ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ АВТОНОМНОЕ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ВЫСШЕГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ
«БЕЛГОРОДСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ НАЦИОНАЛЬНЫЙ
ИССЛЕДОВАТЕЛЬСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ»
( Н И У
« Б е л Г У » )
ИНСТИТУТ МЕЖКУЛЬТУРНОЙ КОММУНИКАЦИИ И МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫХ
ОТНОШЕНИЙ
Кафедра английской филологии и межкультурной коммуникации
«Сравнительный анализ употребления пассивного залога во
французском и английском языках на примере романа Дугласа Адамса
«Автостопом по галактике»
Выпускная квалификационная работа
обучающегося по направлению подготовки
45.04.01 Филология
очной формы обучения,
группы 04001522
Исаевой Валерии Геннадьевны
Научный руководитель
Доктор филологических наук, профессор
Куприева И.А
Рецензент(-ы)
Доктор филологических наук, профессор
Н.А. Туранина
БЕЛГОРОД 2017
Table of Contents
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………3
Part I…………………………………………………………………………………………...6
Chapter I A Definition of the Passive Voice……………………………………………...….. 6
1.1 Definition……………………………………………………………………………6
1.2 Formation of the Passive Voice…………………………...……………………...…7
Chapter II Types of Passive Voice Constructions with Examples………………….....………9
2.1 Get-passives…………………………………………………………………………9
2.2 Bare Passives…………………………………………………………...……….…12
2.3 Expanded passives………………………………………………………...…….…13
2.4 Passive Gerunds……………………………………………………………………13
2.5 Passive Infinitives………………………………………………………...………..14
2.6 Passive Voice vs. Complex-Intransitive Constructions………………………...….14
2.7 Adjectival Passives………………………………………...………………………15
2.8 By-phrase complements……………………………………………………………18
2.9 Short Passives vs. Long Passives…………………………………………...……...18
2.10 Born and Gone………………………………………………...………………….21
2.11 Prepositional Passives…………………………………………………………….21
2.12 Impersonal Passives………………………………………………………………22
Chapter III Non Passive Forms Semantically Related to the Passive Voice………….……..23
3.1 Adjectives Ending in –able………………………………………………………...23
3.2 Adjectival Passive Forms with Specialised Sense…………………………………26
3.3 Adverbs Derived from Adjectives ending in –able……………………………...…26
3.4 Adjectives Ending in –less…………………………………………………………27
3.5 Reflexive Structures…………………………………..……………………………27
3.6 Reciprocal Structures………………………………………………………………28
Part II…………………………………………………………………………………………31
Chapter I Peculiarities of the Passive Voice in the French Language……………………..…31
1.1 Formation of the Passive voice in French…………………….……………………31
Chapter II Translation of the Passive Voice from English into French……………………...32
2.1 Basic passive voice structure………………………………………………………32
2.2 Short and Long Passives……………………….......………………………………33
2.3Get-passives………………………………………………………………………...35
2.4 Bare Passives…........................................................................................................36
2.5 Expanded Passives…................................................................................................37
2.6 Adjectival Passives...............................................................................................…40
2.7 Bore and Gone..........................................................................................................42
2.8 Prepositional Passives…...........................................................................................43
2.9 Impersonal Passives..............................................................................................…44
2.10 Passive Gerunds…..................................................................................................45
2.11 Passive Infinitives…...............................................................................................46
2.12 Theme is to be emphasized.................................................................................…47
2.13 Faire l’objet de…....................................................................................................47
Conclusion…............................................................................................................................49
Bibliography….........................................................................................................................52
Annex.......................................................................................................................................54
Introduction
The present research paper is focused on problematic of the passive voice in the
English language as well as on methods of translation of English passive voice constructions
into French. Formation and ways of expression of the English passive voice is considered in
regards to the French language. This is the subject of the paper. The aim of the work is to
examine and analyse various passive voice constructions, perceiving their functions and use
along with the ways of their interpretation in the French language. Along with that the tasks
are to find out which differences and similarities have both languages in application of the
passive voice. Such kind of research has scientific and practical significance, as it takes a
very important role in identifying conceptions, norms and models of the passive voice using.
It helps realize when and how the phenomenon in question is employed, what factors
influence its interpretation, how it develops, what kind of changes it is subjected to, if it does.
Applying the methods of comparative analysis we will compare our observations, trying to
classify them if possible.
To provide the analysis we take examples of the passive voice from the novel “The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” written by Douglas Adams. These examples build the
English corpus and are considered as the object of the research. The corpus does not include
all the passive voice constructions used in the novel. Translation of these examples are
gathered from the French translation of the novel « Le Guide du voyageur galactique » made
by Jean Bonnefoy. These both novels appear to be the material of the research. By using the
examples only from this novel we deliberately limit ourselves in order to avoid too vast data
base. The English corpus we managed to gather seems sufficient for the analyses, as they
cover most of the types of the passive voice constructions. Moreover the novel is written in
Present-Day-English and does not have any specific orientation.
Both languages involve the passive voice but in different proportions. It is always
interesting to explore how one and the same phenomenon is represented and used in different
realities, what motivates to make one or another choice. Even at the beginning of the
research, while gathering data and preparing English and French corpora for the analysis, we
realized that sometimes variants of translation in French either completely correspond to their
English counterparts, or vice versa do not resemble at all structures in the original.
The way of the examples analysing explains the structure of the work. The paper is
divided into two main parts, which are interconnected. The first part of the paper deals with
the presentation and examination of the English corpus. Different examples of the passive
3
voice constructions are displayed according to their types, forms and use. The first part
contains three chapters. In Chapter I we give a definition of the passive voice. We discuss
how the passive voice differs from the active voice, what construction is typical for the
passive voice and what conditions are supposed to be observed to form and use a passive
construction. Chapter II describes peculiarities and functions of passive voice constructions.
Different types of the passive voice are presented together with the examples from the
English corpus. Some brief theoretical information accompanies the examples for better
understanding. We observe the examples taking into consideration context and from point of
view of syntax, morphology and semantics. The Cambridge Grammar of the English
Language, 2002 by Huddleston & Pullum is used for presentation and analysis of the types of
the passive voice. Chapter III gives observation of non-passive forms semantically related to
the passive voice. We examine some constructions and lexemes which syntactically have
nothing in common with the passive voice but in terms of context, way of their formation or
morphologically they may obtain passive interpretation. At first view these cases have no
relation to passive orientation. However, close consideration uncovers latent passive
meaning.
The second part of the work is dedicated to the analysis of how the English passive
voice constructions are translated into the French language. We explore which methods of
translation are preferable and which constructions are mostly used. Chapter I of the second
part displays peculiarities of the passive voice in French in comparison to the English
language. In Chapter II we observe the French translation of the English examples, trying to
define if there are any translation equivalents and similar constructions or, on the contrary,
translation solutions tend to diverge from the original.
In the conclusion the results of the research will be presented with an assessment of
the way of translation of the English examples into French. Constructions which are
preferably used and what are the principal similarities and differences in the passive voice
systems of both languages.
The principal defense states are
1. There are various types of the passive voice constructions in the English
language with different applications.
