[Grammar] is produced

[Tediuki]

The sentence; 'A lot of coffee is produced in Brazil' is a general truth and a fact. It screams out to me to be present simple as a statement or phrase. However, when one takes the two words 'is produced' on their own the word 'produced' becomes a past participle and the word 'is' remains the third-person singular simple present of 'to be'. When defining the tense of 'is produced' separately from the sentence the nearest thing I can find in Rosemary Aitken's 'Teaching Tenses' book is that it falls under the heading of becoming a present passive. Is my deduction correct? My sanity could depend on this. I've been investigating this on and off for the past 24 hours.

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forum.

'is produced' is the present simple passive.

 

[emsr2d2]

Brazil produces a lot of coffee.
A lot of coffee is produced in Brazil.
A lot of coffee is produced by Brazil.

The third is less common but the three mean the same (1 active and 2 passive sentences).

 

[PaulMatthews]

A lot of coffee is produced in Brazil.

You are right: this is a passive construction with be + past participle. The auxiliary be takes on the inflectional properties of the verb of the corresponding active clause, including tense. Since the verb-form is the present tense "is", it is clear that this is a present tense clause, cf. the past tense A lot of coffee was produced in Brazil.

 

[Tdol]

The past participle is not the best named term as it can be used to refer to the past, present and future. The tense does not flow from it but from the auxiliary verb used with it.