CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1 The Explanation of Passive Voice When one wants to talk about the passive voice, one should know some aspects required in passive construction. These aspect are generally found in the construction of passive voice, such as : a. Transitive and Intransitive verbs. b. Direct and Indirect Object. c. Auxiliary verb be. d. The Past Participle. It is difficult to turn active voice if one does not know the meaning of voice. Wren and Martin ( 1983 : 92 ) says : Voice is that form of a verb which shows whether what is denoted by the subject does something or has something done it. By looking at this definition, it can be stated that there are two voices in English verbs that denote whether the subject does something or receives something done by something else, Wren and Martin ( 1983 : 92 ) states : When the verb shows that the person denoted by the subject does something, we say the verb is in the active voice, when the verb shows that something is done to the person denoted by the subject, we say the verb is in the passive voice. 11
a. She waters the flowers. b. James watches the movie. c. The boy beats the dog. d. Andrew borrowed my pen yesterday. e. A hunter shoots a deer. Pay attention to example a, She is the subject of the sentence and Flowers is the Object. She does the action of watering. Grammatically, she is called the doer of the action and the flowers receive the effect of the verb waters. Therefore, the sentence is called active because the subject actively does something. In the passive voice, obviously the person or the thing denoted by the subject receives or something is done to it by some other person or thing. Now, pay attention to these passive sentences : a. The flowers are watered. b. The movie is watched by James. c. The dog is beaten by the dog. d. My pen was borrowed by Andrew yesterday. e. A deer is shot. Flowers is in this sentence is the subject, it does not do anything but it receives something done. Therefore, the sentence is called passive voice, because something has been done to it or receives an action denoted by the person. 12
2.1.1 Transitive and Intransitive Verb A verb is a word that tells or asserts something about a person or thing, it is the most important word in a sentence. A verb may tell us : (1) What a person or thing does, For examples : a. Marry sings. b. They study. c. She writes. d. The clock strikes. e. We dance. (2) What is done to a person or thing, For examples : a. The window is broken. b. Students are taught. c. The newspaper is read. d. A cup of coffee is drunk. (3) What a person or thing is : For examples : a. The dog is dead. b. The blood is red. c. The man is tall. d. The glass is brittle. 13
English verb can be divided into two types according to its meaning, namely a. Transitive Verb. b. Intransitive Verb. A. Transitive Verb A transitive verb is a verb that takes an object. These are some sentences that contain transitive verb and take their objects : For examples : a. Frank built the cabinet. b. Grandma fixed the toaster. c. Martha scared the children. d. I have lose my money. e. They made some cakes. Grammatically, we can form the passive voice in sentences containing transitive verbs, because when the verb is transitive it certainly takes an object. Structurally, in a passive voice the subject of the active voice becomes the object of the passive voice by order of rules. For examples : a. He kicked the ball. The ball was kicked. b. We speak English. English is spoken. 14
c. Someone stole my money. My money was stolen. d. She washes the clothes. The clothes are washed. B. Intransitive Verb Intransitive verb is a verb which does not take an object. - The baby cries. - The sun rises. - I will arrive at 10 o clock. - The lesson has not begun yet. From the examples above, we notice that the verb cries, rises,, arrive, and begun are not followed by any objects. As has mentioned before only a sentence containing a verb that takes an object can be turned a passive construction. Of course, it is clear now that basically, intransitive verbs cannot be turned into passive voice for they take no objects. But sometimes we can find that some of the transitive verbs are also intransitive. Examples : Intransitive Verbs : - She flies to Singapore. - The car stopped in the garage. 15
- They walk on the street. - Tom s father has never smoked in his life. Transitive Verbs : - How many person have been flown to Singapore? - The car was stopped in the garage by the driver. - Horses should be walked for some time after the race. - A pipe was smoked by Tom s father. The verbs such as flies, stopped, walk, smoked above are called intransitive verb because they take no objects. But sometimes they can be put into the active voice which take no objects, and automatically they can be put into the passive voice forms as has been written above. 2.1.2 Direct and Indirect Object As has been stated previously that the active voice in which the required verb are intransitive, they certainly have to take objects. If there is only one object, it can be either a direct object or an indirect one. But sometimes we can find some verbs which take two objects at the same time. For examples : - He gave me a novel. - I showed the policeman my passport. - The teacher taught us Math. - Maggie sent me some postcards. 16