2. Together with typical passive voice constructions there are structures
semantically close to the passive voice.
3.
4
4. In spite of the fact that the two languages in question are quite similar there are
still a number of differences and absolutely alternative constructions expressing
the passive voice.
The principal statements and the conclusions of the work got approval in two
articles which are called “Ways of Translation of the Passive Voice from English into French
from the novel.docx, Non Passive Forms Semantically Related to the Passive in the novel
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” written by Douglas Adams” and “Non Passive
Forms Semantically Related to the Passive in the novel “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy” written by Douglas Adams”.
5
Part I
Chapter I A Definition of the Passive Voice
This study is an analysis of the English passive voice in comparison to the French
passive constructions. For a very long period now linguists all over the world have been
interested in the passive voice, its construction and structure. For better understanding and
explaining the passive voice different language levels are supposed to be considered. This is
the main difficulty in passive voice studies. This category is highly used in the English
language and that is why it needs to be studied in view of its cognitive, communicative and
pragmatic significance.
1.1 Definition
In general, linguists denote the English voice as “a clause or sentence-level
phenomenon which concerns the way the semantic arguments of a verb are mapped onto
syntactic functions”. (Puckica, 2009: 1) And subject choice appears to be the main issue.
Being a grammatical category, voice is closely interconnected with morphology, logic, action
orientation, syntactical categories of subject and object, actual sentence segmentation and text
interpretation. One of the definitions of the voice applies to
“[…] a system where the contrasting forms differ in the way semantic roles are aligned with
syntactic functions, normally with some concomitant marking on the verb”. (Huddleston,
Pullum, 2002: 1427)
The active voice form, which is included in the voice system of every language may
have constructions formed with almost all the verbs. This is with the exception of the verbs of
state, the verbs which express possession (have, own, want), senses (see, hear, smell), etc.
Traditionally linguists distinguish between active voice as in example 1 and passive voice as
in examples 2 and 3.
1 “My God, they are! They’re knocking my house down.” (Corpus I, page 29, ll. 3-4)
2 “It’s probably just your house being knocked down”, said Ford, downing his last pint.
(Corpus I, page 28, ll. 28-29)
3 Mr Prosser’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times while his mind was for a moment
filled with inexplicable but terribly attractive visions of Arthur Dent’s house being consumed
with fire […] (Corpus I, page 9, ll. 20-23)
6
1.2 Formation of the Passive Voice
One of the differences between the active and passive sentences in the examples
above is the presence of the auxiliary be in the passive. The difference in examples 1 and 2 is
in the information processing. The subject in the passive voice is the theme. The passive
voice implies that the theme and subject is not an agent.
The lexical verb must be a transitive verb, which means that it is supposed to be able
to take a direct object as its complement in the active counterpart. Passivization is not
compulsory. However, it is possible only if an object are subjected to an action. “Copular and
intransitive verbs cannot take the passive because they do not have an object”. (Quirk et al.,
1985: 162-163). No passivization is possible with intransitive verbs.
4 You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them had you? (Corpus I, page
8, ll. 27-29)
5 Pages one and two had been salvaged by a Damogran Frond Crested Eagle and had
already become incorporated into an extraordinary new form of nest which the eagle had
invented. (Corpus I, page 42, ll. 12-16)
The verb go in example 4 is an intransitive verb, which is an action verb, and it cannot
have a direct object, which implies it has no passive form. On the contrary salvage and
incorporate in example 5 are transitive and may obtain passive forms.
Standard passive sentences can be distinguished by the presence of the structure be +
past participle, where be is in the position before the lexical verb, which itself is in the past
participle form. Be inflects for tense, as in examples 6 and 8, or may follow a modal verb as
in 7.
6 Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of them were largely concerned
with the movements of small green pieces of paper… (Corpus 1, ll. 11-14)
7 The bottle would then be refilled. The game would be played again. (Corpus I, page 14, ll.
30-31)
8 As soon as a predetermined quantity had been consumed, the final looser would have to
perform a forfeit, which was usually obscenely biological. (Corpus I, page 15, ll. 3-5)
Except of being one of the passive voice markers, the verb be may be used as well as
a copula, “which takes a predicative complement in the complex-intransitive construction.”
(Huddleston, 2002: 1431). Sometimes it leads to an ambiguous comprehension, as it is not
7
clear enough whether it is the basic passive voice structure or subordinator be takes a
predicate role with an adjectival complement.
9 He had given up being surprised, there didn’t seem to be any point any longer. (Corpus I,
page 28, lines 13-15)
10 Ford stared at Arthur, and Arthur was astonished to find his will beginning to weaken.
(Corpus I, page 14, ll. 9-10)
Treating these sentences as passive ones appears to be impossible, even if one may
surmise that somebody or something affects the subject and makes him surprised and
astonished. Surprised from example 9 together with astonished from example 10 are not
construed as past participles but as participial adjectives, which indicates a state, the result of
somebody’s actions or another kind of influence on the subject. So surprised and astonished
are adjectives and may be regarded as adjectival passives in its derivative status.
11 Everything was ready, everything was prepared. (Corpus I, page 33, ll. 18-19)
12 The terror moved slowly through the gathered crowds… (Corpus I, page 34, ll. 28-29)
Example 11 contains a passive construction, which underlines the result of the
action. The presence of a performer is not important and may be omitted. In example 12 all
the attention is drawn to the terror, which is the subject of the sentence. It goes without
saying that interpretation depends on context. Background information is necessary to
recognize a type of a structure. Morphology, syntax, stylistics, logic, author’s intention, etc.
should be taken into consideration.
“The basic rule says that differences in syntax indicate differences of meaning. The differences
may be ‘mere’ matters of perspective and orientation, however, they exist and must be taken
into account”. (Miller 1985: 193)
In Chapter II different types of passive voice constructions will be discussed. We
will examine their formation, application rules and conditions of use.
Examples of these constructions are taken from Douglas Adam’s novel “The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. They represent various cases of passive voice, used in the
novel. These examples make the English corpus of the work.
8
Chapter II Types of Passive Voice Constructions with Examples
2.1 Get-passives
Together with the auxiliary be, the catenative verb get is highly used in passive
constructions. Get is more often used in informal speech patterns and often distinguishes
gradual or immediate changes and conditions together with the situations which either have
bad impact on the subject, like get nailed in example 13, or grant some kind of benefit, as get
paid in example 15. The passive construction get rescued from example 14 has an agent it
[spaceship] in structure. The agent takes an action in relation to the protagonists, it rescues
them. So evidently they experienced some troubles before getting rescued. Being rescued has
a positive interpretation, hence it is a kind of benefit.
13 […] and no one would have to get nailed for anything (Corpus I, page 2, ll. 8-9)
14 “Bright idea of mine” said Ford, “to find a passing spaceship and get rescued by it”.
(Corpus I, page 80, ll. 19-20)
15 […] who was arguing with a spokesman for the bulldozer drivers about whether or not
Arthur Dent constituted a mental health hazard, and how much they should get paid if he did.
(Corpus I, page 15, ll. 20-23)
Passives with get-auxiliary are normally used in sentences with no agent presented as
they emphasize the subject and the influence and impact on it. Get-passives never occur with
verbs expressing cognition, as for example to know, to understand, to comprehend.
