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5. Transitivity and Passive Voice
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
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Introduction In this unit, we’ll look at another important property of verbs, which seems to show some similarities between English and Chinese — and yet they are very different in some other ways. QUESTION 1 Here are some common verbs in English, each used in a sentence in a typical way. Based on how they are used here, can you divide them into two groups (let’s call them Groups ‘A’and ‘B’)? Can you give a reason for your choice? 1. He slept. 2. He built this house. 3. He smiled. 4. He damaged the vase. 5. He died. 6. He scolded the policeman. ‘Group A’ verbs: ‘Group B’ verbs: 5 Transitivity and Passive Voice 74 Understanding English Grammar It is almost certain that all of you will have divided the above sentences this way: ‘Group A’ verbs: 1, 3, 5; ‘Group B’: 2, 4, 6. What about the reason? You may have put it differently, but most of you will probably have said something like this: Group Averbs have no objects, and Group B verbs have objects. QUESTION 2 Here are some more sentences involving the same verbs as in 1–6 above. The way they are used this time, all the sentences are ungrammatical (as indicated by *). What do these additional data tell you about these verbs? 7. * He slept the floor. 8. * He built. 9. * He smiled the pretty girl. 10. * He damaged. 11. * He died his friend. 12. * He scolded. Answer: You will probably have arrived at the following conclusion: The first group of verbs (sleep, smile, die) cannot have objects, while the second group (build, damage, scold) need to have objects. That’s why sentences 7–12 are ungrammatical. QUESTION 3 Think of three more verbs which are like Group A verbs (like sleep etc.), and another three verbs which are like Group B verbs (like scold etc.) Make a sentence with each of these new verbs. [18.205.114.205] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 14:56 GMT) Transitivity and Passive Voice 75 More Group A verbs: More Group B verbs: Unlike tense or number, the property that you’ve noticed about the verbs in this unit is not limited to English. Let’s look at Chinese. QUESTION 4 Give the Chinese equivalents of sentences 1–6 above. What similarities do you find between the Chinese and English verbs? Answer: You’ll have discovered something quite interesting. And that is, in Chinese as well as in English, the same kinds of verbs (e.g. those in sentences 1, 3, 5) do not have objects, and the same kinds of verbs (e.g. those in 2, 4, 6) do. 76 Understanding English Grammar Transitivity From the Introduction, you will have got the idea that there are two types of verbs, in both English and Chinese, i.e.: • Verbs that cannot take an object (e.g. sleep, smile, die) — we call them intransitive verbs. • Verbs that need an object (e.g. build, damage, scold) — we call them transitive verbs. What is an ‘object’? A mere definition is not going to do you much good. The following questions will help you understand this concept better. QUESTION 5 In the following sentences, the verb (in bold print) is followed by an underlined phrase. Some of these underlined phrases are objects and some are not. Using what you may know about ‘objects’, can you identify those that are objects, and explain how you managed to distinguish them from non-objects? 1. He sat on the floor. 2. He swept the floor. 3. The teacher shouted at the student. 4. The teacher praised the student. 5. The baby cried for milk. 6. The baby finished the milk. 7. The boss travelled by plane. 8. The pilot tested the plane. Answer: One of the crucial points that you may have found from the above question is that an object is normally a noun phrase (like ‘the floor’), rather than a prepositional phrase (i.e. a preposition followed by a noun phrase, like ‘on the floor’). That is an important first step. Transitivity and Passive Voice 77 You can also discover another important property of the object by this simple test. Try to insert a word or phrase — such as ‘patiently’, ‘loudly’, ‘for a long time’, etc. — between the verb and the underlined phrase. What is the result? 1. He sat patiently on the floor. 2. * He swept patiently the floor. Go through the rest of the examples and you will...