These four sentences are transitive, each of them takes two objects. In the first sentence, the objects are me and a novel ; in the second the policeman and my passport; in third the object are us and Math; and in the last sentence me and some passport. In grammar, me, the policeman and us are called indirect objects because to whom the action are passed over. And a novel, my passport, Math and some postcards are called the direct objects. Zandvoort, R. W. (1975 : 55) says In the active sentence corresponding to sentence with an indirect passive, the indirect object usually denotes a person, the direct object a thing When an active sentence takes two objects, we can put it into passive voice into two constructions. Usually, the indirect object stands as the subject of the passive and secondly the direct object can be put to be the subject of the second passive. For examples : (1) Active : He gave me a novel. Passive : I was given a novel. : A novel was given to me. (2) Active : I showed the policeman my passport. Passive : The policeman was showed my passport. : My passport was showed to the policeman. (3) Active : The teacher taught us Math. Passive : We were taught Math. 17
: Math was taught to us. (4) Active : Maggie sent me some postcards. Passive : I was sent some postcards. : Some postcards were sent to me. Pay attention to the examples above. The first of these passive form He gave me a novel is more usual, because the indirect object becomes the subject of the passive voice. The form A novel was given to me, would be used when we need to stress this new subject. 2.1.3 Auxiliary verb be In building passive constructions, the auxiliary verb be is an important aspect to be considered. 1. Active : I have read the novel. Passive : The novel has been read. 2. Active : My mother makes some cakes. Passive : Some cakes are made by my mother. 3. Active : He took the cassette. Passive : The cassette was taken by him. 4. Active : They slaughter a cow. 18
Passive : A cow is slaughtered. 5. Active : The investors will build a hotel here. Passive : A hotel will be built here. It can be seen from the examples above that the auxiliary verb be is very important in forming passive voice sentences. We should remember if the active voice sentences is in the Simple Present Tense, its passive voice sentence must be in the Simple Present Tense and if the sentence is in the Past Perfect Tense, its passive should be in the Past Perfect Tense, its passive should be in the Past Perfect Tense, too. By understanding the statement above, it is clear that the tense of the auxiliary verb be in passive voice depend on the tense of the verb in the active voice sentence. 2.1.4 The Past Participle Wren and Martin ( 1983 : 127 ) says past participle is a word which represents a completed action or state of the thing spoken. infinitive. The past participle of regular verbs is formed by adding ed or d tp the For examples : Infinitive Past tense Past Participle Cook Cooked Cooked Love Loved Loved 19
Play Played Played Turn Turned Turned Want Wanted Wanted, etc While the past participle of irregular verbs sometimes divided into strong verb those which form their past participle by change the internal vowel of infinitive with add en, -n, or ne- and weak verb form their past participle by adding ed or t to the infinitive. Infinitive Past Tense Past Participle Come came come Do did done Drink drank drunk Rise rose risen Seek sought sought Write wrote written The past participle is used with any form or tenses of the verb be, to make passive form of verbs. 20
2.2 The Classification of Passive Voice Voice is grammatical category which makes it possible to view the action of a sentence in two ways without change. a. A hired assassin murdered the minister. b. The minister was murdered by a hired assassin. In the verb phrase, the difference between the two ways categories is the passive adds a form auxiliary be and the past participle of the main verb. At the clause level, passivitation involves rearrangement of two clause element and one addition. a. The active subject becomes the passive agent, b. The active object becomes the passive subject, and c. The preposition by is introduced before agent. The process of active passive transformation can be presented diagrammatically. The term subject, object, and agent are useful labels for describing phenomenon such as subject verb concord, but the structure of sentence changes under voice transformation, its meaning remain the same. In Andrew kissed Maggie and Maggie was kissed by Andrew, Andrew is in both voices the former of the action. In the sentence structure, the active subject corresponds to the passive agent. English passive sentences can be classified into two, they are : (1) Agentive Passive. (2) Non Agentive passives. 21
A. Agentive Passives Agentive Passives are the passives may be used with the by phrase instead of the active, when the speaker or writer wants to focus attention on the subject of a sentence. Active : Mr. Affandi made this painting. Passive : This painting was made by Mr. Affandi. B. Non Agentive Passives The Passive are usually used without a by phrase are called non agentive passives. The passive are most frequently used when it is not known or not important to know exactly who performs an action. Active : Rice grows in Indonesia. Passive : Rice is grown in Indonesia. In the sentence : Rice is grown in Indonesia, the action can be performed by people, by farmers, by someone. In this sentence, it is not known or not important to know exactly who grows rice in Indonesia. 22
