clauses can be moved within the sentence without changing the original message. T
  8. The lexical verb determines all the required constituents for a sentence to make sense. T
  9. Subordinating conjunctions are the only indicators of subordinate clauses. F
  10. Relative clauses pre-modify nouns, the same as adjectives do. F
  11. A complex sentence consists of more than one subordinate clause. F
  12. In order to check the meaning of a noun clause, you should try to answer questions such as: why?, how?, when?, etc. F
  13. As the object of a verb, a noun clause comes after the main verb in a sentence. T
  14. When two coordinated clauses have the same subject, the second can be omitted. T
  15. The subject from the active voice becomes the object in the passive voice. F
  16. The endorsing item in the correlative pair “Both … and …” emphasizes the additive meaning of “and”. T