[Grammar] Passive

Borys · Aug 7, 2011

Hello
I need help with passive.
I have two examples:
1. While I was on holiday, my camera was stolen from my hotel room.
2. While I was on holiday, my camera disappeared form my hotel room.

The first is in passive, the second is in the past. I can't see difference between these two examples. Can I write the second sentence in passive:
3.While I was on holiday, my camera was disappeared from my hotel room.?

Borys

birdeen's call · Aug 7, 2011

Borys said:
Hello
I need help with passive.
I have two examples:
1. While I was on holiday, my camera was stolen from my hotel room.
2. While I was on holiday, my camera disappeared form my hotel room.

The first is in passive, the second is in the past. I can't see difference between these two examples. Can I write the second sentence in passive:
3.While I was on holiday, my camera was disappeared from my hotel room.?

Borys

No. "Disappear" is an intransitive verb, so you can't use it in the passive voice. Do you understand what "steal" and "disappear" mean?

5jj · Aug 7, 2011

Borys said:
1. While I was on holiday, my camera was stolen from my hotel room.
2. While I was on holiday, my camera disappeared form my hotel room.

The first is in the passive voice, past simple tense; the second is in the active voice, past simple tense.

Do not confuse voice (active, passive) and tense (past, present)

Borys · Aug 7, 2011

Yes I understand what these words mean. I haven't heard about an intransitive verb.
Thanks for help and suggestion.

birdeen's call · Aug 7, 2011

Borys said:
Yes I understand what these words mean. I haven't heard about an intransitive verb.
Thanks for help and suggestion.

Borys, note that it's exactly the same situation in Polish. You can say

Kiedy byłem na wakacjach, moja kamera zniknęła z mojego pokoju hotelowego.

But this doesn't make sense:

Kiedy byłem na wakacjach, moja kamera została zniknięta z mojego pokoju hotelowego.

In Polish, we say that the verb "znikać" is nieprzechodni.

(My apologies to the members who don't speak Polish. I think this might help Borys understand this issue better.)

birdeen's call · Aug 7, 2011

(This is my question, not further advice for Borys.)

On reflection, the latter usage is possible in Polish, humorously, in very specific circumstances. It would be literally translated to English as follows.

X: "My camera disappeared."
Y: "No, your camera was disappeared."

Where "was disappeared" would mean "was made disappear". It's still not correct, which is mostly where the humor is, but it's possible in Polish. I have never heard this in English and it doesn't sound right to me, but perhaps it's possible too?

5jj · Aug 8, 2011

birdeen's call said:
(This is my question, not further advice for Borys.)

On reflection, the latter usage is possible in Polish, humorously, in very specific circumstances. It would be literally translated to English as follows.

X: "My camera disappeared."
Y: "No, your camera was disappeared."

Where "was disappeared" would mean "was made disappear". It's still not correct, which is mostly where the humor is, but it's possible in Polish. I have never heard this in English and it doesn't sound right to me, but perhaps it's possible too?

I have heard this type of humourous construction used in English, but only in similar situations to the example you gave. The intransitive verb has an idea of 'not being where expected', and the mock-passive implies 'criminal' involvement'. I strongly recommend that learners never use it.

Tdol · Aug 8, 2011

Apart from the humorous usage, I have seen it used in the passive when talking about the people who disappeared in South America, especially Chile and Argentina under the former regimes, but this is because it starts from translating the term used in Spanish.

[Grammar] Passive

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