Together with the ability to be a part of the expanded passive constructions, the
catenative verb get may occur as a head of a complex-intransitive clause. For example get
drunk in example 16. The predicative complement drunk appears to have the adjectival
characteristics of an adjectival passive. In that case, get functions as a copula.
16 […] he would often gate-crash university parties, get badly drunk and start making fun of
any astrophysicists he could find till he got thrown out. (Corpus I, page 11, ll. 5-8)
He got thrown out in example 16 and get stranded and get invited in examples 17
and 18 represent verbal get-passives, whereas get angry in 19 and get excited in 20 are
complex-intransitive clauses.
17 […] because fifteen years was a long time to get stranded anywhere, particularly
somewhere as mind-bogglingly dull as the Earth. (Corpus I, page 12, ll. 5-7)
9
18 Many respectable physicists said that they weren’t going to stand for this, partly because it
was a debasement of science, but mostly because they didn’t get invited to those sorts of
parties. (Corpus I, page 86, ll. 19-22)
19 He knew that when a Dentrassi looked that pleased with itself there was something going on
somewhere on the ship that he could get very angry indeed about. (Corpus I, page 51, ll. 9-12)
20 “Don’t get excited,” said Ford, “it’s only a catalogue.” (Corpus I, page 186, ll. 5)
Get stranded in example 17 may be regarded as the synonym of the be-passive
construction. Angry in 19 is an adjective as it can be modified by the gradual adverb very
before the complement in question. However, sometimes such get-constructions may be in
the form of a short passive (passives without by-phrase complements) that may lead to an
ambiguity, which occurs less frequently than with the be-passives. This is due to the
characteristics of the verb get, which usually involves active meaning and is supposed to refer
to a dynamic process.
Normally gradable adjectives such as alarmed, worried, bothered, etc. are used to
form adjectival get-passives. Non-gradable adjectives like lost or caught may also be
involved. With such complements as married or dressed semantic opposition occurs in the
verbal and adjectival structures. In example 21 dressed does not have a by-phrase
complement so it is considered as an adjective. Get may commute with become. The presence
of a by-phrase makes this sentence a verbal passive and changes the meaning of the whole
sentence. The agent his nanny is the performer of the action.
21 “Yellow”, he thought, and stomped off back to his bedroom to get dressed. (Corpus I, page
5, ll. 24-25)
21’ “Yellow”, he thought, and stomped off back to his bedroom to get dressed by his nanny.
The get-passives have some typical characteristics. First of all it should be
emphasized that get-passives are highly restricted to dynamic verbs, which means that
sometimes it is impossible to replace be with get. As in example 22 it is hardly possible to
give a dynamic meaning to the verb understood. This get-passive helps sometimes avoid an
ambiguity which then happens more often in be-passives.
22 The principle of generating small amounts of finite improbability by simply hooking the
logic circuits of a Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain to an atomic vector plotter suspended in
a strong Brownian Motion producer (say a nice hot cup of tea) were of course well understood
[…] (Corpus I, page 86, ll. 9-14)
10
“[…] get tends to be preferred over be when the subject-referent is seen as having an agentive
role in the situation, or at least as having some responsibility for it”. (Huddleston, Pullum,
2002: 1442)
It means that if the subject acts in some way, influences the situation or lets it
happen it is better to use the get-passive as in 21, as it would be seen more reasonable and
semantically correct. Get promoted in sentence 23 is logical as according to the context the
promotion depends on the efforts the Vogons guardian makes. The same principle is applied
to example 24. According to the context of the novel, the protagonists made some efforts to
be rescued by the ship.
23 You see, if I keep it up I can eventually get promoted to Senior Shouting Officer […]
(Corpus I, page 73, ll. 2-3)
24 However, it does go on to say that what with space being the mind-boggling size it is the
chances of getting picked up by another ship[…] (Corpus I, page 77, ll. 22-25)
Most frequently get-passives occur in situations where the effect on the subject
referent is either beneficial as get promoted or get rescued in examples 25 and 26,
respectively, or negative as got stuck or got lynched in examples 27, 28. It is less used in
phrases illustrating indifferent casual events and actions.
25 You see, if I keep it up I can eventually get promoted to Senior Shouting Officer… (Corpus
I, page 73, lines 2-3)
26 “Bright idea of mine,” said Ford, “to find a passing spaceship and get rescued by it.”
(Corpus I, page 80, ll. 19-20)
27 Unfortunately I got stuck on the Earth for rather longer than I intended… (Corpus I, page
54, lines 3-4)
28 It startled him even more when just after he was awarded the Galactic Institute’s Prize for
Extreme Cleverness he got lynched by a rampaging mob of respectable physicists… (Corpus I,
page 87, ll. 19-22)
There are some cases when be and get may not be substitutable. For example seen in
example 29 is a stative verb, and bearing in mind that get requires dynamism in action, the
passive voice construction with be is compulsory. Got knocked down in example 30 describes
a dynamic process, hence get is preferable.
29 They had swung round now on to a direct homing course so that all that could be seen of
them now was the warheads, head on. (Corpus I, page 127, ll. 1-3)
30 “Ford Prefect knew that it didn’t matter a pair of dingo’s kidneys whether Arthur’s house
got knocked down or not. (Corpus I, page 19, ll. 4-5)
11
Habitually get-passives are considered to be simple passive constructions where
there is no NP complement between the catenative verb get and its complement. But
sometimes get occurs in complex constructions with an involved NP. These are the causative
structures which are used when somebody or something causes another person or thing to
produce an action. There is normally no agent presented.
31 “Oh, that was easy,” says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and
gets himself killed on the next pedestrian crossing. (Corpus I, page 59, ll. 28-30)
32 I’d better get you both shoved into this airlock and then go and get on with some other bits
of shouting I’ve got to do. (Corpus I, page 72, ll. 24-26)
33 A voice on a loud hailer said, “OK Beeblbrox, hold it right there. We’ve got you covered.”
– “Cops!” hissed Zaphod […] (Corpus I, page 205, ll. 25-26)
Example 31 with a reflexive is an agentive structure, in which the subject is
responsible for the action. In this type of complex catenative constructions, get may not be
considered as a passive denotation, as it is not a passive construction itself but it has a passive
clause complement. In spite of the presence of the subject I in example 32, it is clear from the
context of the novel that the subject will not perform an action himself, but will arrange it
involving somebody else. In example 33 it is clear that Bebblebrox has been caught by police
officers which were involved in the process.
2.2 Bare Passives
There are also passives with no auxiliary verb that contain just a subject and the past
participle of a verb. Such passive constructions are called bare passives. Buried, knotted and
thought in examples 34, 35 and 36 respectively are bare passives.
34 Somewhere in a small dark cabin buried deep in the intestines of Prostentic Vogon Jeltz’s
flagship, a small match flared nervously. (Corpus I, page 47, ll. 1-3)
35 With her red head scarf knotted in that particular way and her long flowing silky brown
dress, she looked vaguely Arabic. (Corpus I, page 42, ll. 31-33)
36 Zaphod Beeblebrox, adventurer, ex-hippie, good-timer, (crook? Quite possibly), manic selfpublicist, terribly bad at personal relationships, often thought to be completely out to lunch.
