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THE GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF VOICE IN ENGLISH

Voice is the grammatical category which expresses the relation between the subject and the direct object in the sentence.

There are two proper voices: A. the active voice the action expressed by the verb is performed by the

grammatical subject. Mr. Jones invited all his friends to his birthday party.

B. the passive voice the action expressed by the verb is suffered by the grammatical subject. All of Mr. Joness friends were invited to his birthday party. The passive form of an English principal verb is made up of the auxiliary verb to

be which is conjugated in the required mood, aspect, tense and form (affirmative, negative, interrogative, negative-interrogative) followed by the past participle of the verb to be conjugated.

When an active voice sentence is to be turned into a passive voice one, the direct object of the active construction becomes the grammatical subject of the passive construction while the former subject becomes a so-called object of instrument or agency preceded by the preposition by which is or is not mentioned in the new passive sentence.

He cut the loaf of bread into equal shares. The loaf of bread was cut into equal shares (by him). As a general idea passive voice is very much used in English in scientific

technical texts, a case in which ones attention is drawn to the sufferer of the action than to who or what performed that very action.

They make a hundred thousand cars a year. is better expressed in a passive form:

A hundred thousand cars are made here. stress being laid on the result of the action.

Unlike some other languages which only form their passive voice from transitive verbs, the English language also forms passive constructions from intransitive verbs:

All this time he has been looked after by an old aunt of his. This house is not being lived in for quite a long time. Dont worry! Everything will be taken good care of. The following intransitive verbs are some of the intransitive verbs also used in the

passive in English with a special mentioning that one should not forget to preserve the respective obligatory particle in the passive construction: to allude to, to comment upon, to depend on, to dispose of, to interfere with, to laugh at, to look after, to make fun of, to pay attention to, to set fire to, to put up with. Obs. There are situations when certain verbs followed in the active voice by an indirect nonprepositional object may be used in the passive with the indirect nonprepositional object as a subject:

Peter gave John a toy car. John was given a toy car. But: He gave a toy car to John. A toy car was given to John.

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Elliptical Passive There are cases of ellipsis in a passive construction especially in relative

subordinate clauses: By orders from the police all cars illegally parked have been craned onto trucks

and taken to a special parking lot. The Use of the Passive Voice Although apparently the meaning of an active construction does not differ from its

passive equivalent, they are not perfect semantic synonyms because of the sentence stress which renders the meaning of one part or another of the sentence more important.

The use of the passive voice instead of the active voice may be determined by the following cases:

1) When the active subject is difficult to identify or to establish: Apparently the house had not been lived in for many years.

2) When for some reason or other the active subject is not worth mentioning: They were shown around the garden first and then they were invited in.

3) When the passive subject is the all important element in the sentence which is the case of technical English. Ben Johnson was banned from all official races between 1989 and 1991 for drug usage. The rocker arms are actuated by the pushrods which in their turn are pushed by the camshaft which is given a rotating motion by the crankshaft. Passivals There are instances when a passive sense may be implied in certain English verbs

which as a matter of fact are not in the passive voice. In such a case the grammatical object of a transitive verb in an active construction becomes the grammatical subject of a new sentence with a passive meaning without a change of the verb into the passive, the resultant construction being considered a passival.

This coat wears well. instead of One wears this coat well. This coat is worn well.

The flowers sold quickly. The filed did not flood. This book read easily. The Syntactical Value of the Passive Voice In an English sentence the passive voice forms of different tenses and moods

become: a) verbal predicates or a part of a verbal predicate:

This house was built in 10 days. (simple verbal predicate) They were taken good care of. (part of a phraseological predicate) You shouldnt come home so late. You could be attacked by robbers. (compound modal predicate)

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b) there are cases when a past participle form of a verb loses its verbal value and is felt as an adjective preceded by the verb to be, a case in which the respective construction is a compound nominal predicate. This house is built of bricks. (adjective) Obs. As a rule, the Romanian passive-reflexives are rendered into English by passive forms: Se zice = It is said Se crede = It is thought Se crede c = It is believed that Se presupune c= It may be supposed that

THE PASSIVE VOICE AND THE CORRESPONDING PASSIVE STRUCTURES

In dealing with the passive voice, one should always remember that the continuous tenses (or moods) are not as a rule used in the passive, they being replaced by the corresponding simple aspect forms. However, in contemporary English one uses the continuous aspect of the passive voice in the affirmative present tense and past tense of the Indicative Mood.

The victims of the car accident are/were being taken to the hospital. In as far as the other simple aspect passive forms are concerned, special care

should be taken in connection with the following: a) the passive going to future which may wrongly be interpreted as a continuous

form for example: He is going to be called as a witness. Jane told me that John was going to be called as a witness.

b) the to be to future or perfect passive forms such as in: This composition is to be finished next week. He said that the composition was to be finished the next week.

