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joiedevivre
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I think, perhaps, you are confusing two unrelated grammar rules. The grammatical rule for passive voice is simple, and is what JavaLatte said it is.

However, rules for stative and dynamic verbs are (partially) what determine whether passive voice is talking about state or not.

A transitive verb that is always stative can be in active or passive voice, but when it is in passive voice, it is always talking about state:

Active: Everyone likeliked her.
Passive: She was liked.

Her state was "liked," because the verb "to like" is always stative. This can't possibly be referring to any kind of dynamic past action.

When used in the passive voice, a verb that is dynamic can usually only refer to an action that happened (not state). Both of the verbs you chose in your question are examples of this. However, this isn't a hard and fast rule, some dynamic verbs (such as break) do have past participles that can refer to state.

In short, if it follows the grammatical construct for passive voice, then it is passive voice. Whether or not it refers to state depends entirely on whether or not the past participle always, never, or sometimes refers to state.

I think, perhaps, you are confusing two unrelated grammar rules. The grammatical rule for passive voice is simple, and is what JavaLatte said it is.

However, rules for stative and dynamic verbs are (partially) what determine whether passive voice is talking about state or not.

A transitive verb that is always stative can be in active or passive voice, but when it is in passive voice, it is always talking about state:

Active: Everyone like her.
Passive: She was liked.

Her state was "liked," because the verb "to like" is always stative. This can't possibly be referring to any kind of dynamic past action.

When used in the passive voice, a verb that is dynamic can usually only refer to an action that happened (not state). Both of the verbs you chose in your question are examples of this. However, this isn't a hard and fast rule, some dynamic verbs (such as break) do have past participles that can refer to state.

In short, if it follows the grammatical construct for passive voice, then it is passive voice. Whether or not it refers to state depends entirely on whether or not the past participle always, never, or sometimes refers to state.

I think, perhaps, you are confusing two unrelated grammar rules. The grammatical rule for passive voice is simple, and is what JavaLatte said it is.

However, rules for stative and dynamic verbs are (partially) what determine whether passive voice is talking about state or not.

A transitive verb that is always stative can be in active or passive voice, but when it is in passive voice, it is always talking about state:

Active: Everyone liked her.
Passive: She was liked.

Her state was "liked," because the verb "to like" is always stative. This can't possibly be referring to any kind of dynamic past action.

When used in the passive voice, a verb that is dynamic can usually only refer to an action that happened (not state). Both of the verbs you chose in your question are examples of this. However, this isn't a hard and fast rule, some dynamic verbs (such as break) do have past participles that can refer to state.

In short, if it follows the grammatical construct for passive voice, then it is passive voice. Whether or not it refers to state depends entirely on whether or not the past participle always, never, or sometimes refers to state.

Source Link
joiedevivre
  • 4.7k
  • 11
  • 28

I think, perhaps, you are confusing two unrelated grammar rules. The grammatical rule for passive voice is simple, and is what JavaLatte said it is.

However, rules for stative and dynamic verbs are (partially) what determine whether passive voice is talking about state or not.

A transitive verb that is always stative can be in active or passive voice, but when it is in passive voice, it is always talking about state:

Active: Everyone like her.
Passive: She was liked.

Her state was "liked," because the verb "to like" is always stative. This can't possibly be referring to any kind of dynamic past action.

When used in the passive voice, a verb that is dynamic can usually only refer to an action that happened (not state). Both of the verbs you chose in your question are examples of this. However, this isn't a hard and fast rule, some dynamic verbs (such as break) do have past participles that can refer to state.

In short, if it follows the grammatical construct for passive voice, then it is passive voice. Whether or not it refers to state depends entirely on whether or not the past participle always, never, or sometimes refers to state.