Chapter II. Contextual and functional features of the Passive forms in English and Russian

The formation of the Passive Voice

The passive voice is formed by means of the auxiliary verb to be in the required form and Participle II of the notional verb.

a) The present, past, future indefinite passive are formed by means of the present, past, and future indefinite of the auxiliary verb to be and Participle II of the notional verb.

b) The present, past, future indefinite passive are formed by means of the present, past, and future pefect of the auxiliary verb to be and Participle II of the notional verb.

c) The present continuous, past continuous passive are formed by means of the present continuous, past continuous of the auxiliary verb to be and Participle II of the notional verb.

The Future Continuous, the Present Perfect Continuous, the Past Perfect Continuous and the Future Perfect Continuous are not found in the Passive Voice.

The use of Passive Voice in English

Passive voice can be used:

a) Without the doer of the action being mentioned. In this case the doer is either unknown or unimportant. E.g.: In silence the soup, was finished excellent if a little thick and fish was brought. Tom Tusher was sent off early, however, to a school in London (Thackey).

b) With the doer of the action being mentioned. This occurs only with the doer of the action is to some extent emphasized. The noun or pronoun denoting the doer of the action is introduced by the preposition by. E.g.: He was wrenched from his blank wretchedness by the sound of the door opening from his mother’s room (Galsworthy). This room was dimly lighted from the ceiling by a single electric lamp (Bennett).

The uses of the tenses in the Passive Voice

The use of tenses in Active and in the Passive voice is the same:

All boys have shells…in other words, they are never seen, or if seen would (b) not be recognized (Th.Dreiser).

The news was brought that the little boy at the "Three Castles" was ill (Th.Drieser).

Further meeting will be hold tonight and tomorrow night (Th.Drieser).

You have been told three times this week that she is coming home for a year for her health (Th.Drieser).

I have been very unhappy since she died. I have been slighted and taught nothing and thrown upon myself and put to work not fit for me (Th.Drieser).

By 12 o’clock a jury reasonably satisfactory to both sides had been chosen (Th.Drieser).

Don’t you disturb him? He is working at his wonderful poem.

An immortal work of art is being created (Th.Drieser).

When he got to the stables, a horse was being saddled (Th.Drieser).

To express an action going on at a definite moment in the future only the Future Continuous Active is possible. Thus the Russian sentence Когда вы придете в лабораторию, опыт уже будет производиться must be translated in the following way: When you come to the laboratory, we shall already be making the experiment.

To denote an action which began before a definite moment in the present, past or future perfect continuous active are generally used.

Уже два часа как правят корректуру.

They have been reading the proofs for two hours.

Когда пришел главный редактор, корректуру правили уже два часа.

When the editor-in-chief came, they had been reading the proofs for two hours (Th.Drieser).

The Present Perfect Inclusive Passive and the Past Inclusive Passive are found with verbs not used in the Continuous form, in negative sentences and with sonic non-terminative verbs. She has always been admired (Th.Drieser). The library has not been used for months (Th.Drieser).