Just two more cents toward Herb's suggestion about stativity, as that
clearly seems to be the key to this question:

We think of something being closed as an adjective that describes the
current state or condition of the thing. We do not think of it as something
that has happened or been done to the thing. Even when we talk of something
as partially closed, we are referring to the state of the object, not to
what has been done to the object. For that reason, viewing "X is closed" as
passive seems odd. Better to view it as stative/descriptive.

On the other  hand, if you add an agent, the passive view emerges:

The window is closed by me every Wednesday at 2 pm.

In this case, I am not referring to the state of the window so much as the
action that is carried out on it.

Linda


Linda Di Desidero, PhD

Director, Leadership Communication Skills Center

Marine Corps University

Gray Research Center, Room 122

Quantico, Virginia 22134

703-784-4401

On Sat, Feb 14, 2015 at 9:38 PM, Hancock, Craig G <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>  Herb,
>
>     I think we can say that something is "partly" or "partially" closed.
> (window, door, bridge.) My university sometimes "partially closes" and is
> therefore "partially closed" as a result. (They cancel classes but keep the
> offices open.)  "I didn't see who actually fired the shot because the door
> was partially closed." We can use "very" before open in some contexts ("He
> had a very open personality"), but it seems awkward to me in others. ("The
> window was very open" *?) I think we would probably say "wide open."
>
>     You could explain it also as a question of "construal." Someone closed
> the port, but for a boat approaching from sea, that may be irrelevant. The
> child who wants to know if he has a snow day doesn't care who closed the
> school. And, of course, the TV station will give a list of "school
> closings," which construes the whole action as a "thing." We also have "the
> close of the show" as an option.
>
>     I vote for teaching about prototypes early and often. We do a terrible
> job with parts of speech in our schools. Students memorize definitions
> that are close to worthless in application. Certainly, we should teach that
> the boundaries are not rigid or fixed and that words shift category
> routinely. Students recognize prototypes for things like furniture or
> fruit. My experience has been that they enjoy looking at language that way,
> not least of all because it seems to fit.
>
>
>
>
>  Craig
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar <
> [log in to unmask]> on behalf of Stahlke, Herbert <[log in to unmask]
> >
> *Sent:* Saturday, February 14, 2015 8:59 PM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Re: Passive Voice vs. Copular + Predicate Adjective
>
>
> One of the standard tests for copula+predicate adjective is whether the
> adjective allows an adverbial modifier.  Since “closed” is not gradable, It
> doesn’t allow “very” or other intensifiers that would show it to be an
> adjective.  The present tense verb suggests a predicate adjective
> interpretation since “by order of the magistrate” works better than “by the
> magistrate.”  “By order of…” is not an agent phrase and suggests that
> “closed” here is an adjective.  With past tense, “The roads and ports were
> closed by the magistrate” works as a passive.”   We can also have parallel
> structures, like “During the winter, the roads on the Bruce Peninsula are
> closed more often than they’re open,” where the parallel between “closed”
> and “open” suggests that “closed” is an adjective.  Using “opened” in the
> same sentence sounds decidedly odd, since we have a clear morphological
> distinction between adjective and participle in “open/opened,” which is not
> the case with “closed.”
>
>
>
> On your spin-off question, there is certainly a close relationship between
> the two.  The copular predicate construction has historically been a
> pathway from verb to adjective, and the example you posted about is a good
> illustration of the close relationship.
>
>
>
> Perhaps the most important upshot of this topic is the recognition that
> what we call “parts of speech” are, in fact, not discrete categories but
> rather represent prototypes.   The prototypical verb is a transitive, with
> its agentive subject and a direct object.  This type of verb, like “hit,”
> converts easily into the passive.  Stative verbs like “have” do not
> generally allow passives, hence the oddity of “A good time was had by all,”
> and stative adjectives, like “tall” do not allow imperatives or
> progressives.  You can say “She is tall,” but not “Be tall” or “She is
> being tall.”  With an active adjective like “kind,” those are both
> possible:  “Be kind!”  “She’s being kind.”
>
>
>
> I’m not sure I’d spend a lot of time in a writing class explaining
> prototype theory as it applies to parts of speech even though the concept
> is useful in answering your question.
>
>
>
> Herb
>
>
>
> *From:* Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:
> [log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Larry Barkley
> *Sent:* Saturday, February 14, 2015 3:49 PM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Passive Voice vs. Copular + Predicate Adjective
>
>
>
> Good Afternoon, a colleague and I are debating whether the following
> sentence exhibits a passive construction or a copular/linking verb and a
> predicate adjective:
>
> The roads and ports are closed due to the weather conditions.
>
> Observations are (1) the structure is passive, merely missing/excluding
> the prepositional phrase that would house the actor, e.g. "The roads and
> ports are closed by the magistrate due to the weather conditions"; (2) the
> sentence is simply one which exhibits a copular/linking verb, "is," and a
> predicate adjective, "closed."
>
> But I also have a spin-off question: can both structures exist
> simultaneously? Is the nature of passive voice to exhibit a copular/linking
> verb with a predicate adjective?
>
> Thank you.
>
> Best,
> Larry
>
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