Passive OR Wordy

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vikram4689: Legendary Member; Posts: 1325; Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 6:24 amFollowed by: 14 members; Thanked: 105 times

by vikram4689 » Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:42 am

Active Voice : Mr.Jobs contributed to field of innovation

Whether following sentence is a Passive/Wordy Construction of above sentence
Mr.Jobs was a contributor to field of innovation

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:42 am

avik.ch: Legendary Member; Posts: 641; Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2011 1:15 amFollowed by: 32 members; Thanked: 149 times; GMAT Score:760

by avik.ch » Tue Jan 24, 2012 2:02 am

Passive sentences are written to stress on the object and not on the subject. One can create passive voice only with transitive verb - an object is needed for a subject to work on it. We cannot create a passive with intransitive,linking or be verb.

In fact, passive is the only structure in English language where a "be" verb is always followed by a past participle. ( be + past participle)

Now in your example : Mr.Jobs contributed to field of innovation : here "to field of innovation" is an adverb of place and "contributed" is an intransitive verb. So its impossible to create a passive sentence out of this as this sentence lack object.

There is nothing as "wordy" is grammar dictionary. What I can say about you second sentence is that you have just converted the verb into a noun.

Mr.Jobs was a contributor to field of innovation : here "was" is a be verb, "a contibutor" is a noun predicate and "to field of innovation" - an adverb of place.

In GMAT world, this is indeed wordy applying VAN rule ( verbs > noun ). But this kind of sentence have different implication in literary world but in GMAT world its ugly and wordy.

In real world usage : an author generally use passive voice if he want to stress on the object. Something like this -

Everyone knows BTG as a great place to learn. - the main theme of this sentence is "BTG" and not "everyone", so this sentence is not well written.

"BTG" is known as a great place to learn. - This is perfect. ( the grammatical subject is in line with the main point of this sentence )

If you don't find the above example convincing, refer these :

"Women are never disarmed by compliments. Men always are. That is the difference between the sexes" - Oscar Wilde
The first line, if we convert it into so called beautiful active, would be worse. Passive has its own essence.

It is a curious sensation: the sort of pain that goes mercifully beyond our powers of feeling. When your heart is broken, your boats are burned : nothing matters any more. It is the end of happiness and the beginning of peace. - George Bernard Shaw

Hope this helps !!

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vikram4689: Legendary Member; Posts: 1325; Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 6:24 amFollowed by: 14 members; Thanked: 105 times

by vikram4689 » Tue Jan 24, 2012 5:16 am

Consider following sentence :
Contributing towards attack on President were animosity towards nation and weak armed security

avik.ch wrote: In fact, passive is the only structure in English language where a "be" verb is always followed by a past participle. ( be + past participle)

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avik.ch: Legendary Member; Posts: 641; Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2011 1:15 amFollowed by: 32 members; Thanked: 149 times; GMAT Score:760

by avik.ch » Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:32 am

vikram4689 wrote:Consider following sentence :
Contributing towards attack on President were animosity towards nation and weak armed security

I think we need an article before "animosity" - "an animosity".

After parsing it,

Contributing towards attack on President - subject
were - main verb - be verb
animosity - noun predicate
towards nation and weak armed security - adverb of place.

As I mentioned above, we can use only passive with transitive verb. So this is not a passive sentence.

What made you think this is a passive sentence ?

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imskpwr: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 377; Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 10:45 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 10 times

by imskpwr » Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:47 am

What if, I say

I was amazed to see a full moon.
Is it passive?

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avik.ch: Legendary Member; Posts: 641; Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2011 1:15 amFollowed by: 32 members; Thanked: 149 times; GMAT Score:760

by avik.ch » Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:47 am

imskpwr wrote:What if, I say

I was amazed to see a full moon.
Is it passive?

Well this is meaning dependent - good example !!

The confusion takes place as a participle can act as a verb as well as an adjective, Consider this.

John Lenon was charming to his audiences ---> "charming" is an adjective, "to his audience" is an adverb ----- similar to your example

john lemon was charming his audiences ---> "was charming" is a progressive tense here. "his audience" is an object here. - so this can be made into passive

So in your example, "to see a full moon" is an adverb and hence not a passive.