(Corpus I, page 37, ll. 26-29)
“Having no tensed verb, bare passives cannot generally occur as full sentences, but they do
occur as adjuncts or on their own in newspaper headlines”. (Geoffrey K. Pullum, 2014: 3).
12
2.3 Expanded Passives
Bare passives are opposed to expanded passives, which are called like this because
of the presence of be and get, as in examples 37 and 38.
37 The reason why it was published in the form of micro sub meson electronic component is
that if it were printed in normal book form, an interstellar hitch hiker would require several
inconveniently large buildings to carry it around in. (Corpus I, page 26, ll. 18-23)
38 You see, if I keep it up I can eventually get promoted to Senior Shouting Officer […]
(Corpus I, page 73, ll. 2-3)
“Expanded passives contain a bare passive augmented by means of a catenative verb that can
carry the full range of verb inflections”. (Huddleston, Pullum, 2002: 1430)
Thanks to the presence of the verbs be and get, a passive clause is not restricted to
any position and can have any syntactic environment. The difference between be and get is
discussed earlier but it should be noted that be-passives are still more usual and frequently
used.
2.4 Passive Gerunds
Gerunds are used after a number of words, such as like, enjoy, remind, etc. Examples
39 and 40 present passive gerund constructions. Passive gerunds describe a process a The
auxiliaries be or get are used in formation of the basic passive voice construction. Passive
gerunds use the word being as in example 39 and the past participle. Example 40 proves that
getting is also possible to use. The mattresses in 39 experience an action. They are killed,
dried and afterwards put to service. It is a typical passive construction. Gerunds also follow
prepositions which is another hallmark of the structure. Being follows the preposition before,
which justifies the gerund. In example 40 getting follows the preposition of, so the same
principle is applied. Another ship functions as an agent.
39 […] in fact they had very little to be nervous about, because all mattresses grown in the
swamps of Sqornshellous Zeta are very thoroughly killed and dried before being put to
service. (Corpus I, page 51, ll. 29-31, page 52, ll. 1)
40 However, it does go on to say that what with space being the mind-boggling size it is the
chances of getting picked up by another ship within those thirty seconds […] (Corpus I, page
77, ll. 22-25)
13
2.5 Passive Infinitives
Passive infinitive is a phenomenon which occurs when a sentence is formed by
means of an infinitive construction but this construction has rather a passive, than active
interpretation. Passive infinitive constructions consist of the verb be in infinitive form, which
may or may not have to, and the past participle. Infinitives as well as gerunds are used after
certain verbs, nouns and some expressions. As for example the infinitive construction to be
pulled backword in 41 follows the verb seemed which requires infinitive.
41 His skin seemed to be pulled backword from the nose. (Corpus I, page 10, ll. 25-26)
42 On Earth it is never possible to be father than sixteen thousand miles from your birthplace,
which really isn’t very far, so such signals are too minute to be noticed. (Corpus I, page 29,
ll. 29-32)
43 The deadly missile attack shortly to be launched by an ancient automatic defense
system will result merely in the breakage of three coffee cups and a mouse cage […] (Corpus I,
page 122, ll. 5-7)
Infinite passive is often used when it is more important to emphasize an object
receiving an action. For example in 42 it does not matter who is supposed to notice the
signals, whereas the goal is to attract attention to signals which are too short.
Example 43 expresses an action that might happen but under some conditions. The
relative pronoun which functioning as a subject is omitted. An ancient automatic defense
system is an agent of the sentence. In this case it is the agent that is emphasized.
2.6 Passive Voice vs. Complex-Intransitive Constructions
Sometimes there is an ambiguity between the passive voice forms and the complexintransitive construction, as the verb be does not exclusively take part in the formation of the
passive voice but also appears to be a copula, taking a predicative complement. Because of
the possibility of the verb be to be followed by either an adjectival complement or the past
participle forms, this resemblance or sometimes ambiguity occurs. Example 44 is a verbal
passive, where trap is a verb. The action is completed. The past participle is a marker of
telicity. Telicity implies that the object is affected in transitive active structures (somebody
has trapped us), and that the subject is affected in passive constructions. The past participle
expresses the new state affecting the subject (we’re trapped) and is associated to the process
(the process of catching/trapping).
44 We’re trapped now, aren’t we? (Corpus I, page 74, ll. 3)
14
45 “Yes,” said Ford. The Vogons run the ship, the Dentrassis are the cooks, they let us on the
board.”
“I’m confused,” said Arthur. (Corpus I, page 51, ll. 25)
Confused in example 45 is the participial adjective, which marks that the condition
of the subject is stabilized. Telicity is also relevant to this example but with the participial
adjective, the state represented is beyond the end point and the process is no longer
considered. Arthur’s confusion is the result on Ford’s remark.
2.7 Adjectival Passives
Adjectival passive constructions belong to the group of extended derivative passive
forms and semantically they convey a kind of passive meaning. In example 46 the moods
seem to have a reason to be distracted, as well as the subject he became hypnotized because
of somebody or something.
46 Sometimes he would get seized with oddly distracted moods and stare into the sky as if
hypnotized until someone asked him what he was doing. (Corpus I, page 11, ll. 9-11)
Bearing in mind that passive voice constructions originally always have verbal
characteristics, it is better to consider adjectival passives as passives but in a derivative sense.
To avoid the ambiguity a simple test may be applied. The adjectives may be accompanied by
adverbs such as very and too or desperately, as in example 48, while verbs are not subjected
to such a modification. It is hardly possible to use very or too before unveiled in example 47.
47 The report was an official release which said that a wonderful new form of spaceship drive
was at this moment being unveiled at a government research base on Domogran which would
henceforth make all hyper spatial express routes unnecessary. (Corpus I, page 52, ll. 7-11)
48 […] he quite liked human beings after all, but he always remained desperately worried
about the terrible number of things they didn’t know about. (Corpus I, page 49, ll. 1-4)
However, sometimes this test is not applicable, as not all adjectives have a gradable
nature. In example 49*, for instance, called cannot be modified by the adverbs very or too, so
it remains ambiguous.
49 I thought you said they were called Vogons or something. (Corpus I, page 51, ll. 21-22)
49* I thought you said they looked called Vogons or something.
15
“Adjectival predicative complements are not restricted to occurrence with be but are found also
with such verbs as seem, look and remain”. (Huddleston, Pullum, 2002: 1437)
50 […] he quite liked human beings after all, but he always remained desperately worried
about the terrible number of things they didn’t know about. (Corpus I, page 49, ll. 1-4)
51 The right-hand head seemed to be thoroughly preoccupied with this task, but the lefthand one was grinning a broad, relaxed, nonchalant grin. (Corpus I, page 105, ll. 29-32)
52 It looked insanely complicated, and this was one of the reasons why the snug plastic cover
it fitted into had the words DON’T PANIC printed on it in large friendly letters. (Corpus I, page
26, ll. 12-15)
A construction is considered to be a verbal one if the verb be cannot be replaced by
the verbs mentioned above. So for example called in 49 cannot be used as a complement to
the verbs look, require, seem, which helps avoid the ambiguity described above. This is also
due to the fact that a stable property can be expressed in another way (their name was
Vogons).
