时间:2019-01-12 作者:英语课 分类:2016年VOA慢速英语(三)月


英语课

Using the Passive Voice 使用被动语态


This Everyday Grammar is all about the passive voice. The passive is a verb form in which the subject receives the action of the verb. For example, "I was born on a Saturday."


Most sentences in English follow the subject-verb-object pattern known as the active voice. For example, "I love you." In this example the subject is "I," the verb is "love" and the object is "you." The subject performs the action of the verb.


But sometimes the subject is acted upon, or receives the action of the verb. This is called the passive voice. Imagine that someone stole your wallet, but you do not know who did it. You could say, "My wallet was stolen." In this passive sentence, "my wallet" is the subject, "was stolen" is the verb. There is no direct object -- the wallet did not steal itself. The speaker does not know who stole the wallet.


To form the passive, use a form of the verb "be" followed by a past participle verb form. You can form the passive in several verb tenses, but the simple present and simple past are the most common.


Only transitive verbs can be passive. Intransitive verbs, or verbs that cannot take a direct object, cannot be passive. You cannot say "I was arrived by train" because the intransitive verb arrive cannot be followed by an object.


Most of the time, users should avoid the passive voice. The passive voice can make the speaker or writer seem indirect and weak. Which would you rather hear: "I love you" (active voice) or "You are loved by me" (passive voice)? 


But there are several situations when you should use the passive.


The most common reason to use the passive is when the actor is unknown or unimportant. For example, "My visa was processed," and "My shoes were made in India" and "The car was imported from Germany." In these examples, it is not necessary to know exactly who performed the action.


Sometimes speakers use the passive even when they know the person who did the action. In this case, use the word by followed by the actor.


For example, "Great Expectations was written by Charles Dickens." You could also use the active voice: "Charles Dickens wrote Great Expectations." Both are correct. The passive voice emphasizes the book; the active voice emphasizes the writer.


In informal speech, the verb "be" can be replaced with the verb "get." For example, instead of saying "I was hit by a car," you can say, "I got hit by a car." Listen to this famous song by the Eurythmics. You will hear two active and two passive sentences.


Some of them want to use you


Some of them want to get used by you


Some of them want to abuse you


Some of them want to be abused


Notice how singer Annie Lennox used the passive with both "get" and "be." 


Another reason to use the passive is to avoid naming the person who performed an action. This is common in politics and law.


At times, powerful people want to admit to a mistake without blaming specific people. In this case, they often use the passive phrase "mistakes were made." Listen to a TV interview with President Obama. A reporter asked the president about a report of abuses by the Central Intelligence Agency. Here is how President Obama replied:


"Any fair-minded person looking at this would say that some terrible mistakes were made."


And here is President George W. Bush using the same phrase. A reporter asked him about the firing of some prosecutors 2.


"And he's right, mistakes were made. And I’m frankly 3 not happy about them."


You might hear the passive voice in a courtroom. For legal reasons, sometimes lawyers have to use the passive voice to avoid directly blaming a suspect for a crime. Listen to this courtroom dialog from a popular TV drama The Good Wife. A prosecutor 1 is accusing a person of killing 4 a man named Wagner.


Prosecutor: And how did he kill Wagner?


Defense 5 attorney: Objection!


Prosecutor: Withdrawn 6. How was Wagner killed?


Did you notice how the prosecutor switched his question from the active to the passive voice? Listen one more time.


Prosecutor: And how did he kill Wagner?


Defense attorney: Objection!


Prosecutor: Withdrawn. How was Wagner killed?


At the beginning of the clip, the prosecutor asked, "How did he kill Wagner?" The defense attorney objected to the question. The prosecutor rephrased the question in the passive voice to avoid blaming the suspect. He asked, "How was Wagner killed?"


Overusing the passive voice is major problem in student writing, even for native speakers. Try to keep your passive sentences under 10 percent of your total. Try converting some of your long sentences into simple subject-verb-object sentences.


There is much more to learn about the passive, including the stative passive and participle adjectives. We'll address those topics in a future episode of Everyday Grammar. Until then, sweet dreams!


Sweet dreams are made of this


Who am I to disagree?


I’ve traveled the world and the seven seas


Everybody's looking for something…


Words in This Story


active – gramm. of a verb or voice: showing that the subject of a sentence is acted on or affected 7 by the verb


passive – gramm. of a verb: expressing action rather than describing the state of something


transitive – gramm. of a verb: having or taking a direct object


intransitive – gramm. of a verb: not taking or having a direct object


actor - gramm. person or entity performing the action of a verb



n.起诉人;检察官,公诉人
  • The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
  • The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。
检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 ); 告发人; 起诉人; 公诉人
  • In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方,检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
  • You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说
  • To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说,我一点也不赞成这个主意。
  • Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说,我不反对改革。
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩
  • The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
  • The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。
vt.收回;使退出;vi.撤退,退出
  • Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
  • All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。
adj.不自然的,假装的
  • She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
  • His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
标签:
学英语单词
absolute cell reference
adapter skirt
Advanced Energy Projects
air traveller
ala dag
Alcyonium
antidrought
aortic obstruction
arc welding engine generator
audioboard
automatic traction equipment
back end-to
basin of attraction
benzimidazoyl
berthages
bohnckes
capacitance coupled
Carex stipata
Caughnawaga
cavity boundary
collied
combustion conditions
commissura posrerior grisea
consolidated statement of cost goods sold
cowherd
crank shaft timing gear
desorption column
dissuader
distributed group decision support system
dry basis moisture content
dry-silver print
dummy out
earthy
Epleys
equicharacteristic
european blackbirds
Expectations Theory
favourous
flight control computer (fcc)
full word integer overflow
fungisterol ergosterol
gear teeth vernier
genus cuterebras
Gomorraha
hardface
Heave aback!
Hoagland solution
hold something in derision
hovercam
injection-valve opening pressure
interbifid grooves
junior school
knife edge test
laocon
level checking
Logovoy
machine mixing
macroslope
menispermaceous
microaneurisms
microvacuolar
millikan method
mixed-up observations
more-detailed
national revolution
nonalinement
notchers
on a razor-edge
ouatite
parabolic cylinder function
Paraguayans
persuadedness
pinotages
planetary radiation budget
pollaplonyx opacipennis
polyvinylidene fluoride
pontious
Primula florindae
programmed temperature works
quality of labor
scotopic eye
sdat
self-dramatizings
sodium ruthenate
soliloquizer
stacking height
Streptothrix
sulcus terminalis
tagging
there's one born every minute
traffic link
Tragacete
ubiquinol
Ugli
undemonstratively
unguerdoned
unit service factor
vignetting diaphragm
whole body radiation
with a heavy tread
work from home
zircon concentrate