Science Fiction and the Passive Voice

 

The Terminator movies, featuring actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, have been some of the most popular films ever made. They tell the story of a resistance¹ leader and the robots sent from the future to kill him.

They can also offer a lesson about English grammar. Listen to this line from “Terminator 2: Judgment² Day.”

“The first Terminator was programmed to strike at me in the year 1984, before John was born. It failed.”

Today, we are going to examine that statement as an example of the passive³ voice. We will also show you how you can use direct and indirect⁴ objects with the passive voice.

First, let’s talk about some definitions⁵.

What is the passive?

English speakers use the passive voice for two main reasons. First, they might not know who did an action. Second, they might not think telling who did an action is important.

At the beginning of this report, you heard the following line in the passive voice.

“The first Terminator was programmed to strike at me in the year 1984, before John was born.It failed.”

Why did the speaker use the passive voice? Because the person doing the action was unknown. In other words, no one knows the person (or machine) who programmed the Terminator. In addition, that information might not be important. What is important is that the Terminator is now on a mission⁶!

If the statement were in the active voice, it would be:

Someone programmed the first Terminator to strike at me in the year 1984, before John was born.

Direct and indirect objects

Betty Azar, a grammar expert, notes that English speakers generally use only transitive verbs, or verbs followed by an object, in the passive voice. English speakers do not generally use intransitive verbs, verbs that do not take an object, in the passive voice.

What are objects, you might ask? In grammar, we talk about direct objects and indirect objects. The direct object receives the verb’s action. The indirect object identifies the person who received the action.

Here is an example using James Cameron, who directed the first Terminator movie. You could say, “The Academy⁷ of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror⁸ Films gave James Cameron an award.”

That sentence is in the active voice. “The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films” is the subject, and “gave” is the verb. The direct object is “an award,” and the indirect object is “James Cameron.”

But let’s say you do not know who gave James Cameron the award. How could you use the passive voice to change the sentence?

Here are two options. You could make the direct object the subject and say, “An award was given to James Cameron.”

Or, you could make the indirect object the subject and say, “James Cameron was given an award.”

In other words, either the direct object or indirect object can take the subject position in a passive voice sentence.

Here is another example, using the statement you heard at the beginning of the report. In the active voice, it might sound something like this:

“Someone gave the Terminator an order.”

“An order” is the direct object and “the Terminator” is the indirect object. In the passive voice, the indirect object can come first, as in, “The Terminator was given an order.” Or, the indirect object can come second, as in, “The order was given to the Terminator.”

Closing thoughts

Today, we explored the passive voice and both direct and indirect objects.

We showed you that both kinds of objects could be the subject in a passive sentence.

The next time you are watching films or reading, try to find examples of the passive voice. Ask yourself if the examples you find fit into the patterns we talked about today. Try to identify the direct and indirect objects.

Be sure to record what you find and make note of questions that you have. With time and practice, you will soon be able to identify the passive voice with ease⁹.

A word of caution¹⁰, however. You should be careful about using the passive voice in your own writing and speaking. While the passive voice is useful, English speakers often prefer reading and listening to sentences in the active voice. English speakers consider active voice sentences to be clearer.

The passive voice is like a sharp kitchen knife: it is a very useful tool, but one that should be used with great care.

And that’s Everyday Grammar.

I’m Jill Robbins.

And I’m John Russell.

Words in This Story

feature – n. to have or include (someone or something) as an important part

resistance – n. a secret organization that fights against enemy forces who have gained control of a region¹¹, country, etc.

program – v. to give (a computer) a set of instructions to perform a particular action : to create a program for (a computer)

pattern – n. something that happens in a regular and repeated way

1 resistance   

n.抵抗力，反抗，反抗行动；阻力，电阻；反对；adj.抵抗的

参考例句：

• Very little resistance was put up by the enemy.敌人没怎么进行抵抗。
• An aircraft has to overcome the resistance of the air.飞机须克服空气的阻力。

2 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

3 passive   

adj.被动的；消极的

参考例句：

• He has a passive expression on his face.他脸上有一种漠然的表情。
• It lands the manager in a passive position.它使经理处于被动地位。

4 indirect   

adj.间接的，转弯抹角的，非直接的

参考例句：

• What he said was very indirect.他的话很婉转。
• He gave only an indirect answer.他只作了间接的回答。

5 definitions   

定义( definition的名词复数 )； 规定； 清晰（度）； 解释

参考例句：

• Write clear definitions in order to avoid ambiguity. 释义要写清楚以免产生歧义。
• Definitions in this dictionary are printed in roman type. 这本词典里的释义是用罗马体印刷的。

6 mission   

n.使命，任务，天职；代表团，使团

参考例句：

• He was charged with an important mission.他受委托承担一项重要使命。
• I'll leave you to undertake an important mission.我要让你承担一项重要使命。

7 academy   

n.(高等)专科院校；学术社团，协会，研究院

参考例句：

• This is an academy of music.这是一所音乐专科学院。
• I visited Chinese Academy of Sciences yesterday.我昨天去访问了中国科学院。

8 horror   

n.惊骇，恐怖，惨事，极端厌恶

参考例句：

• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation.公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。
• The thought of working nights fills me with abject horror.一想到要夜间工作我就觉得惨兮兮的。

9 ease   

n. 安乐,安逸,悠闲; v. 使...安乐,使...安心,减轻,放松

参考例句：

• His mind was at ease and he felt confident in the future. 他心情舒畅,对前途很有信心。
• You should ease up on the child and stop scolding her. 你应该对那个孩子宽松些,不要再骂她了。

10 caution   

n.小心，谨慎，警告；vt.告诫，警告

参考例句：

• You should exercise extreme caution when driving in fog.在雾中开车要极为小心。
• There is no need for such caution.不必如此小心谨慎。

11 region   

n.地区，地带，区域；范围，幅度

参考例句：

• The students went to study the geology of that region.学生们去研究那个地区的地质情况。
• It is unusual to see snow in this region.这个地区难得见到雪。