A great number of adjectives have the prefix un which provides them with an
opposite meaning. This is a distinctive feature of adjectives, especially when the
corresponding verbs do not take this prefix, as unwashed in example 53* which is
unacceptable alternatively to the adjective unwashed in example 53. This could be another
test in differentiating an adjectival passive from a verbal one.
53 Ford frowned at the grubby mattresses, unwashed cups and unidentifiable bits of smelly
alien underwear that lay around the cramped cabin. (Corpus I, page 51, ll. 16-18)
53’ *I unwashed the cups.
Usually adjectival passives have a static rather than a dynamic meaning. So dynamic
or statal interpretation is another factor in differentiating verbal passives in 54 from adjectival
ones as in 55, as in the case of accepted in the sentences presented below.
54 Their early attempts at composition had been part of bludgeoning insistence that they be
accepted as a properly evolved and cultured race, but now the only thing that kept them going
was sheer bloody-mindedness. (Corpus I, page 65, ll. 6-10)
55 It was Arthur’s accepted role to lie squelching in the mud making occasional demands to
see his lawyer, his mother or a good book… (Corpus I, page 12, ll. 19-21)
However, this factor may not be considered as one of the ways to test the adjectives,
as it is close to impossible to distinguish the passives just by examining if the meaning is
statal or dynamic. It results in ambiguity because of the ability of the verbal passives to take a
16
statal interpretation as in example 56, whereas the adjectival passives appear to function as a
predicative complement of a dynamic verb in 57.
56 “So what you are saying is that I write poetry because underneath my mean callous heartless
exterior I really just want to be loved,” he said. (Corpus I, page 67, ll. 33, page 68, ll. 1-2)
57 Every tin can, every dustbin, every window, every car, every wineglass, every sheet of rusty
metal became activated as an acoustically perfect sounding board. (Corpus I, page 34, lines 47)
57’ They activated every tin can, every dustbin, every window, every car, every wineglass,
every sheet of rusty metal […]
Example 56 has passive properties and to be loved is as a verbal passive,
notwithstanding the fact that semantically the verb love has a statal interpretation. This point
does not then provide a strong difference between the verbal and adjectival passives.
Example 58 is syntactically regarded as an ordinary verbal passive that has its active
counterpart 58’. However, it easily subjected to the adjectival tests mentioned earlier.
Bothered may be accompanied by the adverbs too or very and may follow seem or look
instead of the cumulative verb be. So syntactically it looks like a verbal passive but at the
same time semantically there is no difference.
58 Mr Prosser was often bothered with visions like these and they made him feel very
nervous. (Corpus I, page 9, ll. 26-27)
58’Visions like these often bothered Mr Prosser […]
In example 57 if there is the catenative verb be in one of its tense forms instead of
the predicate become, which denotes a change of state and hence has a dynamic meaning,
activated would lead to an ambiguity. With its active counterpart 57’ it illustrates an action
with a dynamic meaning, hence it may be considered as a verbal passive. At the same time it
may be interpreted as the result of some prior actions that make it an adjectival passive with a
statal meaning. Providing a dynamic interpretation the verb become applies an action to the
phrase and makes it dynamic. However, it does not influence the statement mentioned above
about the statal nature of adjectival passives. It is the predicate, which has dynamic features
but not the predicative complement activated.
There is another quite common difference between verbal and adjectival passives.
“Verbs but not adjectives can take predicative complements.” (Huddleston, Pullum, 2002:
17
1439) Example 59 is the verbal passive construction, as it has an infinitival complement to be
completely out to lunch.
59 Zaphod Beeblebrox, adventurer, ex-hippie, good-timer, (crook? Quite possibly), manic selfpublicist, terribly bad at personal relationships, often thought to be completely out to lunch.
(Corpus I, page 37, ll. 26-29)
2.8 By-phrase Complements
A by-phrase complement is another important characteristic of the passive voice
construction. In contrast to example 60, which does not have any by-phrase complement, an
optional by phrase in example 61 helps emphasize the agent or the cause of the action (here:
the Infinite Improbability Drive) conveyed by the lexical verb. The subject of the passive
voice construction, usually called the patient, is related to the passive role and considered to
be the participant. By-phrase complements are used in both adjectival and verbal passives, but
in adjectival structures they occur less frequently.
60 It’s now just after four in the afternoon and I’m already being thrown out of an alien
spaceship six light-years from the smoking remains of the Earth! (Corpus I, page 69, ll. 21-24)
61 We’ve been picked up by a ship powered by the Infinite Improbability Drive! (Corpus I,
page 85, ll. 2-4)
Ship in 61 is considered to be the internalised complement, which is internal to the
VP. If the sentence was active ship would be the subject and consequently external to the VP.
2.9 Short Passives vs. Long Passives
The internalised complement may be omissible, which permits the distinction
between short (with no internalised complement) and long passives (where an internalised
complement is presented).
62 Most of the others secretly believe that the ultimate decision-making process is handled by
a computer. (Corpus I, page 38, ll. 37-36)
Example 62 is an example of the long passive which may have an active counterpart
62’with computer as the subject of a subordinate clause.
62’Most of the others secretly believe that computer handles the ultimate decision-making
process.
18
Without the complement by a computer the phrase would be regarded as the short
passive, which is not an equivalent to its long variant. The presence of an internalised
complement in a passive sentence makes the sentence more informative. If there is an
internalised complement we would have only a general notion about a thing or a person who
is supposed to handle the ultimate decision-making process. So there is no information about
the agent in the short passive form.
The preposition by could be used in different ways not just for denoting an
internalised complement. In example 63 it is simply a part of the adverbial even though it is
placed after the adjectival passive.
63 The man sitting next to Ford was a bit sozzled by now. (Corpus I, page 30, ll. 24-25)
According to Huddleston and Pullum there is the main prerogative which demands
for the internalised complement to be rhematic.
“The felicity of a long passive requires that the subject not represent information that is newer
in the discourse than the NP governed by the word by in the internalised complement”.
(Huddleston, Pullum, 2002: 1444)
64 The President in particular is very much a figurehead – he wields no real power
whatsoever.
65 He is apparently chosen by the government, but the qualities he is required to display are
not those of leadership but those of finally judged outrage. (Corpus I, page 38, lines 28-30)
The subject he in example 65 is a discourse-old information. He relates to the
President from example 64. The internalised complement by the government is a discoursenew fact.
According to the notion of old and new discourse we can easily identify the main
and peripheral themes of a sentence. New information always takes the last position in a
sentence. This new information relates to the following sentences. So that is why a byinternalised complement appears to be logically and pragmatically stressed.
The English language demands a strict word order in a sentence and any of its
constituent parts can hardly be freely positioned without any reference to the syntactic
structure of the sentence. Regarding the information structure of the sentence, themes are
regarded to be external arguments and appear to be subjects, which are usually in initial
position. The theme is normally the subject, and this is what justifies the choice of the voice,
19
either active if the theme-subject referent is an agent, or passive if the theme-subject is a
patient. The sentence member taking the first position “must not be less familiar in the
discourse than the one that comes to occupy a latter position”. (Huddleston, Pullum, 2002:
1444) In comparison to inversion, which reorders sentence members, passivization
reorganizes semantical and syntactical functions and does not make it obligatory to have a
discourse-old open position nor any additional context as in example 66, which is opposed to
the active voice form in example 66.
