----- Original Message -----
From: "Prof. Richard Grant WAU" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2015 7:30:04 AM
Subject: Re: ATEG Digest - 9 Mar 2015 to 10 Mar 2015 (#2015-19)
This morning I discovered a study on the middle voice/middle passive. The researcher presents data showing a decline in the use of passive and a significant increase in the spread and use of the middle passive.
Here’s the title: Hundt, Marianne. English Mediopassive Constructions : A Cognitive, Corpus-based Study of Their Origin, Spread, and Current Status. 2007
Richard
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Karl Hagen
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2015 2:29 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: ATEG Digest - 9 Mar 2015 to 10 Mar 2015 (#2015-19)
I would answer no, but then I subscribe to the notion that passive voice is better understood as a clause type than as just a property of a verb, and transformation between active and passive equivalents isn't a sufficient way to understand the two. There are, for example, a few verbs that only occur in the passive voice. (He is reputed to be a misogynist; It is rumored that she will quit soon.)
As I pointed out in an earlier message, though, traditional grammar often does assume that the passive voice is a property of the verb, and so would only call transitive verbs active. The nineteenth century grammars that I've looked at usually treat the voice of intransitives explicitly, by introducing a term like "middle voice." In the twentieth century, that distinction was dropped, as far as I can tell, but it wasn't replaced with anything. In other words, later works in the traditional paradigm finesse the issue by ignoring it.
> On Mar 11, 2015, at 10:57 AM, Seth Katz < [log in to unmask] > wrote:
>
> Karl (and others):
>
> Does labeling a verb as being in the active voice imply that it is transitive, and therefore can be put in the passive voice?
> That is, you can't put a non-accusative verb in the passive voice (e.g. "The plan landed"); so can such a verb be properly said to be in the active voice?
> Or am I not understanding the notion of "voice" correctly?
>
> Seth Katz
>
> Dr. Seth Katz
> Associate Professor
> Associate Chair
> Department of English
> Bradley University
> Peoria, IL 61625
>
> Executive Director / Faculty Advisor
> Bradley University Hillel
>
> On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 12:50 PM, Karl Hagen < [log in to unmask] > wrote:
> The stative/dynamic distinction is semantic (an expression of aspectuality), and I take passive voice to be primarily a syntactic construction.
>
> Although it's true that adjectival passives will always have a stative
> interpretation, and that ambiguities such as B typically turn on
> whether we understand the situation as stative or dynamic, it's also
> the case that some passive-voice constructions can be stative (e.g,
> "She is loved by everyone.")
>
> For your example, I take this to be an instance of a so-called unaccusative verb, along the lines of:
>
> The pilot landed the plane. / The plane landed.
> The wind opened the door. / The door opened.
> The sun dried up the fields. / The fields dried up.
>
> So I take your example to be active voice. In other words, the mere fact that the semantic role of the subject is something other than agent/instrument isn't sufficient to call something passive.
>
> > On Mar 11, 2015, at 10:09 AM, Hancock, Craig G < [log in to unmask] > wrote:
> >
> > Karl,
> > Where would "stative" fit in?
> > And how do we deal with something like "The fields dried up in the sun?"
> >
> > Craig
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> > [ mailto:[log in to unmask] ] On Behalf Of Karl Hagen
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2015 12:15 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: ATEG Digest - 9 Mar 2015 to 10 Mar 2015 (#2015-19)
> >
> > It depends on whether you regard voice to be a property of the verb or a structural pattern of a clause. The former is the assumption, implicit or otherwise, in most traditional grammar books. In the 19th century, intransitive verbs were often said to be in the "middle" voice to account for this gap. On the other hand, much work in modern linguistics takes the second analysis to be more accurate. As a type of clause, there's no real problem. You simply say that the active-voice pattern is the unmarked default, and hence applies to anything that is not passive voice.
> >
> >
> >> On Mar 11, 2015, at 8:37 AM, Beth Young < [log in to unmask] > wrote:
> >>
> >> Interesting! Passive voice is something that only transitive verbs can have, but I've never considered active voice to be limited to transitive verbs. I've always considered all verbs that are conjugated with the formula "Tense + Modal (have + -en) (be + -ing) Main Verb" to be active voice, and verbs conjugated with the formula "Tense + Modal (have + -en) (be + -ing) + be + -en + Main Verb" to be passive voice. Otherwise, wouldn't many verbs have no voice at all? Maybe that doesn't matter.
> >>
> >> Hats off to any 8th grade teachers who wade into this question with
> >> their students. :)
> >>
> >> Beth
> >>
> >> Dr. Beth Rapp Young
> >> Associate Professor, English
> >> [log in to unmask]
> >>
> >> University of Central Florida
> >> "Reach for the Stars"
> >> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
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