A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

past participle 353
(reflecting the characteristics of Latin or Greek), linguists tend to prefer such
terms as word-class or form-class, where the grouping is based on formal
criteria of a more universally applicable kind.
passive (n.) (1) (pass, PASS) A term used in the grammatical analysis of
voice, referring to a sentence, clause or verb form where the grammatical
subject is typically the recipient or ‘goal’ of the action denoted by the verb,
e.g. The letter was written by a doctor. It is contrasted with active, and sometimes
with other forms, e.g. ‘middle’ (as in Greek). A full linguistic statement of
the constraints affecting these relationships is a complex matter. In English,
for example, there are active sentences that do not have passive counterparts
(e.g. The boy fell, They have a car), passive sentences which have an unclear
active counterpart (e.g. The house was sold), and so on. In addition, there is
the problem that the central type of passive construction (using the verb to be,
e.g. She was pushed) is closely related to other types of construction (cf. She
got pushed, She was interested), and a boundary line is sometimes difficult
to establish. Constructions such as Plums are selling well are sometimes
described as pseudo-passives. Constructions such as They were interested in
history, which have both verbal and adjectival properties, are sometimes called
semi-passives. Passive constructions which take an agent are agentive passives
(e.g. She was chased (by the dog)), as opposed to ‘non-agentive’ or ‘agentless’
passives, where there is no need for (and sometimes no possibility of) an agentive
phrase being added, since the speaker does not have a ‘performer’ of the action
in mind (e.g. The city is industrialized now). In generative grammar, the
transformation of a sentence from its active to its passive form is known as
passivization. A verb or sentence which undergoes such a process is said to
passivize.
(2) See articulation (1).
passive knowledge
passive vocabulary
see active knowledge
see vocabulary
past anterior In grammar, a tense form used in some languages to express
the rapid completion of a past action. In French, for example, it is chiefly used
instead of the pluperfect in past narrative after time conjuctions or when
the main verb is in the past historic. It is formed by combining the past
historic tense of an auxiliary verb with the past participle of a lexical verb:
Dès qu’elle eut mangé, elle sortit ‘As soon as she had eaten, she left’.
past definite
see past historic
past historic In grammar, a past-tense form of a verb, used in some languages
to refer to a completed action; also sometimes called the past definite. In French,
for example, it is used in the written language as part of past narrative
description as well as in the reporting of completed past events: Hier, Marie se
leva et sortit ‘Yesterday, Marie got up and went out’.
past participle
see participle