66 The shouting guard interrupted Ford again.
67 Ford tried desperately to think, but was interrupted by the guard shouting again. (Corpus
I, page 69, ll. 31, page 70, ll. 1-2)
In short passives there is no internalised NP complement hence it cannot be required
to be less familiar than the subject, which in turn is thematic (discourse-old).
“The crucial difference between a short passive and an active clause is that the information
expressed in the subject of the active is omitted in the passive”. (Huddleston, Pullum, 2002:
1445)
There are numbers of reasons why such information is omitted. First of all one of the
most common reasons is that a speaker does not have any information about the performer of
the action as in example 68 or it does not matter who or what is responsible for the action in
question as in 69 and 70. Otherwise it may be the common human knowledge that does not
require being commented or a scientific or a general observation, as in example 71.
68 Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of them were largely concerned
with the movements of small green pieces of paper […] (Corpus I, page 1, ll. 11-14)
69 […] it must be properly iced or the benzine is lost. (Corpus I, page 21, ll. 1-2)
70 […] and she finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place (Corpus I,
page 2, ll. 6-8)
71 The planet’s surface was blurred by time, by the slow movement of the thin stagnant air
that had crept across it for century upon century. (Corpus I, page 120, ll. 22-25)
There are cases when the short passive is used to avoid any reference to a performer
or in order not to identify their responsibilities and duties. In example 72 the planet is
subjected to demolition and there is no information or any reference to the person responsible
for this action.
20
72 The plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a
hyper spatial express route through your star system, and regrettably your planet is one of
those scheduled for demolition. (Corpus I, page 34, ll. 20-23)
It is a common knowledge that short passives influence the writing in such a way
that it becomes more objective and general. As compared to the first person narration, texts
with a great number of passives make the reader ignore the writer and do not take into
consideration their point of view. So the highest proportion of the passive voice construction
is considered to be one of the main distinctive features of scientific writing.
2.10 Born and Gone
The case with the participles born and gone are peculiar. Example 73 is not
considered as an example of the passive voice construction.
73 […] the supermarket was gone, everyone in it was gone. (Corpus I, page 60, ll. 20-21)
Example 73 does not have semantical or syntactical passive meaning nor a
predicative complement. First of all, go is not transitive, hence no passive can be expected;
gone used with the copula be, so it functions as an adjective. In the sentence reference is
made not to the dynamic process of going but to the adjacent and stabilised result of the
process (being away)1.
74 Ford Prefect was at this moment under great stress, and he was born 600 light years away in
the near vicinity of Betelgeuse. (Corpus I, page 29, ll. 32; page 30, ll. 1-2)
The same applies to the born in example 74, as Oxford English Dictionary says the
past participle from bear used to be bore or born, which had the same interpretation. Later
bore was not in use, and born became the only variant but still it did not have the passive
meaning, unless being followed by the by-phrase with the complement mother, for example.
The idea is that a baby rather experiences the process of birth.
2.11 Prepositional Passives
Prepositional passives are another quite common category of the passive voice
constructions. Prepositional passives, which are also called pseudo-passives, occur when “the
1
We thank Professor Merle for the information given on this subject.
21
subject in the passive structure corresponds to the object of a preposition in the related active
structure” (Tseng, Jess, 2007: 1) with a preposition taking final position.
In examples 75 and 76 it is seen that the prepositions after and through are stranded
and are not followed by complements.
75 The room was much as Slartibarfast had described it. In seven and a half million years it
had been well looked after and cleaned regularly every century or so. (Corpus I, page 178, ll.
21-23)
76 He kicked the hatch they’d just been thrown through. (Corpus I, page 74, ll. 12-13)
“Passives of this kind are felicitous only if the VP indicates either a significant property or a
change in significant property of the subject-referent”. (Huddleston, Pullum, 2002: 1446)
In example 75 somebody has been taking care of the room for some time, which
resulted in the fact that the room is clean and in good conditions. The same principle is
applied to example 76 where the subject they in the subordinate clause is subjected to some
external influence. They’d just been thrown through, which means that “they passed through
the hatch” now the door of which is open. In both examples there is a change in significant
property of the subject-referent, so they satisfy the constraint mentioned above.
2.12 Impersonal Passives
Passive voice constructions are quite frequently used either in formal speech
patterns, or necessary to omit the performer of the action. These constructions can be
impersonal and more or less neutral and help report a general information or a common
thought or belief. Impersonal passives are interchangeable with such active structures as they
say, they believe, they see etc. as in example 77. As for example 78, the impersonal clause it
was realized expresses a general opinion about the subject by means of the impersonal
passive voice construction, which avoids any reference to the source of perception or
judgment, the people who really think like this.
77 And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have
left the oceans. (Corpus I, page 1, ll. 21-23)
78 Eventually of course, after their Galaxy had been decimated over a few thousand years, it
was realized that the whole thing had been a ghastly mistake, and so the two opposing battle
fleets settled their few remaining differences in order to launch a joint attack on our own
Galaxy – now positively identified as the source of the offending remark. (Corpus I, page 196,
ll. 6-12)
22
In spite of the fact that the impersonal passives do often appear in many languages
the way of their formation differs from the one which forms ordinary passives. The
impersonal passives do not make an NP move to the subject position. There is a dummy
subject it, which replaces an NP subjected to an action. The impersonal passives are used in
the cases when the personal passives cannot be formed. For example in cases when an
introduction or a general remark is needed.
There are other alternative structures that circumstantially are semantically related to
the passive voice. In spite of the absence of the basic original passive voice form and
common syntactic characteristics, semantically they may be regarded as closely related to
passive. Sometimes their interpretation depends on context and should be examined more
precisely to discover passive orientation. Some examples of such structures are discussed in
Chapter III.
Chapter III Non Passive Forms Semantically Related to the Passive
One normally imagines the passive voice as a structure with a subject that is
semantically the patient of the verb, an auxiliary be or get, the past participle form and an
optional by-phrase. However, apart from usual passive constructions there are ways to form
sentences that have passive meaning even though they are not in the passive form. For
instance, examples 79 and 80 have also a passive interpretation.
3.1 Adjectives Ending in –able
These are non-typical marginal passive construction. They are usually called V-able
passives. The adjectives remarkable and unidentifiable semantically can be glossed as
passives. First of all they are derived from the transitive verbs remark and identify, and the
suffix –able expresses an action referred to an NP (can be remarked; cannot be identified).
They illustrate passive implement and may be followed by a complement, as in 80’.
79 Ford Prefect was a roving researcher for that wholly remarkable book, The Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the Galaxy. (Corpus I, page 12, ll. 14-16)
80 His fair tousled hair stuck out in random directions, his blue eyes glinted with something
completely unidentifiable, and his chins were almost always unshaven. (Corpus I, page 41, ll.
