English grammar

224. Every combination of some form of the verb be with the past participle of a transitive verb is not necessarily a passive verb.

For example, one passive form of the verb do is is done, but it does not follow that is done is always a passive verb. In the sentence, “The meat is done now,” we do not mean that the meat is receiving an action, hence is done cannot be a passive verb. We mean to tell the condition of the meat, that it is done meat. The word done is used in precisely the same way as an adjective; as if we should say, “The meat is good now,” In other words, the participle done is a subjective complement.

Past participles are used as subjective complements to tell the condition of something after an action has been performed on it; as, “Every window in the house is broken,” “My dress is badly torn,” “The old house is deserted.”

225. When we are in doubt as to whether we have a true passive verb or not, we may apply these tests: (1) Does the sentence mean that the subject is acted upon? (2) Can we add a phrase, telling the performer of the action? (3) Can we change the sentence to the active voice, keeping, of course, the same tense?

Let us take, for instance, the sentence, “Courage is praised.” We do mean that courage receives the praising. We can add the phrase by everybody. And we can change the sentence to the active sentence, “Everybody praises courage.” Hence is praised is the verb, and is in the passive voice.

But in the sentence, “Every seat in the balcony is taken,” if is taken is a passive verb, it must mean, since it is present tense, that every seat is receiving an action now. It does not mean this, but it does mean that every seat is a taken seat, hence taken is used as a subjective complement, and the verb is just the one word is.

226. We learned in Lesson XXXVII that some verbs like make, elect, appoint, and call, are often followed by a direct object and an objective complement; as, “We called our canary Buttercup.”

When such a sentence is changed to the passive voice, the direct object becomes, of course, the subject, and we have the sentence, “Our canary was called Buttercup.” The word Buttercup has now become a subjective complement. How do we know this?

When the objective complement is an adjective, as in the sentence, “She kept the polished floor as bright as a mirror,” if we change the sentence to the passive voice, the adjective becomes a subjective complement; as, “The polished floor was kept as bright as a mirror.”

227. We learned in Lesson XXXIV that certain verbs may be followed by both an indirect and a direct object; as, “Fred told Arthur the news.”

In changing this sentence to the passive voice we may use the direct object for the subject of the passive verb; as, “The news was told to Arthur by Fred”; or we may use the indirect object for the subject of the passive verb; as, “Arthur was told the news by Fred.” In the latter case we have an idiomatic construction—a passive verb was told taking a direct object the news. The direct object of a passive verb is often called a retained object, because it remains as an object after the sentence has been changed to the passive voice.

Not all sentences containing a direct and an indirect object can be changed to the passive voice in two ways. We say, “A rose was given to me,” or “I was given a rose.” We say, “A holiday was promised to the children,” or “The children were promised a holiday.” But we do not say, “I was passed the bread,” “I was written a note,” or “I was poured a cup of tea.”

Summary.—The past participle of a transitive verb may be used as the subjective complement of some form of the verb be. In such a case it denotes the condition of the subject.

When a sentence containing a direct object and an objective complement is changed to the passive voice, the direct object becomes the subject, and the objective complement becomes a subjective complement.

Some sentences containing both an indirect and a direct object may be changed to the passive voice in two ways, either the direct object or the indirect object becoming the subject.

Exercise 1.—Select each verb in the following sentences. Tell its voice, and how it is completed.

1. The time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land.

2. Queen Elizabeth is often familiarly called Queen Bess.

3. Rebecca’s face was so swollen with tears and so sharp with misery that for a moment Uncle Jerry scarcely recognized her.

4. To put it mildly, Mrs. Howe was greatly pleased when she was elected first president of the Murray Hill Society.

5. When the eggs had been beaten stiff, the little cook sifted the sugar.

6. Christ the Lord is risen to-day.

7. The colonists were so disheartened and alarmed that they sailed at once for England.

8. The youngest girl in the senior class was chosen valedictorian.

9. When the automobile ran off the bridge, every one was surprised at the driver’s escape.

10. The black colt had been named Odin, but he was always called Teddy.

11.

The day is past and gone,

The evening shades appear.

12. Those people are mistaken who say that hard work does not pay—they have never really tried it.

13. The room was made cool and dark, so that the lady might sleep.

14. The roofs of the long red barns, which had been stained green by the weather, were struck by the level rays of the low, western sun.

15. The fabric of common order in America is sound and strong at the center; the pattern is well marked, and the threads are firmly woven.

16. Harvard College may be regarded as the legitimate child of Emmanuel College at Cambridge in England.

Exercise 2.—Make either one or two passive sentences out of each sentence in Exercise 2, page 90. Tell in each case what becomes of the subject, the direct object, and the indirect object.