2.3 Patterns of Passive Voice The passive of active sentence is formed by putting the verb to be into the same tense as the active verb and adding the past participle of the active verb. The subject of the active verb becomes the agent of the passive verb. The agent is very often not mentioned. When it is mentioned, it is preceded by by and placed at the end of the sentence. a. Passive Voice in the Simple Present Tense. Sentence Pattern : S + To be (is, am, are) + Past Participle + by + O For examples : - Active : My brother writers a letter. Passive : A letter is written by my brother. - Active : The teacher teaches the students in the classroom. Passive : The students are taught in the classroom. b. Passive Voice in Present Continuous Tense Sentence Patten : S + To be (is, am, are) + being + Past participle + by + O 23
- Active : Mr. Steve is offering a job. Passive : A job is being offered by Mr. Steve. - Active : The president is declaring a war. Passive : A war is being declared by the president. c. Passive Voice in Simple Past Tense Sentence Pattern : S +Was/were + Past Participle + by + O - Active : A car struck a tree yesterday. Passive : A tree was struck by a car yesterday. - Active : The mechanic repaired the brakes. Passive : The brakes were repaired. d. Passive Voice in Past Continuous Tense Sentence Pattern : S + Was/were + being + Past Participle + by + O 24
- Active : Last week, they were painting the children s room. Passive : Last week, the children s room was being painted. - Active : She was telling the truth. Passive : The truth was being told. e. Passive Voice in Simple Future Tense Sentence Patten : S + Will/ Shall + be + past participle + by + O - Active : Horas FM will offer new programs next month. Passive : New programs will be offered by Horas FM next month. - Active : He will organize a party next Saturday. Passive : A party will be organized next Saturday. f. Passive Voice in Present Perfect Tense Sentence Pattern : S + have/has + been + past participle + by + O - Active : The director has ordered a lot of new equipment. 25
Passive : A lot of new equipment has been ordered by the director. - Active : He has delivered many packages. Passive : Many packages have been delivered. g. Passive Voice In Past Perfect Tense Sentence Pattern : S + had + been + past participle + by + O - Active : The workmen had already installed the new computer. Passive : The new computer had already been installed. h. Passive Voice in Future Perfect Tense Sentence Pattern : S + will/shall + have + been + past participle + by + O - Active : The English Course will have started the children s story hour by the end of next month. - Passive : The children s story hour will have been started by the end of next month. 26
i. Passive Voice in Present Infinitive. Sentence Pattern : S + have/has + to be + past participle + by + O - Active : I have to renew my library card. Passive : My library card have to be renewed. j. Passive Voice in Modals. Sentence Pattern : S + may/must/can + be/been + past participle + by + O - Active : You must finish this work before two o clock today. Passive : This work must be finished before two o clock today. In this thesis, the writer only writes down ten tenses, because the present perfect continuous tense, past perfect continuous tense, future continuous tense and future perfect continuous tense are rarely used in the passive voice sentences. 27
2.4 The Uses of Passive Voice. The Passive Voice is very Important in English. Allen (1947 : 281) says Probably quite 90 percent of the passive sentences spoken or written are of the type replacing the indefinite pronoun or reflexives in other languages. While Thompson and Martinet (1969 : 175) say The passive voice is used in English when it is more convenient or interesting to stress the thing done than the doer of it, or when the doer is unknown. The passive voice is used in English in the following instances : a. It is more interesting or important to emphasize what happened rather than who or what performed the action. Example : There was a terrible storm last night. Hundreds of houses were destroyed. By is unnecessary. b. The doer of the action is unknown. The subjects of such sentences in the active voice are words such as they, people, someone, somebody, etc. Example : Someone stole my car last night. My car was stolen last night. By cannot be used because the doer is unknown. c. The doer of the action is known, but the speaker or writer does not want to name the person who made a statement or did something wrong. Example : The teacher ruined the top if this desk accidentally. The top of this desk was ruined accidentally. By is unnecessary. 28
Note : Sometimes the doer of the action is necessary to complete the meaning of the sentence. Example : The police officer is seen as an enemy by some; looked for aid and protection by others, and taken for granted by most. Notice that the auxiliary is is used only one time. d. The doer of the action represent a large group of different individuals. Example : A lot of coffee is grown in Brazil. By is unnecessary. e. The doer of the action is obvious. Example : The letter will be picked up after 1:00. (The mailman will pick it up). By is unnecessary. f. The passive may be used to avoid an award or ungrammatical sentence. This us usually done by avoiding a change of subject. Example : When he arrived home a detective arrested him. Would be better expressed : When he arrived home, he was arrested ( by a detective ). Prepositions with Passive Verbs A. In the passive voice, the preposition by is usually called the agent. When it is mentioned, is preceded by by. 29
Example : Active : Who wrote it? Passive : Who was it written by? B. When a verb + preposition is put into the passive voice, the preposition remains immediately after the verb. Example : Active : We must put out the fire. The thief locked us in the closet. Passive : The fire must be put out. We were locked in the closet. 30