6-9)
80’ […] his blue eyes glinted with something completely unidentifiable by humans.
23
“The past participle form of the verb is almost, but not quite, an invariant feature of the
passive”. (Huddleston, Pullum, 2002: 1429)
Examples 81 and 82 again easily prove the statement above. Passive voice is clearly
seen when an agent occurs in a sentence. Besides that by no means the constructions in these
examples do not resemble the basic passive structure, there are no agents presented that could
emphasize an action referred to the subjects. However, examining the context we can notice a
latent agentivity. The actions described in the examples are meant to be performed by
somebody. For example, strangers cannot be deciphered by somebody or humiliation cannot
be explained by somebody. The same is applied to incomprehensible in 82. Only a performer
is able to comprehend or not the sense.
81 Bureaucratic cock-ups, angry men lying in mud, indecipherable strangers handing out
inexplicable humiliation and an unidentified army of horsemen laughing at him in his head –
what a day. (Corpus I, page 18, ll.32, page 19, ll. 1)
82 The barman reeled for a moment, hit a shocking incomprehensible sense of distance.
(Corpus I, page 30, ll. 3-4)
There are several variants of the ABLE-morpheme. The first one is normally
considered to be “a derivational suffix which attaches to transitive verb stems to yield
adjectival forms.” (Puckica, 2009: 230) This type of the V-able passive has an orientation that
may be called passive potential orientation. It may denote a capability/incapability of doing
or being something, unidentifiable (which cannot be identified) in 83, a notion of possibility,
as governable (which can be governed) in 84, or a concept of worthiness or merit,
remarkable (which can be remarked) in the sentence 85. “These secondary values may be
regarded as extensions from the primary meaning of passive potentiality.” (Puckica, 2009:
230)
83 Ford frowned at the grubby mattresses, unwashed cups and unidentifiable bits of smelly
alien underwear that lay around the cramped cabin. (Corpus I, page 51, ll. 16-18)
84 It was discovered by a lucky chance, and then developed into a governable form of
propulsion by the Galactic Government’s research team of Damogran. (Corpus I, page 86, ll. 57)
85 […] this device was in fact the most remarkable of all books ever […] (Corpus I, page 26,
ll. 15-16)
V-able passive constructions obtain a passive interpretation in the English language
only if adjectives, participating in formation of these structures, are derived from verbs. The
24
passive voice is habitually discussed in the context of a verb and verbal forms and
characteristics. The words with –ABLE suffix are mostly analysed in close connection to the
words formation, which is performed by means of an adjective-constructing suffix, and
regarded as derivational ones. The adjective pronounceable from example 86 is derived from
the verb pronounce by means of the suffix –able. To pronounce means to articulate, to
vocalize something. The verb is dynamic, as somebody articulates, literally, moves their lips
to produce a sound or a name, as we have in 86. Which means that the subject Ford Perfect’s
original name is subjected to the action: it is pronounced. Hence, pronounceable expresses
the ability of the subject to experience this action.
86 Ford Prefect’s original name is only pronounceable in an obscure Betelgeusian dialect […]
(Corpus I, page 47, ll. 21-22)
As far as we can see, there is nothing in common between V-able structure and past
participles except the gloss. However, V-able is very similar to past participial adjectives that
leads to the adjectival passives, as in example 87.
87 Mr Prosser’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times while his mind was for a moment
filled with inexplicable but terribly attractive visions […] (Corpus I, page 9, ll. 20-23)
V-able forms are more adjectival than verbal. Generally the V-able structures
correspond to basic adjectival features, which means that they can be used attributively and
predicatively after such copular verbs as seem or look, as seemed unbelievable in example 88.
Few of them can be accompanied by very or too. But be able to is equal to the verb can,
which does not have any gradation and assessment apart from either it can be done or it
cannot.
88 Their relative velocity seemed unbelievable, and Arthur had hardly time to draw breath
before it was all over. (Corpus I, page 158, ll. 21-23)
In examples 89 and 90 respectable and irritable represent the V-able constructions
with a passive meaning. Semantically V-able structures have quite logical similarities with VEN. As for example “only what is V-able can be V-EN” (Puckica, 2009: 232). So only what
is respectable can be respected, and only what is irritable can be irritated.
25
89 Many respectable physicists said that they weren’t going to stand for this, partly because it
was a debasement of science, but mostly because they didn’t get invited to those sorts of
parties. (Corpus I, page 86, ll. 19-22)
90 He always felt vaguely irritable after demolishing populated planets. (Corpus I, page 50, ll.
17-18)
Even if with V-able adjectives it happens less frequently, this form may also be
followed by an agent, a by-phrase complement, which is typical for the basic passive voice
structure and considered to be one of the main passive characteristics. This fact is easily
proved by modifying example 91. In 91’ every creature in the world is the agent. So we may
conclude that V-able passives can take such a complement, which allows to classify them as a
non-typical passive construction.
91 It said: “The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three
distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication […] (Corpus I,
page 215, ll. 13-16)
91’ It said: “The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three
distinct and recognizable by every creature in the world phases, those of Survival, Inquiry
and Sophistication […]
3.2 Adjectival Passive Forms with Specialised Sense
Moreover there are adjectival passive forms with specialised sense, which means
that they are morphologically close to the past participles of some verbs but with the meaning
that has been changed. They are not equalled any more to the verbal passives, which keep
identical forms, and they relate to passive forms rather historically than syntactically or
semantically.
92 And I was meant to recognize that from a blank screen? (Corpus I, page 113, ll. 9-10)
93 You are bound to feel some initial ill effects as you have been rescued from certain death at
an improbability level […] (Corpus I, page 84, ll. 20-22)
94 “But what are supposed to do with a manically depressed robot?” (Corpus I, page 136, ll.
11-12)
3.3 Adverbs Derived from Adjectives Ending in -able
The adverbs derived from V-able adjectives may be also considered as non-typical
passive related adverbs, because they convey the same characteristics as the adjectives, and
semantically they are related to the passive interpretation.
26
95 […] and the story of how these consequences are inextricably intertwined with this
remarkable book begins very simply. (Corpus I, page 3, ll. 13-15)
96 “I’m trying to baby, I’m trying to,” is what Ford invariably replied on these occasions.
(Corpus I, page 11, ll. 30-31)
97As he grinned his heart screamed unbearably and he fingered the small Paralyso-Matic
bomb that nestled quietly in his pocket. (Corpus I, page 44, lines 21-23)
98 The plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require building of a hyper
spatial express route through your star system, and regrettably your planet is one of those
scheduled for demolition. (Corpus I, page 34, ll. 20-23)
V-able adverbs, together with V-able adjectives, syntactically do not have anything
in common with the habitual passive voice structure. Nevertheless semantically their passive
interpretation may be seen through the context. In general, able means being able to be,
which already implies a dynamic interpretation. Bearing in mind that passive constructions
are mostly verbal and usually tend to keep their verbal qualities, one may notice that most of
V-able adjectives and adverbs are derived from complete verb stems, as for example
inextricably in 95 is derived from inextricable, and inextricable from extricate. In example 96
invariably is derived from invariable then invariable is derived from variable and variable is
from vary. Bear becomes bearable, then unbearable and finally we get unbearably as in 97.
