Ed et al:
 
As Bruce pointed out, in ancient Greek (and a number of other older varieties of Indo-European languages) these would be "mediopassives" or examples of "middle voice." There's no marker of middle voice in modern English, though, and so I can't see treating it as an English category. We seem instead to take advantage of the fact that most actions have "layers" of causation to them, and -- within limits -- we're free to focus on whichever link we want: X happens because Y happens, and Y happens because Z happens, and so forth. As with Craig's examples, the ball really is sailing over the fence, and the fact that it wouldn't do that all by itself isn't directly an issue unless we want it to be. Hurricane Dolly wouldn't have come ashore where it did had not a host of factors caused it to, but "Dolly blew water over the levees" acts like a normal active sentence.
 
If you have a copy of Lederer's Anguished English, take a look at the section in which people filling out insurance claims try to avoid owning up to agentivity -- it's full of this kind of thing.
 
Bill Spruiell
Dept. of English
Central Michigan University

________________________________

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Craig Hancock
Sent: Wed 7/23/2008 1:44 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: passives


Ed,
  I think it's funny in part BECAUSE it is not a passive. It has some similarities to passive (in that agency has been obscured), but it is obscured exactly because the agent (shooter) is not explicit and the shot is  being treated as the "ringer outer" (if I can torture the phrase) and NOT as having been caused. A passive version would be less funny. "Then he was shot." even a passive version would bring the shooter more clearly into implied focus. 
    We do this routinely in situations where it won't seem dishonest. "The ball sailed through the goal posts." "The ball cleared the fence." "The plane landed in the cornfield." "The car drove right through a stop sign." We can say "the milk was spilled" (passive), but also "the milk spilled." "I opened the carton and the milk spread across the table." That last might seem the most parallel. 

Craig

Edgar Schuster wrote: 

	There's a clever cartoon in the July 21 New Yorker (p 64).  A woman is sitting on a couch being interrogated by the police.  On the table before her is a handgun, a pair of feet can be seen sticking out from behind the couch.  She says, "He misspoke, I misheard, then shots rang out."
	
	In my experience, it is very difficult to teach students to recognize passives, but I have had some success teaching them how to look for passive "markers," a form of be followed by a participial verb form, with a stated or implied by phrase---far more commonly, the latter.
	
	I guess this cartoon shoots that that one in the head---no be form and no by phrase.  (It is a passive, yes?)  
	
	I'm wondering how frequently passives do not exhibit the typical markers.  Anyone know?  And perhaps, it might be interesting to discuss, in linguistic terms, why this is as funny as it is.
	
	Ed Schuster  
	
	
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