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LeBron
Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 103
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 Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 1:59 am Post subject: Which tense is that? |
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Hello,
I have two examples, where I'm unsure which tense they are:
1. Woodland owners have also been hit by...
2. A campaign to save Kent's 15,500 hectares has been launched by...
Can you please tell me, which tense we have here?
Many thanks.
Kind regards
LeBron |
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dragn
Joined: 17 Feb 2009
Posts: 450
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| Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 2:17 am Post subject: |
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Both sentences are in the passive voice, but the verb tense is the present perfect. They could be rephrased as active sentences as follows:
Something has also hit Woodland owners...
Someone has launched a campaign to save Kent's 15,500 hectares...
Don't be fooled by the passive voice: it changes the structure of the sentence, but most grammarians do not consider it to be a different verb tense. Be advised that there are some who do; however, to the best of my knowledge, the authors of many of the most trusted grammar references are not among them.
Greg |
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LeBron
Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 103
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| Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 11:24 am Post subject: |
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Many thanks for your explanation.
This "been" confused me a great deal, because it doesn't match with the structure of Present Perfect Simple, as I know it (have/has + Past Participle).
Anyway, if you say this structure is caused by the passive, what about the following example:
I have been traveled a great deal in the last few years.
There is no passive structure, however there is also a "been" between the have/has and the Past Participle. Is this structure wrong now?
Regards
LeBron |
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dragn
Joined: 17 Feb 2009
Posts: 450
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| Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 2:05 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
I have been traveled a great deal in the last few years.
There is no passive structure, however there is also a "been" between the have/has and the Past Participle. Is this structure wrong now? |
Yes, completely wrong. The problem is that structurally it is passive; but it cannot be because the verb is intransitive.
Remember: in order to form the passive, you must have a verb that takes an object�a transitive verb. The reason is simple: it is that object that becomes the subject in the passive sentence. No object, no new subject. For example:
The boy kicked the ball.
(What did he kick? The ball...that's the new subject.)
The ball was kicked (by the boy).
In the sentence "I have been traveled a great deal in the last few years," if we interpret this as the passive voice (and there is simply no other way to interpret it), then it must have come from the following active sentence:
Someone or something has traveled me a great deal in the last few years.
(So...who or what has traveled you?)
This makes no sense. For example, a very common mistake in Taiwan is for people to say "The man was died." My favorite response is "Really?! Who died him?"
That is usually enough to get the point across: die is intransitive, and so the passive cannot be used.
Hope this helps.
Greg |
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LeBron
Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 103
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| Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 11:26 am Post subject: |
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Many thanks Greg, I think I've got it now.
Regards
LeBron |
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