Dear Carol:

I apologize for my first reply.  I think I was put off by LITTERED.  But
after Odile's reply I understand your question.

I think that it depends on the verbness.  THE FLOOR WAS LITTERED WITH BOOKS
seems a legitimate passive.  But as Odile says, when the agent is not
included, it loses some of that verbness. In  THE WINDOW IS BROKEN, BROKEN
looks very much like a subject complement.  But THE WINDOW WAS BROKEN LAST
NIGHT seems much more verblike.  In sentences such as WE WERE DISGUSTED,
where it's clear that VERY DISGUSTED is also possible, it seems a clear
complement.  But in WE WERE DISGUSTED BY THE CHAIRMAN'S EDICT, the verbness
comes through.

Some of these structures are very much on the cusp.

Martha





>Dear ATEG,
>   How about the difference between passive and description? Consider the
>following two sentences:
>
>Paper was littered all over the floor. Is this littered not the complement
>after the linking verb?
>
>Paper was littered all over the floor by Howard. Is this the passive because
>there is now a prepositional phrase?
>
>I would love a reply.
>carol
>
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