A study on passive voice in english and in vietnamese
II.2. Forms of the passive
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| II.2. Forms of the passive II.2.1. The affirmative form A passive verb has a form of be and a past participle. “Be” is in the same tense as the equivalent active form. a. Simple tenses (simple form of be + past participle) Egg Large numbers of people are killed on the roads. b. The perfect (perfect of be + past participle) Egg The drugs had been loaded onto the ship in Ecuador. c. The continuous (continuous of be + past participle) Egg Three men were being questioned by detectives last night. 25 d. Will and be going to (future of be + past participle) Egg The drugs will be destroyed. The men are going to be charged with importing cocaine. [Eastwood, 1994:135] In general, we do not use future progressive and perfect progressive to form passive voice. We usually avoid saying “be-being”. So they are rare and impossible. Other pattern forms - Conditional form would be + P II I wish the phone would be answered. - Perfect conditional would have been + P II The work would have been done if I had had enough time. - Present infinitive to be + P II He hates to be criticized. - Perfect infinitive to have been + P II The newsagent subject has been broken into. - Perfect participle/gerund: being + P II He may be being interviewed at this very moment. - Perfect participle having been + P II Money was admitted having been stolen. Alexander II.2.2. The negative form is built up in the same way as inactive sentence, in the negative not come after the (first) auxiliary. Eastwood, 1994:135] Egg Rome was not built in a day. |