The Active Voice. Semantic Interpretation

Some linguists, H.Poutsma and I.P.Ivanova among them, suggest another interpretation of the category of voice in English. In addition to active and passive voices, they suggest further distinctions by including reflexive (Poutsma; Ивановa), middle and reciprocal voices (Poutsma) into the voice system of the English verb. According to their view, the category of voice expresses the relation between the subject and the object of the action. We must admit this approach as purely semantic, because it is based on meaning only.

We cannot accept this point of view for the following reasons:

• The grammatical category is a unity of meaning and form. If the form of the verb is active, it means that grammatically the subject is represented as active, or rather non-passive. Almost all meanings mentioned have an active component (active, middle, reflexive, and reciprocal).

• In the sentences with the active verb having a passive meaning, it is impossible to use an object with the preposition by expressing the doer of the action: He lost his father in the war *by the Talibs. This proves the fact that even this meaning is not purely passive.

• In an overwhelming majority of cases with the verb in the active form the subject of the sentence is the doer of the action.

Thus, we consider L.S.Barchudarov's theory of voice most reasonable and accept it in this course with the only exception of the term "non-passive".

According to this theory, the grammatical category of voice in English is a set of two opposed form classes: the passive voice and the non-passive voice. The Non-Passive (Common) voice is unmarked and extensive, while the Passive voice is marked and intensive.

The Passive Voice. Grammatical ways of expressing passive meanings in English

Let's now consider the marked member of the opposition: the passive voice.

We have agreed that the form of the passive voice is marked by the discontinuous morpheme {be= + -ed/n}. Regarding the meaning, the passive voice shows that the grammatical subject of the sentence is the recipient (object) of the action expressed by the predicate verb, e.g.: John was punished. Our house is being painted.

There are several ways of expressing the meaning of the passive voice in English (Гордон, Kpыловa):

1. The most widely used is the so-called direct passive, in which the subject of the passive construction corresponds to the direct object of the active construction. For example: The rat was killed by the dog - The dog killed the rat (Sweet). The letter was written by John - John wrote the letter. However, there are certain restrictions even in the use of the direct passive.

• The direct passive is not used if the object denotes the same person as the subject, or if the object is modified by a possessive pronoun referring to the subject: He hurt himself. He cut his finger. The reason for this may be the reflexive meaning, which refers to the non-passive.

• The direct passive is not used, as a rule, when the object is part of a set expression, e.g. to take courage, to keep one's word, to lose one's patience. The reason for this could be the phraseological character of these expressions, as well as the fact that some of them use possessive pronouns.

• The direct passive is not used with some verbs, such as to become, to have, to possess, to lack, etc. The reason for this limitation may be the lexical meaning of the verb, which includes the seme (submeaning) of the agent.

2. The second way of expressing passive meanings is the indirect passive. It happens when the indirect object of the active construction becomes the grammatical subject of the passive construction: He was told an interesting story - Somebody told him an interesting story. She was offered a new job - Somebody offered her a new job. As we see from the examples above, the passive verb is always followed by a direct object, which is called a retained object (npямое дополнение при глаголе в пассиве). The indirect passive is not found in other European languages. Some linguists exaggerate its role in English. Thus, O .Jespersen says that there has been a growing tendency to use the indirect passive. However, recent studies have shown that use of this construction is highly restricted in English. It is freely used only with the verb to tell (see example above), and some other verbs, such as to give, to show, to offer, to promise: He wasn't given a chance to explain. She was promised a higher salary. The majority of verbs do not take the indirect passive form (Bepxoвскaя, 1995).

3. The third type of passive constructions is the prepositional passive. It is when the prepositional object of the active construction becomes the subject of the passive construction: He was taken care of - Somebody took care of him, The car was lost sight of - Somebody lost sight of the car.

The prepositional passive is more common than the indirect passive; yet, it is less common than the direct passive. It can be used with practically any verb taking a prepositional object, but it is not used with verbs taking two objects: a direct object and a prepositional object, such as to explain, to dedicate, etc. For example: The rule was explained to us. Not *We were explained the rule.

2. The fourth type of passive constructions is the adverbial passive. We come across the adverbial passive when the subject of the passive construction corresponds to the adverbial modifier of the active construction: The bed was not slept in - Nobody slept in the bed. The house has not been lived in for many years - Nobody has lived in the house for many years. However, the use of the adverbial passive is restricted to a few examples found in fiction.

The above classification of passives is definitely a functional (syntactic) one, because the implicit base for it is the function of the passive subject in the corresponding active sentence. However, it is not devoid of some drawbacks, i.e. it is inconsistent. Four types of passive constructions are distinguished on different principles. Direct, indirect and prepositional passives all belong to objective passive as opposed to adverbial passive. The base for this classification is the function of the passive subject in the corresponding active sentence. The names "direct" and "indirect" reflect the transitive-intransitive semantics of the predicate- verb, hence, the base for this classification is semantic. The name "prepositional" refers to the part-of-speech combinability, so the base for this classification is morphological-syntactic.

To overcome these drawbacks, first, the passives should be classified into objective and adverbial. Then, objective passives should be divided into direct and indirect, and further on, indirect passives should be subdivided into prepositional and non-prepositional.

The possibility of turning the object of the active construction into the subject of the passive one prompted O.Jespersen to introduce the term "turn" instead of "voice" ("active turn - passive turn"). However, it was not accepted in linguistics.