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The category of voice§ 64. Voice is the grammatical category of the verb denoting the relationship between the action expressed by the verb and the person or non-person denoted by the subject of the sentence. There are two main voices in English: the active voice and the passive voice. There are also other voices which embrace a very limited number of verbs: reflexive (wash oneself), reciprocal (embrace one another), medial (the book reads well). The active voice indicates that the action is directed from the subject or issues from the subject, thus the subject denotes the doer (agent) of the action:  We help our friends. - Мы помогаем нашим друзьям. The passive voice indicates that the action is directed towards the subject. Here the subject expresses a person or non-person who or which is the receiver of the action. It does not act, but is acted upon and therefore affected by the action of the verb. 
The contrast between the two voices can be seen from the following examples:
The difference in the meaning of the forms helped - were helped, had asked - had been asked, saw - was seen illustrates the morphological contrast between the active and the passive voice. Of all the verb categories voice is most closely related to the syntax of the sentence. The interrelation of the active and the passive voice on the syntactical level can be presented in the following way:
A sentence containing a verb in the passive voice is called a passive construction, and a sentence containing a verb in the active voice is called an active construction, especially when opposed to the passive construction. The subject of an active construction denotes the agent (doer) of the action, which may be a living being, or any source of the action (a thing, a natural phenomenon, an abstract notion). The subject of a passive construction has the meaning of the receiver of the action, that is a person or non-person affected by the action. The object of an active construction denotes the receiver of the action, whereas the object of the passive construction is the agent of the action. The latter is introduced by the preposition by. If it is not the agent but the instrument, it is introduced by the preposition with. The cup was broken by Jim. It was broken with a hammer. Formation and the system of forms in the passive voice § 65. The active voice has no special means of formation. It is recognized by contrast with the passive voice, which is composed of the auxiliary verb to be and participle II. Thus the passive verb forms are analytical, the tense of the auxiliary verb to be varies according to the sense. The notional verb (participle II) remains unchanged and provides the whole analytical form with its passive meaning. The category of voice applies to the whole system of English verb forms, both finite and non-finite. Table II The voice forms of the verb
Note: The verb to get occurs as a passive voice auxiliary, emphasizing the result of the action denoted by participle II. They got married last year. I got hurt in an accident. The active voice § 66. The active voice is widely used with all kinds of verbs, both transitive and intransitive. The meaning of the active voice depends on the type of verb and the syntactical pattern of the sentence. 1. The active voice of transitive verbs presents an action as directed from the subject and passing over to the object, that is from the doer (agent) of the action to its receiver. John made a boat for his brother. They are building a new railway. We are talking about the new film. One of the characteristic features of English is that verbs which were originally intransitive may function as transitive verbs without changing their morphological structure, with or without changing their lexical meaning. They ran the distance in five minutes. Frank will run your house. James stood the lamp on the table. 2. The active voice of intransitive verbs shows that the action, directed from the subject, does not pass over to any object, and thus the verb only characterizes the subject as the doer of the action. He came here yesterday. The boy can run very fast. You acted wisely. He slept eight hours. 3. The form of the active voice of some transitive verbs, often accompanied by an adverbial modifier, does not indicate that the subject denotes the doer of the action. This specific use of the transitive verb is easily recognized from the meaning of the subject, which is a noun denoting a non-person, and by the absence of a direct object after a monotransitive, non-prepositional verb. In such cases the verb is used in the medial voice. The bell rang. The door opened. The newspaper sells well. The novel reads easily. Glass breaks easily. The place was filling up. It said on the radio (in the article) that the weather forecast is favourable. The passive voice The use of tense, aspect and perfect forms in the passive voice § 67. As seen from table II, verbs in the passive voice may acquire almost all the aspect, tense and perfect forms that occur in the active voice, except for the future continuous and perfect continuous forms. The examples below illustrate the use of the passive voice in different aspect, tense and perfect forms. Common aspect, non-perfect Students are examined twice a year. They were examined in June. They will be examined next Friday. Continuous aspect, non-perfect Don’t be noisy! Students are being examined. The students were being examined when the Professor came. Common aspect, perfect Our students have already been examined. They had been examined by 2 o’clock. Everybody will have been examined by 3 o’clock. The passive voice of different verbs § 68. The passive voice in English may be found with different