Passive constructions

The Passive is often used with verbs of saying and believing in the following constructions:

· it + passive + ‘that’ clause

It is expected that many more people will die from starvation in the next decade.

· there + passive + to-infinitive

There are believed to be many thousands of homeless teenagers living on the streets of the capital.

· subject + passive + to-infinitive

She is considered to be the best singer in the group.

The verbs to be used in the constructions mentioned above are believe, expect, feel, hope, know, report, say, think, etc.

Causative Structures with ‘get, have, make’.

We can use get and have in both active and passive patterns.

1. The passive pattern meaning "arrange for somebody else to do something" is get / have + object + past participle.

David arranged for the builder to build a shed.

David had a shed built. (he didn’t do it himself – the builder did it)

She’s getting / having her teeth fixed.

I had to get / have my jacket cleaned after the party.

We occasionally use the causative have or get with by + agent.

We had / got the house decorated by a local firm of decorators.

Contrastbetween ‘have’and ‘get’

The causative have and the causative get are very similar and often interchangeable. However, get is stronger in meaning than have and can be used to suggest difficulty.

I had the car serviced this morning. (I caused this to happen but I may or may not have taken the car to the garage myself)

I got the car serviced this morning. (there is the assumption here that I took the car to the garage)

When we are concerned with the process of something happening and not preparatory arrangements, we use the causative have and not get.

I like having my hair done.

They stayed with us while they were having their flat decorated.

We don’t usually use the causative get in the Present Perfect or Past Perfect.

Oh, you’ve had you hair done.

2. The active pattern make / have + object + bare infinitive is also used to express that someone causes someone else to do something but the meaning is slightly different.

He made Ann type the letter. (he insisted that Ann should type the letter)

He had Ann type the letter. (he asked Ann to type the letter)

Get + object + to-infinitive is used to show that someone persuades someone else to do something.

He got his mum to bake him a cake. (he persuaded his mum to bake him a cake)

3. We use have + object + past participle to describe things that happen to us, often misfortunes. The subject is the person who experiences what happened:

I’ve had my car stolen. (compare: My car was stolen.)

He’s had his application for citizenship turned down. (compare: His application for citizenship has been turned down.)

In spoken English we can sometimes use get instead of have:

She’s got another letter published in the Times.

Note that sometimes only the context will identify precise meaning. Consider:

They had their fence pulled down. (= either: they employed somebody to pull it down (causative); or it was pulled down without their planning it, e.g. by vandals.)

According to the syntactic functionof verbs, which depends on the extent to which they retain, weaken or lose their meaning, they are divided into notional verbs, auxiliaryverbs and linkverbs.

1. Notional verbsare those which have a full meaning of their own and can be used without any additional words as a simple predicate. Here belong such verbs as to write, to read, to speak, to know, to ask.

Ricky surroundedher with great care and luxury. (Stern)

She knewwhat he was thinking.(Galsworthy)

2. Auxiliary verbsare those which have lost their meaning and are used only as form words, thus having only a grammatical function. They are used in analytical forms. Here belong such verbs as to do, to have, to be, shall, will, should, would, may.

Idon’t recollectthat he ever did anything, at least not in my time.

3. Link verbsare verbs which to a smaller or greater extent have lost their meaning and are used in the compound nominal predicate.

The house wastoo big. (Galsworthy)

The old face lookedworn and hollow again. (Galsworthy)

Manson no longer feltdespondent, but happy, elated, hopeful. (Cronin)

In different contexts the same verb can be used as a notional verb and an auxiliary verb or a link verb:

...She turnedher head sullenly away from me. (Collins) (NOTIONAL

VERB)

She... turneddeadly pale.(Collins) (LINK VERB)

No one wasthere to meet him. (Lindsay) (NOTIONAL VERB)

She wasnot a ten-year-old girl any more... (Dreiser) (LINK VERB)

This evening Bathsheba was unusually excited,her red cheeks and lips

contrasting lustrously with her shadowy hair. (Hardy) (LINK VERB)

There is a special group of verbs which cannot be used without additional words, though they have a meaning of their own. These aremodal verbs such as can, may, must, ought, etc.

A slow swell of feeling choked the little boy’s heart. Though he couldnot,

dared not questionthe consul’s strict command, its purpose lay beyond his

comprehension. (Cronin)

“We ought to have stayedin Italy,” he said. “We oughtnever to have come

back to Manderley.” (Du Maurier)

The same verb in different contexts can be modal and auxiliary.

I crouched against the wall of the gallery so that I shouldnot be seen.(Du

Maurier) (AUXILIARY VERB)

I don’t honestly think Lady Crowan was exaggerating when she said

something should be donein your honour. (Du Maurier) (MODAL VERB)

I had no idea she would dothat. (Du Maurier) (AUXILIARY VERB)

He needed a cook. Why couldn’t she apply for the job? But Morris wouldnot