The 'By-phrase' and the Passive Voice

 

In a famous scene in the American film Clerks, two of the characters have a disagreement. They debate which “Star Wars” film is the best.

"Empire had the better ending. I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader's his father, Han gets frozen¹ and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that's what life is, a series of down endings.”

You just heard an example of the passive² voice: “Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett.”

Today, on Everyday Grammar, we will examine how the passive voice is used in the English language. Specifically³, we will look at how English speakers use the “by-passive” or a “by-phrase” to show who did what.

First, let’s talk about some definitions⁴.

The “by-passive” and the “by-phrase”

Passive sentences usually do not say who the agent is. The agent is often a person, but it could also be a group of people or even an organization. In any event, passive sentences generally do not make it clear who is doing an action.

Consider this situation. Imagine you leave your bicycle somewhere. You return later to get the bicycle and continue your trip, but you cannot find it. Then someone tells you, “Your bike was stolen.”

Here, the identity⁵ of the person who stole the bike is unknown.

However, sometimes it is important to give the identity of the person, even when using the passive voice. When this is the case, English speakers often use a by-phrase -- the word “by” followed by a noun⁶ or noun phrase. We call this the “by-passive.”

How would our sentence about the bicycle change if it included a “by-phrase?” Imagine a police officer shows you video camera images of the person stealing your bicycle. The officer might identify the thief by saying the following:

“Your bicycle was stolen by an old woman.”

Now, you might be asking yourself why English speakers would use the passive voice with a by-phrase instead of the active voice. In our example, the officer could have said, “An old woman stole your bicycle.”

The by-passive and active voice have a stylistic difference. But the two sentences have the same basic meaning.

There are several reasons why English speakers use the by-passive instead of the active voice.

Reason #1 – New vs. Old Information

The first reason is that English speakers like to give information in a specific order. English speakers often put “old” information at the beginning of the sentence. The old information relates to people or things that readers or listeners already know about.

English speakers like to put “new” information at the end of the sentence. These additional⁷ details or facts usually are more important than the “old” information.

So, in our example, the “new” or surprising information is that it was an old woman who stole the bicycle. You already knew about the disappearance⁸ of the bike when you watched the video. In other words, the bike’s disappearance was “old” information to you.

Reason #2 – The Agent Noun Phrase is Long

The second main reason that English speakers use the by-passive is because the agent noun phrase is long. Consider this example:

“Your bicycle was stolen by an old woman who was wearing a clown costume.”

Here, the phrase, “an old woman who was wearing a clown costume,” is somewhat⁹ long.

English speakers often choose to use the passive voice instead of the active voice when the agent noun phrase is lengthy¹⁰.

If the sentence were in the active voice, it might be something like this: “An old woman who was wearing a clown costume stole your bicycle.”

Once again, in this case, the difference between the active voice and passive voice is about style and emphasis¹¹.

What can you do?

We gave you examples of the by-passive in everyday speech and popular culture. But you should know that the by-passive is probably most common in another kind of communication: academic writing.

Susan Conrad and Douglas Biber are two experts on the English language. They note that the by-passive is especially common with some verbs. Those verbs are special because they identify a kind of information, not a human agent.

Nevertheless, you now have the tools to recognize when an academic writer is using the passive voice. If you read a sentence that starts with “The health of the economy is determined¹² by ________,” you should recognize that you are probably dealing¹³ with the passive voice. You can also probably predict that a noun or noun phrase follows the word “by.”

Understanding this idea will help you identify the passive voice and give you a better chance of understanding the main idea of a passive sentence.

The passive voice is difficult, and you should use it carefully. But looking carefully for clues, such as “by-phrases,” can help you understand when English speakers use it.

And that’s Everyday Grammar.

This story was read by John Russell.

And by Jill Robbins.

Words in This Story

scene – n. a part of a play, movie or story in which an action or activity takes place

character - n. a person who appears in a story, book, play, movie, or television show

bicycle – n. a foot-powered vehicle with two wheels

stylistic - adj. of or relating to a way of doing things

costume - n. the clothes that are worn by someone (such as an actor) who is trying to look like a different person or thing

emphasis - n. special importance or attention given to something

academic – adj. of or related to a school or studies

1 frozen   

adj.冻结的，冰冻的

参考例句：

• He was frozen to death on a snowing night.在一个风雪的晚上，他被冻死了。
• The weather is cold and the ground is frozen.天寒地冻。

2 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。

3 specifically   

adv.明确地，具体地；特别地，特意

参考例句：

• The book was written specifically for children.这本书是特地为儿童编写的。
• I told you specifically not to do that.我明确地告诉你不要那样做。

4 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。

5 identity   

n.身份，本体，特征；同一(性)，一致

参考例句：

• He never revealed his identity.他从未暴露过自己的身份。
• He showed his identity card and went in.他把工作证亮了一下就进去了。

6 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。

7 additional   

adj.添加的，额外的，另外的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to set down these additional rules.有必要制定这些补充规则。
• I think we can fit in an additional room.我想我们可以再加建一间房子。

8 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

9 somewhat   

pron.一些，某物；adv.多少，几分

参考例句：

• The cake we made was somewhat of a failure.我们做的蛋糕不大成功。
• The two office buildings are somewhat alike in appearance.这两座办公楼在外形上有点相似。

10 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

11 emphasis   

n.强调，重点，重要性

参考例句：

• The emphasis has shifted markedly in recent years.最近几年重点已经明显改变了。
• Particular emphasis will be placed on oral language training.将会特别强调口语训练。

12 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

13 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。