The cup was broken by Jim

I know that he played tennis yesterday.

I know he will play tennis in summer.

2) a past tense in the principal clause is followed by a past tense in the subordinate object clause: I knew that he played tennis well.

I knew that he was playing tennis in the park.

I knew that he had played two games that day.

I knew that he had been playing tennis since morning.

I knew that he had played tennis the day before.

I knew that he had been playing when the storm began.

I knew that he had played two games before the storm.

I knew that he had been playing tennis for some time before the storm.

I knew that he would play tennis in summer.

I knew that he would be playing tennis all day long.

I knew he would have played some games by the time you returned.

I knew he would have been playing tennis for more than an hour before you came.

Thus the past indefinite or the past continuous tense in the subordinate clause denotes an action, simultaneous with that of the principal clause. They are translated into Russian by the present tense.

For a moment she did not know where she was.

The past perfect or the past perfect continuous in the subordinate clause denotes an action prior to that of the principal clause. Both of these forms are translated into Russian by the past tense.

I knew well enough what she had been doing.

The future in the past tenses in the subordinate clause denote an action following that of the principal clause.

I hoped she would soon be better.

The fact that the action of the subordinate clause follows that of the action in the principal clause may be also indicated by other means.

She said she was going to see him the same night.

 

The rules of the sequence of tenses concern subordinate clauses dependent also on any part expressed by a verb or verbal:

She smiled again, sure that I should come up.

In complex sentences containing more than two subordinate clauses the choice of the tense form for each of them depends on the tense form of the clause to which it is subordinated:

I guess you told him where they had come from and why they were hiding.

The rules of the sequence of tenses are not observed in the following cases:

1) when the subordinate clause describes the so-called general truth, or something which the speaker thinks to be one.

She was very young and - and ignorant of what life really is.

2) when the subordinate clause describes actions referring to the actual present, future, or past time, which usually occurs in dialogues or in newspaper, radio, or TV reports.

I did not know he will be here tomorrow.

3) when the predicate verb of the subordinate clause is one of the modal verbs having no past tense forms.

She said I must come at once.

2. The category of voice. Formation and the system of forms in the passive voice.

Voice is the grammatical category of the verb denoting the relationship between the action expressed by the verb and the person or non-person denoted by the subject of the sentence. There are two main voices in English: the active voice and the passive voice.

The active voice indicates that the action is directed from the subject or issues from the subject, thus the subject denotes the doer (agent) of the action:

We help our friends. - Мы помогаем нашим друзьям.

The passive voice indicates that the action is directed towards the subject. Here the subject expresses a person or non-person who or which is the receiver of the action.

We were helped by our friends in our work.-В работе нам помогли наши друзья.

A sentence containing a verb in the passive voice is called a passive construction, and a sentence containing a verb in the active voice is called an active construction.

The subject of an active construction denotes the doer of the action, which may be a living being, or any source of the action (a thing, a natural phenomenon, an abstract notion).

The subject of a passive construction has the meaning of the receiver of the action, that is a person or non-person affected by the action.

The object of an active construction denotes the receiver of the action, whereas the object of the passive construction is the doer of the action. The latter is introduced by the preposition by.

The cup was broken by Jim.

 

The active voice has no special means of formation. It is recognized by contrast with the passive voice, which is composed of the auxiliary verb to be and participle II. Thus the passive verb forms are analytical, the tense of the auxiliary verb to be varies according to the sense. The notional verb (participle II) remains unchanged and provides the whole analytical form with its passive meaning.

The verb to get occurs as a passive voice auxiliary, emphasizing the result of the action denoted by participle II: They got married last year.

 

 

3. The passive voice of different verbs

The passive voice in English may be found with different types of verbs (mostly transitive) in various verb phrases; monotransitive (non-prepositional and prepositional) and ditransitive. We discriminate a direct passive construction, an indirect passive construction, and a preposi­tional passive construction.

Monotransitive verbs are numerous and almost all of them can form a direct passive construction. These are the verbs: to do, to make, to build, to hate, to meet ., etc

-A new railway is being built near our town.

-You will be met at the station.

Phrasal transitive verbs (such verbs as to blow up,to bring up, to carry out, to put on, to turn down, etc.) are used in the passive voice.

-The plan was successfully carried out.

-The boats are being brought in.

There are a number of transitive verbs in English which correspond to Russian verbs followed by an indirect or a prepositional object, or sometimes an adverbial modifier. These verbs are:

To answer, To approach ,To assist, To address ,To admire, To affect, To attend ,To believe, To contradict ,To enjoy ,To enter, to follow ,to help ,to influence ,to join ,to need ,to obey ,to speak ,to succeed ,to threaten ,to trust ,to watch.

Sentences with these verbs are rendered in Russian by means of the indefinite personal constructions with the verb in the active voice, or if the doer of the action is mentioned of a personal construction with the verb in the active voice.

-The British bicycle was much admired. Этим английским велосипедом восхищались

A direct passive construction is used in the sentences of the type:

1.The woman was called Brome/We were kept busy most of the time.

2.He is said (believed, known, reported) to be in town/ He was seen to enter the museum.

3. The direct passive of verbs of speech, mental activity, and perception is used in complex sentences with the formal subject it.

-It was reported that he was still in town. /It was said that we should meet once more.

Restrictions to the use of the passive voice

1.There is a certain group of monotransitive verbs which are never used in the passive voice at all, or in some of their meanings; they are: to have, to lack, to become, to fit, to suit, to resemble.

There are semantic reasons for this constraint, as these verbs denote not an action or process, but a state or relation.

John resembles his father. (John looks like his father.) /Will this suit you? (Will it be suitable for you?)

The verb to hold can be used in the passive voice only with reference to human activity (The conference was held in April)

2. No passive construction is possible, if the object is a that-clause, an infinitive or a gerund.

-John said that everything was all right.

 

 

4. Passive constructions with ditransitive verbs

Ditransitive verbs take two objects(one indirect and one direct) Accordingly they admit of two passive constructions.

The referee gave Mary the first prize àMary was given the first prize by the refereeàThe first prize was given to Mary by the referee.

The subject of the first passive construction (Mary) corresponds to the indirect object of the active construction, and the construction is therefore called the indirect passive construction.

The subject of the second passive construction corresponds to the direct object of the active construction. In this case the indirect object becomes a prepositional one. The preposition to may be omitted.

Of the two passive constructions the indirect passive is by far the most common. As there is no indirect passive construction in Russian, sentences with this construction are translated into Russian by means of the indefinite personal construction with the indirect object in the front position.