Elementary New Testament Greek, 2014a
Elementary New Testament Greek, 2014a
Elementary New Testament Greek, 2014a
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1) In each of the translations of the passive above, notice how we maintained<br />
the values of the Present Tense, as well as the Indicative Mood.<br />
Remember that the Present Tense (in <strong>Greek</strong>) usually means “now-Time”<br />
and “on-going, continuous Aspect.” Recall also that the Indicative Mood<br />
puts forward a factual claim, rather than a hope, command, or possibility.<br />
“I am being destroyed” declares something as a fact, while also expressing<br />
it as something happening now, and in an ongoing way.<br />
2) Also, notice that “Passive” does not mean “Past.” “Passive” relates to<br />
the direction of action (subject performing action vs. subject being acted<br />
upon), whereas “past” relates to time (present, past, future). Work hard to<br />
keep these two very different notions completely distinct from each other.<br />
Now that we realize that only transitive verbs can be converted into passive sentences,<br />
let’s take a look at four kinds of transitive sentences, and how their elements are<br />
recongured to make passive sentence:<br />
Simple Transitive<br />
Active Verb<br />
God is destroying sin<br />
God is destroying sin.<br />
object<br />
Passive Voice, Transitive Verbs, and<br />
Sentence Types<br />
subject<br />
Passive Verb<br />
If you think about it very long, you will realize that no verb will function meaningfully<br />
in a passive sense unless it can take a Direct Object in its active form. Verbs which<br />
can take Direct Objects are called Transitive Verbs; verbs which cannot take Direct<br />
Objects are called In-transitive Verbs. Only Transitive verbs can be “turned around”<br />
to make sense in the passive voice:<br />
subject<br />
Sin<br />
is being destroying<br />
by God<br />
Active Voice<br />
I saw my friend<br />
Sally kicked the chair<br />
Tom bought the business<br />
Transitive Verbs<br />
Passive Voice<br />
My friend was seen by me<br />
The chair was kicked by Sally<br />
The business was bought by Tom<br />
prepositional<br />
phrase<br />
expressing<br />
agency<br />
Active Voice<br />
I am a student<br />
I went to town<br />
Lisa became a Senator<br />
Intransitive Verbs<br />
Passive Voice [nonsensical!!]<br />
A student was am-ed by me<br />
A town was went-ed by me<br />
A Senator was becom-ed by Lisa<br />
9: Active, Middle, Passive Voices<br />
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