types of verbs (mostly transitive) in various verb phrases; monotransitive (non-prepositional and prepositional) and ditransitive. The subject of the passive construction may correspond to a direct, an indirect object, or to a prepositional object in the active construction. Accordingly we discriminate a direct passive construction, an indirect passive construction, and a prepositional passive construction. Monotransitive verbs are numerous and almost all of them can form a direct passive construction. These are the verbs: to take, to do, to make, to build, to discuss, to translate, to hate, to love, to meet and a lot of others. A new railway is being built near our town. “A Farewell to Arms” was published in 1929. You will be met at the station. Phrasal transitive verbs, that is, such verbs as to blow up, to bring in, to bring up, to carry out, to put on, to see off, to turn down, etc. are also often used in the passive voice. The plan was successfully carried out. The boats are being brought in. Originally intransitive verbs may form a direct passive construction, as in these examples: This distance has never been run in five minutes before. He thought of the lives, that had been lived here for nearly two centuries. In the vast majority of cases, English transitive verb + object corresponds to the same type in Russian. There are a number of transitive verbs in English, however, which correspond to Russian verbs followed by an indirect or a prepositional object, or sometimes an adverbial modifier. These verbs are:
Sentences with these verbs are rendered in Russian by means of the indefinite personal constructions with the verb in the active voice, or if the doer of the action is mentioned of a personal construction with the verb in the active voice.
A direct passive construction is used in the sentences of the type: J. F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960. The woman was called Brome. We were kept busy most of the time. The walls were painted blue.* * For details see in Syntax, § 55. He is said (believed, known, reported) to be in town. He was seen to enter the museum. He was seen leaving the museum.* * For details see in Syntax, § 53. 3. The direct passive of verbs of speech, mental activity, and perception is used in complex sentences with the formal subject it. 
Restrictions to the use of the passive voice 1. Though in many cases there is an evident correspondence of the active and the passive voice construction it is by no means a one-to-one correspondence. There is a certain group of monotransitive verbs which are never used in the passive voice at all, or in some of their meanings; they are: to have, to lack, to become, to fit, to suit, to resemble. There are semantic reasons for this constraint, as these verbs denote not an action or process, but a state or relation. John resembles his father. (John looks like his father.) He lacks confidence. (There is no confidence in him.) Will this suit you? (Will it be suitable for you?) The verb to hold can be used in the passive voice only with reference to human activity; for example: The conference was held in April. However, in a sentence like The auditorium holds 5000 people the verb does not denote human activity. The sentence means There can be 5000 people in this auditorium. 2. No passive construction is possible, if the object is a that-clause, an infinitive or a gerund. John said that everything was all right. John enjoyed seeing his native town. Passive constructions with ditransitive verbs § 69. Ditransitive verbs take two objects, usually one indirect and one direct. Accordingly they admit of two passive constructions.       The referee gave Mary the first prize . Mary was given the first prize by the referee. The first prize was given to Mary by the referee. The subject of the first passive construction (Mary) corresponds to the indirect object of the active construction, and the construction is therefore called the indirect passive construction. The direct object (the first prize) is retained unchanged after the passive verb and therefore, is called the retained object. The subject of the second passive construction corresponds to the direct object of the active construction. In this case the indirect object becomes a prepositional one. The preposition to may be omitted. The agentive by-object corresponding to the subject of the active construction is very rarely used in either type of construction. Of the two passive constructions the indirect passive is by far the most common. As there is no indirect passive construction in Russian, sentences with this construction are translated into Russian by means of the indefinite personal construction with the indirect object in the front position.
The indirect passive construction gives greater prominence to the direct object, whereas the direct passive construction emphasizes the indirect object: The first prize was given to Mary implies that it was not given to anybody else. The construction may be translated in two ways, by an indefinite personal active construction or by a passive construction: ПервуюпремиюдалиМэри or Перваяпремиябыладана (присуждена) Мэри. The presence of the by-object makes it of great communicative value. 
Ditransitive verbs used in the passive construction
Verbs in group I follow the usage explained in the previous part of this section. The same refers to group II with the difference that all the verbs of this group are followed by two direct objects, though in the passive the difference is not so distinct. I was asked a lot of questions. Restrictions on the use of the passive of ditransitive verbs 1. The indirect passive is impossible with verbs of benefaction, when the action is performed for the benefit of somebody.
