Active and Passive Voice

VERB CONSTRAINTS

(a) ACTIVE ONLY

In addition to copular and intransitive verbs, which having no object cannot take the passive,
some transitive verbs, called 'middle' verbs, do not occur at least in some senses in the passive;

They have a nice house.

He lacks confidence.
John resembles his father. Stative class of verbs of 'being' and 'having'
The auditorium holds 5000 people
Will this suit you?

Exception:
The police want him. - He is wanted by the police. (Stative verb of ‘volition or attitude’)

(b) PASSIVE ONLY

Conversely, with some verbs and verb constructions only the passive is possible:

John was said/was reputed to be a good teacher

~* They said /reputed him to be a good teacher
He was born in Canada.
~* His mother bore him in Canada.

PREPOSITIONAL VERBS
It is only in the abstract, figurative use that go into, arrive at, look into, and many other
expressions accept the passive.

The engineers went very carefully into (the problem / the tunnel)

Abstract Concrete

The problem was very carefully gone into by the engineers

~* The tunnel was very carefully gone into by the engineers
They eventually arrived at (the expected result/the splendid stadium)
The expected result was eventually arrived at
~*The splendid stadium was eventually arrived at

OBJECT CONSTRAINTS
Transitive verbs can be followed either by phrasal or by clausal objects. With clauses as objects,
however, the passive transformation is to a greater or lesser degree restricted in use:
(A) Noun phrase as object:
John loved Mary. Mary was loved (by John).

(B) Clause as object :

(i) Finite clause:

John thought (that) she was attractive.
~*That she was attractive was thought (by John).

(ii) Nonfinite clause:

(a) infinitive:
John hoped to meet her. ~*To meet her was hoped (by John).

(b) participle :
John enjoyed seeing her. ~*Seeing her was enjoyed (by John).

The passive often becomes acceptable, however, particularly when the object is a finite clause,
if the clausal object is extraposed and replaced by the anticipatory pronoun it:

It was thought that she was attractive.

~*It was hoped to meet her.

Coreference between a subject and a noun phrase object blocks the passive correspondence.
This constraint occurs with (a) reflexive pronouns, (b) reciprocal pronouns, and (c) possessive
pronouns when coreferential to the subject:

(a) John could see Paul /himself in the mirror.

Paul could be seen in the mirror.

~*Himself could be seen in the mirror

(b) We could hardly see each other in the fog.

~*Each other could hardly be seen in the fog.

(b) The woman shook my hand/her head

My hand was shaken by the woman.

~*Her head was shaken by the woman.

THE PASSIVE GRADIENT

This violin was made by my father. [l]

This conclusion is hardly justified by the results. [2]
Coal has been replaced by oil. [3]
This difficulty can be avoided in several ways. [4]

We are encouraged to go on with the project. [5]

Leonard was interested in linguistics. [6]
The building is already demolished. [7]
The modem world is getting ['becoming'] more highly industrialized and mechanized. [8]

But taking account of the verb's function and meaning, we prefer to consider only those above
the line as passive. Those below the line, [5-81, do not have a clear correspondence with an
active verb phrase or active clause, and are increasingly remote from the 'ideal' passive of [l],
which can be placed in direct correspondence with a unique active counterpart.