Note: For an unfulfilled past perfect action as viewed from a past moment of time, one uses the long perfect infinitive form of the auxiliary to be: He said that the meeting was to have been held the day before.

A special passive form which is used in informal English is that built with the verb to get instead of to be. In such cases the agent is not usually mentioned:

Thousands of people get bullied or injured on Romanian roads each year. It was so cold that my feet were getting frozen. It is to be noticed from the above examples that the passive with get expresses

action and change not a state. More than that it often refers to something happening by accident, unexpectedly or incidentally. Thus, one does not use get for a major planned action:

The Bucureti-Piteti highway was finished at the end of 2000. NOT: The Bucureti-Piteti highway got finished at the end of 2000. A major difficulty is posed by to get in constructions that look superficially like

the passive, but in reality they do not have an agent and consequently no passive into active transformation is possible, i.e.: to get dressed, to get mixed up into something, to

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get hurt, to get wise, to get bored, to get scared. In such phrases to get functions as a link verb of becoming and it helps the formation of a nominal predicate in the active voice.

In a similar way in the phrase to get used to like in the phrase to be used to, to get functions as a link verb of becoming followed by a predicative adjective as part of a complex nominal predicate.

Although he has never driven a foreign made car he is now getting used to driving his Audi.

TRANSFORMATION FROM THE ACTIVE VOICE TO THE PASSIVE

1) As a general rule, all verbs which can be used transitively can be conjugated in the passive: He was struck by lightning while walking across the field.

2) Verbs of incomplete predication such as seem, be, become, suit, have, resemble, last, etc. cannot be used in the passive: The dress becomes/suits her. However, when have has a perfective association, it is sometimes used in the passive: After so much draught, there was nothing to be had other than famine and despair. An intransitive verb proper cannot be passive. The following sentences, for example, have no passive equivalent: He slept soundly. The cat ran.

3) In the case of constructions having a verb that requires an object in the active passive transformation the agent-subject can be omitted or it is mentioned in the form of an adverbial modifier of agency (logical subject but not grammatical), the focus of attention falling on the former direct object which is now the grammatical subject of the passive sentence: Ive called Mary up. Mary has been called up (by me). It is to be noted that the adverbial modifier of agency is only mentioned when its mentioning is necessary for the full meaning of communication. It is also mentioned in connection with verbs like build, compose, damage, destroy.

4) Passivals usually stay passivals: This coat wears well. The flowers sold quickly.

5) In the case of verbs which take two objects (an indirect object standing for a person and a direct object standing for an object) such as: give, tell, show, lend, get, write, pay, sell, buy, bring, make, fetch, promise, teach, etc. either object may become the subject of the corresponding passive sentence, though the indirect object usually becomes the subject of the passive sentence: I gave John the book. John was given the book. The book was given to John.

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The main difference in usage is one of emphasis on either in what it is done or to whom it is done.

6) Some verbs expressing state cannot be passive: be, belong, exist, lack, etc. However, a number of verbs which can be either action verbs or state verbs, for example: measure, weigh, fit can be passive when they function as active verbs: The wall measured three metres. The decorators measured the wall. Finally, a number of state verbs can be passive: believe, intend, know, like, need, mean, etc.

7) Modal verbs in the passive only take simple aspect infinitive forms: They are three hours late. They must have been held up in the traffic.

8) In constructions with verbs of reporting (such as: allege, assume, believe, claim, declare, discover, estimate, find, presume, report, suppose, etc.) of the type subject + passive + to-infinitive, the infinitive can be perfect or continuous, or it can be passive: He was reported to be missing. He is known to have done this in the past. The Curtea de Arge Monastery is thought to have been built by Master Manole and his nine apprentices.

9) There are two patterns with verbs of reporting: They say that It is said that They are said + infinitive

10) The active voice Accusative + Indefinite Participle construction with verbs of perception ( see, hear, etc.) as well as with catch, find, keep, leave, lose, spend, waste becomes a Nominative + Indefinite Participle construction following the respective passive transformation They caught him spying on George. He was caught spying on George.

11) The so-called passive causative constructions with have + object + passive participle or get + object + passive participle are used mainly to talk about professional services to a customer: to have/get a job done, to have/get ones car repaired/serviced, etc. Have alone is used in the same pattern in the sense of experiencing something often something unpleasant: He had his hat blown off by the wind. He has had his wallet stolen.

12) The passive to-infinitive can occur with both the indefinite and the perfect infinitive after some verbs and adjectives such as: to expect, to arrange, to like, awful, unpleasant, normal, etc. I expect to be invited to the wedding. Its awful to be exposed to ones enemies. Id like this mess to be cleared away right now. Id like this mess to have been cleared away right now.

