be with the past participle of the conjugated verb (in symbolic notation: be ... en - see Ch. II, В§ 5). The passive form as the strong member of the opposition expresses reception of the action by the subject of the syntactic construction (ie the "passive" subject, denoting the object of the action); the active form as the weak member of the opposition leaves this meaning unspecified, ie it expresses "non-passivity".
In colloquial speech the role of the passive auxiliary can occasionally be performed by the verb get and, probably, become * Cf.:
Sam got licked for a good reason, though not by me. The young violinist became admired by all. p align="justify"> The category of voice has a much broader representation in the system of the English verb than in the system of the
Russian verb, since in English not only transitive, but also intransitive objective verbs including prepositional ones can be used in the passive (the preposition being retained in the absolutive location). Besides, verbs taking not one, but two objects, as a rule, can feature both of them in the position of the passive subject. E.g.:
I've just been rung up by the police. The diplomat was refused transit facilities through London. She was undisturbed by the frown on his face. Have you ever been told that you're very good looking? He was said to have been very wild in his youth. The dress has never been tried on. The child will be looked after all right. I won't be talked to like this. Etc. p align="justify"> Still, not all the verbs capable of taking an object are actually used in the passive. In particular, the passive form is alien to many verbs of the statal subclass (displaying a weak dynamic force), such as have (direct possessive meaning), belong, cost, resemble, fail, misgive, etc. Thus, in accord with their relation to the passive voice, all the verbs can be divided into two large sets: the set of passivised verbs and the set of non-passivised verbs. p align="justify"> A question then should be posed whether the category of voice is a full-representative verbal category, ie represented in the system of the verb as a whole, or a partial-representative category, confined only to the passivised verbal set. Considerations of both form and function tend to interpret voice rather as a full-representative category, the same as person, number, tense, and aspect. Three reasons can be given to back this appraisal. p align="justify"> First, the integral categorial presentation of non-passivised verbs fully coincides with that of passivised verbs used in the active voice (cf. takes - goes, is taking - is going, has taken - has gone, etc.). Second, the active voice as the weak member of the categorial opposition is characterised in general not by the "active" meaning as such (ie necessarily featuring the subject as the doer of the action), but by the extensive non-passive meaning of a very wide range of actual significations, some of them approaching by their process-direction characteristics those of non-passivised verbs (cf. The door opens inside the room; The magazine doesn't sell well). Third, the demarcation line between the passivised and non-passivised sets is by no means rigid, and the verbs of the non-passivised order may migrate into the passivised order in various contextual conditions (cf. The bed has not been slept in; The house seems not to have been lived in for a long time).
Thus, the category of voice should be interpreted as being reflected in the whole system of verbs, the non-passivised verbs presenting the active voice form if not directly, then indirectly.
As a regular categorial form of the verb, the passive voice is combined in the same lexeme with other oppositionally strong forms of the verbal categories of the tense-aspect system, ie the past, the future, the continuous, the perfect. But it has a neutralising effect on the category of development in the forms where the auxiliary be must be doubly employed as a verbid (the infinitive, the present participle, the past participle), so that the future continuous passive, as well as the perfect continuous passive are practically not used in speech. As a result, the future continuous active has as its regular counterpart by the voice opposition the future indefinite passive; the perfect continuous active in all the tense-forms has as its regular counterpart the perfect indefinite passive. Cf.: p align="justify"> The police will be keeping an army of reporters at bay. ? An army of reporters will be kept at bay by the police. We have been expecting the decision for a long time. - В»The decision has been expected for a long time. p align="justify"> The category of voice differs radically from all the other hitherto considered categories from the point of view of its referential qua...
