Carol,
The ambiguity of sentences like "The curtains were closed" is
well-known. The subject-complement reading is stative: the curtains are
in a closed state. The act of closing them took place at an unspecified
time prior to the arrival of the person viewing the scene. This sense
evokes a static picture in one's mind; there is no movement of the
curtains, no change from an open to a closed position. The listener or
reader doesn't even necessarily think about the closing action.
The passive versions are processual: they evoke a picture (maybe even a
movie) of the whole action, from start to finish.
Note that passive sentences rarely occur in real texts with a "by"
phrase identifying the agent of the action. The context sorts out which
reading is most plausible. Consider:
Thanks to high-powered explosives, the huge building was demolished
within seconds. (underwent the process of demolition from start to finish)
I didn't walk fast enough; by the time I got there, the building was
already totally demolished. (was in the resulting state of demolition)
With verbs like "admire", which are not particulary dynamic, it can be
really hard to decide which reading is most plausible, and in most
cases, it probably doesn't matter.
But maybe using verbs of dynamic action will help. Another good example
is "surround". Compare:
1. The castle was surrounded by a moat.
2. The castle was rapidly surrounded by the enemy hoard.
The "moat" of #1 is clearly not an agent in any sense, and the scene is
static. In #2, there is clearly action; we visualize the army starting
their maneuver and follow the action through to its conclusion.
Using adverbials can really help the students see the difference between
the readings: words like "gradually", "rapidly", "suddenly" -- which
signal a change over time -- aid the passive reading, while time-point
adverbials like "by the time I ..." or "already" aid the stative reading.
The example sentence "When I arrived, the curtains were always closed by
the attendant on duty" does not sound right to me. It seems a more
accurate expression would be "When I arrived, the curtains would always
be closed by the attendant". Using paraphrase ("in a closed state") and
visualization can help a great deal. I use this with my college
students. For example, in explaining the difference between a present
and past participle, I ask them merely to form an image in response to a
phrase that I say, e.g.:
1. A falling tree vs.
2. A fallen tree
After saying #1 and before saying #2, I ask them what they saw with
their mind's eye: Was the tree moving? Did they see it hit the ground?
Did they see it start to fall? Did they see it lying on the ground after
the fall? Most students answer yes, no, no, no.
For #2, I ask the same questions, but the answers are then no, no, no, yes.
Students already know the subtle meaning differences between verb forms,
but the knowledge is subconscious. You have to use tricks like
paraphrase and visualization to bring the knowledge to consciousness.
Then they can apply the terminology to it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba Associate Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184 • Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone. 756-2596
• E-mail: [log in to unmask] • Home page:
http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
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