13) Passive indefinite or perfect gerund forms occur in a wide variety of sentence parts:

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Being searched by the customs officers can be unpleasant. (part of a subject) Lets not risk being caught by the storm. (direct object) He was greatly annoyed at having been made a fool of. (part of a prepositional object)

14) Indefinite or perfect participle passive forms specially occur in Nominative Absolute Participial constructions functioning as adverbial modifiers of cause or time: The bridge having been destroyed by NATO planes, all traffic on the Danube stopped. No one else being expected to come, we can proceed as agreed. Finally, it is to be remembered that we can use the passive in speech, but it is

more common in writing especially in the impersonal style of books, reports and the like to describe:

a) industrial and scientific processes: If water is heated it turns into vapours. The wool is first washed, then it is dried in special rotating drying drums where it is also mechanically combed and cleaned of impurities.

b) historical and social processes: Historical and social processes are cyclically caused by huge mass movements such as uprising, revolutions or wars.

c) official rules, regulations and procedures: All applications should be accompanied by an extended C.V.

15) A number of active gerund and to-infinitive forms have a passive meaning. Thus, the active gerund after need, want (=need), require, and deserve has a passive meaning. This floor wants polishing. Similarly, one sometimes uses an active to-infinitive to talk about different jobs one has to do: I have a lot of work to do. After the subject there, we can use either an active or a passive infinitive: There was a lot of work to do/to be done. If we use a phrase with by, and the respective agent, then the infinitive is passive: The piano is too heavy to be moved by only one person. Finally, with the adjective ready both infinitives are used: The missionaries are ready to serve/to be served. The final aspect when dealing with the passive voice is that of its translation into

Romanian which often raises a lot of difficulties. Because of its widespread use in technical and scientific English, the passive has

had a strong influence on similar registers in other languages through translation. The scientific and technical English is due to the impression of objectivity they must give to the distance between the writer and the statements he makes in the text.

Translators often tend to translate English passive structures literally into a language which normally uses them less frequently, all of which lead to semantic equivalents which are not characteristic of the target language.

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Thus, a sentence like A number of properties of the engineering materials were studied will wrongly be translated into Romanian by S-au studiat/Au fost studiate o serie de proprieti ale materialelor folosite n inginerie which is not as frequent into Romanian as its active counterpart: Acest studiu prezint o serie de proprieti ale materialelor folosite n inginerie.

Similarly, unlike English, Romanian does not favour the formulae or semi-fixed expressions used in formal English correspondence which rely heavily on using the passive. Such phrases in Romanian make use of the active voice. For example, in a conference circular, an expression such as V invitm sounds much more natural in Romanian than Suntei invitai which would be the formal equivalent of the English for the sake of creating objectivity.

As regards the translation of the constructions specific to English, non-natives find it difficult to understand and translate the so-called passivals or middle constructions, which are usually translated by the Romanian reflexiv-pasiv. Thus, the following sentence Your report reads easily will have as a Romanian equivalent: Raportul dumneavoastr se citete uor.

The other type of passivals consisting of a verb of perception (to feel, to taste, to smell, to sound) + adjective is also difficult to translate, because the Romanian syntagm has a different structural pattern. A sentence like These chemicals smell sweet will find its Romanian counterpart in Aceste substane chimice au un miros plcut which is quite different in point of pattern as compared to its English version.

It is also to be noted that meaning and grammar do not always go together in the sense that not all passive verbs have passive meanings. The sentence English is spoken here is to be translated by Pe aici se vorbete engleza. and not Engleza este vorbit aici. which is not a construction characteristic of Romanian.

Another translation difficulty may be the Nominative + the Infinitive construction which is a passive construction since it represents the passive equivalent of the Accusative with the Infinitive construction. The sentence He is said to be a skilled technician is to be translated by Se spune c este un tehnician priceput and not by El se spune c este un tehnician priceput which would be a closer formal Romanian equivalent.

Non-natives also face a difficult problem in translating passive constructions including the verb to require. The translations may differ function of the subject being animate or inanimate. Thus, the sentence The designer is required to use an official standard will be translated by Designerul trebuie s foloseasc un standard oficial, while the sentence Industries are required to use standards will be translated by Este necesar ca industriile s foloseasc standarde.

The same difficulty in point of translation is to be encountered in the case of the English active ing form with a passive meaning, required by such verbs as: need, want, require. In such a case the Romanian translator will resort to the modal verb a trebui such as in: The car needs repairing translated into Romanian by Maina trebuie s fie reparat.

To summarize, the most important aspect in translating passives is not to render a passive form by a passive one and an active form by an active one, for it is always the functions of a category not the form it takes that is of utmost importance in translation.