2. The same applies to the verbs with the obligatory to of the type to explain something to somebody (to describe, to dictate, to suggest, etc.). With these only the direct passive is possible: The rule was explained to them once more. 3. In verb-phrases containing a non-prepositional and a prepositional object only the non-prepositional passive is possible. I was told about their victory. Oliver was accused of theft. 4. The infinitive cannot be used as the subject of the passive construction with a ditransitive verb. § 70. Passive constructions with prepositional monotransitive verbs
In the passive construction the subject of the prepositional passive construction corresponds to the object of the active construction and denotes the receiver of the action. The peculiarity of the construction is that the preposition sticks to the verb. Most verbs of this type denote the process of speaking, mental and physical perception. The prepositional passive construction has no equivalent in Russian and is translated by an indefinite personal active construction.
When the prepositional passive construction contains a modal verb, an impersonal active construction is used in Russian.
Here are some of the most important prepositional monotransitive verbs:
Group I in the list contains the majority (but not all) of prepositional transitive verbs. The list could be continued, for a number of verbs of the kind are used occasionally, but the pattern itself is very productive. Some prepositional monotransitive verbs have non-prepositional equivalents, e.g. to account for is a synonym for to explain, to look on - to regard, to speak (talk) about - to discuss. Your absence must be accounted for. = Your absence must be explained. Group II contains phraseological units based on the fusion of a monotransitive verb and a noun as direct object. These units express one notion and function as prepositional verbs. Many of them have synonyms among monotransitive verbs, prepositional and non-prepositional:
Like single prepositional verbs the phraseological units with the verb in the passive voice are usually rendered in Russian by means of indefinite personal or impersonal constructions.
Sometimes a phraseological unit is split and the original direct object becomes the subject of the passive construction (the direct passive). No notice was taken of the boy at first. - Сначала мальчика не замечали. Group III contains a short list of intransitive verbs used with prepositional nominal groups functioning as prepositional objects or adverbial modifiers. These may form passive constructions by analogy with other verbs used with prepositions:
The use of the passive voice § 71. The passive voice is widely used in English. It is used alongside the active voice in written and spoken English. Passive constructions are often used instead of active constructions in sentences beginning with an indefinite pronoun, a noun or a pronoun of indefinite reference.
It is evident that in the process of speech passive constructions arise naturally, not as a result of conversion from the active into the passive. A passive construction is preferable in case when the speaker is interested in what happens to the person or thing denoted by the subject. The verb or the whole verb phrase is thus made more prominent. The agent or the source of the action is not mentioned at all, either because it is unknown or because it is of no particular importance in the utterance, or else it is evident from the context or the situation. The predicate verb with its modifiers contains a new and most important item of information and is of great communicative value. We were brought up together. I am always being contradicted. Thank you for your help, but it is no longer required. You will be met as you leave the airport, and you will be given another ticket. In silence the soup was finished - excellent, if a little thick; and fish was brought. In silence it was handed. There are a number of conventional expressions where the passive voice is constantly used. The novel was published in 1929. Shakespeare was born in 1564. The use of the agentive by-object § 72. The use of the agentive by-object is highly restricted, it occurs in one case out of five, and even less frequently in colloquial speech and imaginative prose. However, when it does occur, the by-object is of great communicative value, and its elimination would often make the meaning of the verb incomplete and the sentence devoid of meaning. The agent may be a living being, or any thing or notion that can be the source of the action. The whole scene was being enacted by puppets. In some areas the picture has been barely touched by the brush. I was wounded by a landmine. The distant mountain had been formed by fire and water. How much was she influenced by that fake idea? Besides a noun and very rarely a pronoun, a by-object may be a gerundial phrase or complex, or a subordinate clause. I was then awakened only by knocking on the window and Annie telling the person responsible to go off. She didn’t really know anything about people, she was always being taken in by what they told her. Owing to its communicative value and the final position in the sentence, the by-object may be expanded, if necessary, to an extent that is hardly possible in the subject group, as in this commentary on Cezanne's painting: “The Card Players.” The subject of this painting of two peasants playing cards was probably inspired by a similar composition by one of the brothers de Pack, French painters of the seventeenth century whose work Cezanne admired. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
