The jug contains water - Passive voice

[Rollercoaster1]

I am just curious to know what's the possible passive voice of this sentence 'This jug contains milk'.

If I am not wrong, the correct passive voice of the sentence is 'Milk is contained in this jug'. But I also think it would be the least choice for a native speaker in any situation to say like that.

 

[GoesStation]

There are plenty of contexts that call for the passive voice, but it's hard to imagine one for the sentence you've written.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . But I also think it would be a less likely choice for a native speaker in any situation to say it like that.

You're right.

 

[Tdol]

I am just curious to know what's the possible passive voice of this sentence 'This jug contains milk'.

It is a pointless passive, but yours is the least worst.

 

[emsr2d2]

Is that really passive? I'm concerned about my favourite rule - it's passive if you can add "by zombies" to the end and have a sentence that is both grammatical and still means the same as the original. You can't add that to "Milk is contained in this jug" and still have a sensible sentence.

Zombies poured milk into this jug. (Active)
Milk was poured into this jug by zombies. (Passive)

Intransitive verbs can't be turned into the passive. Although "contain" can be a transitive verb, that's not how it's being used in the original sentence.

I am more than ready to have my entire post blown out of the water by a grammarian.

 

[Tdol]

Cambridge list it as transitive in this usage: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/contain

How would you explain milk?

 

[Rollercoaster1]

Cambridge list it as transitive in this usage: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/contain

How would you explain milk?

Shouldn't it be '...lists it...'?

 

[Tdol]

The name of the site is Cambridge Dictionaries Online, so I guess there's a choice.

 

[GoesStation]

Shouldn't it be '...lists it...'?

Speakers of British English frequently see institutions as plural, regardless of their name. In American English we're much more likely to treat them as singular. "Cambridge list it" looks wrong to me until I consider the language background of the writer.

 

[emsr2d2]

How would you explain milk?

Well, I wouldn't!!! Hence my comment about grammarians. But I always thought of "contain" only as transitive in things like "The police contained the crowd".

 

[Phaedrus]

There are plenty of contexts that call for the passive voice, but it's hard to imagine one for the sentence you've written.

I think a more natural context for it would be within a reduced relative clause: This jug contains milk. The milk contained in it is goat milk.