But this one is passive,

I was amazed by the sight of the full moon --- passive
The sight of the full moon amazed me. ---- active

Passive test : If you can convert a sentence into an active one then its a passive. (Note: all passive can be made into active, but not all active can be made into passive)

So your sentence can't be made into active - so its not passive here !!

After parsing :

I - subject
was - be verb
amazed - adjective( its not a verb here )
to see a full moon - adverb

So I see a lot of confusion now, please refer this video on active and passive :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xTreaklNr8

Hope this helps !!

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vikram4689: Legendary Member; Posts: 1325; Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 6:24 amFollowed by: 14 members; Thanked: 105 times

by vikram4689 » Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:48 pm

Do you think there is any relationship b/w these 2 constructions
1) Animosity towards nation and weak armed security contributed towards attack on President
2) Contributing towards attack on President were animosity towards nation and weak armed security

avik.ch wrote: I think we need an article before "animosity" - "an animosity".

After parsing it,
Contributing towards attack on President - subject
were - main verb - be verb
animosity - noun predicate
towards nation and weak armed security - adverb of place.

As I mentioned above, we can use only passive with transitive verb. So this is not a passive sentence.

What made you think this is a passive sentence ?

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avik.ch: Legendary Member; Posts: 641; Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2011 1:15 amFollowed by: 32 members; Thanked: 149 times; GMAT Score:760

by avik.ch » Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:42 pm

vikram4689 wrote:Do you think there is any relationship b/w these 2 constructions
1) Animosity towards nation and weak armed security contributed towards attack on President
2) Contributing towards attack on President were animosity towards nation and weak armed security

The conversion is same as the example in the first post - you have just changes the verb to its noun form.

Consider this :

George Orwell wrote 1984. - active
George Orwell was the writer/author of 1984. - This is similar to the two example you have stated
1984 was written by George Orwell. -- This is passive.

The conversion of active into passive requires you an object and a subject - where we can change the subject as the adverb of agency - "by...."

Here, In the first sentence : "contributed" is an intransitive verb. Consider this now,

Jim contributed 20,000$ for charity --- here "contribute" is a transitive verb,
Jim was a contributor of 20,000$ for charity --- verb to a noun

20,000$ was contributed for charity by Jim.--- passive

Hope this helps !!

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vikram4689: Legendary Member; Posts: 1325; Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 6:24 amFollowed by: 14 members; Thanked: 105 times

by vikram4689 » Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:16 pm

What do you think are the subject and object in the sentence i mentioned

avik.ch wrote:
vikram4689 wrote:Do you think there is any relationship b/w these 2 constructions
1) Animosity towards nation and weak armed security contributed towards attack on President
2) Contributing towards attack on President were animosity towards nation and weak armed security

The conversion is same as the example in the first post - you have just changes the verb to its noun form.

Consider this :

George Orwell wrote 1984. - active
George Orwell was the writer/author of 1984. - This is similar to the two example you have stated
1984 was written by George Orwell. -- This is passive.

The conversion of active into passive requires you an object and a subject - where we can change the subject as the adverb of agency - "by...."

Here, In the first sentence : "contributed" is an intransitive verb. Consider this now,

Jim contributed 20,000$ for charity --- here "contribute" is a transitive verb,
Jim was a contributor of 20,000$ for charity --- verb to a noun

20,000$ was contributed for charity by Jim.--- passive

Hope this helps !!

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avik.ch: Legendary Member; Posts: 641; Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2011 1:15 amFollowed by: 32 members; Thanked: 149 times; GMAT Score:760

by avik.ch » Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:58 pm

vikram4689 wrote:What do you think are the subject and object in the sentence i mentioned

Animosity towards nation and weak armed security - subject phrase
contributed towards attack on President - verb predicate

Subject phrase :
Animosity - noun
towards nation and weak armed security - adjective

verb predicate :
contributed - main verb
towards attack on President - adverb of place

There is no object here.

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vikram4689: Legendary Member; Posts: 1325; Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 6:24 amFollowed by: 14 members; Thanked: 105 times

by vikram4689 » Fri Jan 27, 2012 10:16 am

Any thoughts on this one, do you think this one is passive:

The acclaimed writer said that powerfully influential in his writing were family storytellers

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