And regrettably in example 98 is derived from regrettable and regrettable is from regret. All
of them have the typical adverbial suffix ly. This point makes it possible to classify them in
most cases according to a number of verbal characteristics.
3.4 Adjectives Ending in –less
Adjectives and adverbs derived from verbs by means of the suffix less as in example
99, sometimes may also have a relation to passive interpretation.
99 It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researches. (Corpus I,
page 76, ll. 4-6)
100 He turned it over in his hands with a shrug and tossed it aside carelessly, but not so
carelessly that it didn’t land on something soft. (Corpus I, page 193, ll. 21-22)
Countless numbers in example 99 may be glossed to the numbers, which cannot be
counted. However, carelessly in example 100 means without taking care of something or
somebody, which implies no semantic passive interpretation.
3.5 Reflexive Structures
27
As a grammatical category voice structures the subject – predicate interrelations.
Sometimes voice, as illustrated in examples 103-105 is a separate category. Even if
morphologically and syntactically they seem not to have any relation to passive voice,
nevertheless they may obtain passive interpretation.
101 Arthur struggled to his feet and hugged himself apprehensively. (Corpus I, page 49, ll.
22-23)
102 Arthur had jammed himself against the door to the cubicle, trying to hold it closed, but it
was ill fitting. (Corpus I, page 85, ll. 8-9)
103 These patterns quickly learned to copy themselves (this was part of what was so
extraordinary about the patterns) and went on to cause massive trouble on every planet they
drifted on to. (Corpus I, page 80, ll. 4-8)
In examples 103 and 104 the subject Arthur and a reflexive pronoun himself are
referentially interconnected, hence if the reflexive pronoun is affected and subjected to some
action, semantically the subject-referent will also be involved. The subject appears to be both
the performer of the action and the receiver of it. It is Arthur who is responsible for the
action, however being a performer he is affected and takes the main role in the situation.
Even if in 103 Arthur hugged himself, the interpretation is as if *Arthur has been hugged. The
same principle is in 104 *Arthur has been jammed. The verbs hug and jam are dynamic.
Copy themselves in example 105 has also a latent passive meaning. The patterns
copy themselves by means of self-reproduction. In other words the patterns are being copied
by themselves.
3.6 Reciprocal Structures
Reciprocal constructions display a mutual situation which “can be defined as a
situation with two or more participants (A, B, etc.) in which for at least two of the
participants A and B, the relation between A and B is the same as the relation between B and
A”. (Haspelmath, 2007: 1) Reciprocals are interchanging an action, which means they are
performing an action and subjected to it at the same time. So the subject together with a coperformer are involved in an action. Both get simultaneously either benefits or effects from
an action. Even if it does not at all look as the basic passive voice construction, still a passive
interpretation may be read, as the doers realise an action implicitly by means of each other.
For example the subject his eyebrows in example 106. Evidently they are two, so each of
them is a patient and an agent at the same time. One eyebrow is affected by the other. And
28
vice versa. In other words one of his eyebrows was almost rolled over by the other. The
number of doers may be more than two, as in example 107.
106 The Vogon stared up at the law steel ceiling and his eyebrows almost rolled over each
other. (Corpus I, page 70, ll. 17-18)
107 […] he continued, as with a huge bang Southend split itself into six equal segments which
danced and span giddily round each other in lewd and licentious formation […] (Corpus I,
page 82, ll. 10-14)
Even if traditional structure be+past participle is regarded as the main spotlight in
the process of the passive voice studying, it can be observed that the classical passive voice
structure cannot be considered as the only way to express passive. Some other structures with
passive reading may occur, so classical treatment of the passive voice fails to capture cases,
which can be interpreted as passives, even if they do not contain an auxiliary or a past
participle. In Chapter III we examined some constructions atypical to the passive voice. They
were taken from the English Corpus. Neither morphologically, nor syntactically do these
examples refer to the passive voice. However, close analysis of their glosses allow establish a
latent passive interpretation.
V-able passives, for example, express the same passive orientation as V-EN forms
and may also take a by-phrase complement, as an agent. Participles are not completely verbal
forms, that is why V-able structures do resemble passive participles, nevertheless they
possess more adjectival features than verbal.
Some morphological components may produce passive orientation. Adjectives
derived from transitive verbs by means of such suffixes as –ly, -less or –full display
sometimes passive features, but mostly in the frame of context.
Reflexive and reciprocal constructions are also quite interesting phenomena, as
usually being used in active form they may imply obscure passive interpretation. In reflexive
structures a subject produces and experiences an action at same time, so it functions
simultaneously as a patient and an agent of a sentence. In reciprocal constructions relations
between members of a sentence are based on mutuality. Coincidently they all are involved in
an action.
To draw a conclusion we should notice that passive voice cannot be restricted to the
basic forms. Constructions with latent passiveness may also take place in passive voice
studying.
29
The second part of the work is dedicated to examination and comparative analysis of
translation of the English passive in the French language on the bases the examples illustrated
above.
30
Part II
Chapter I Peculiarities of the Passive Voice in the French Language
In the first part of the research paper we examined different types of passive voice
constructions in the English language. Their diversity, which is proved by numerous classic
forms as well as atypical ones, invites the assumption that there are also various ways of their
translation. To find out which methods of translation from English into French are more
appropriate and highly used, how the constructions in both languages differ and what they
have in common, we will examine the translation of the examples from Corpus I into French,
in such a way gathering and systemising Corpus II with French examples. The French
examples are taken from the French version of the novel « Le Guide du voyageur
galactique », translated by Jean Bonnefoy.
1.1 Formation of the Passive voice in French
It goes without saying that both English and French have a great number of
similarities as well as differences. The French language, together with Spanish and Italian,
belongs to the Indo-European language family. So does English. English was partly
influenced by French. It gave rise to formation of some common features. French and English
grammar systems are not an exception. These languages have the same parameters, such as
catenative verbs, past participles, the categories of tense and voice. But at the same time in
spite of quite similar characteristics both languages have some differential peculiar features.
It should be mentioned that the passive voice forms are less frequently used in
French in comparison to the English language. Below are presented English examples 1a and
2a opposed to French equivalents 1b and 2b. These examples help notice that when English
requiress a passive voice construction, in French either active structure as in 2b or the dummy
subject il as in 1b can be used.
1a. […] who was arguing with a spokesman for the bulldozer drivers about whether or not
Arthur Dent constituted a mental health hazard, and how much they should get paid if he did.
(Corpus I, page 15, ll. 20-23)
1b. […] qui était en discussion avec un porte-parole des chauffeurs de bulldozer pour savoir si
oui ou non le cas Arthur Dent relevait de la psychiatrie et, dans l’affirmative, combien il
faudrait les payer. (Corpus II, page 32, ll. 26-30)
2a. Well, if you’re resigned to doing that anyway, you don’t actually need him to lie here all
the time do you? (Corpus I, page 16, ll. 5-7)
2b. Eh bien, si vous avez une bonne fois pour toutes décidé d’agir ainsi, vous n’avez en fait
aucun besoin qu’il reste allongé là en permanence, n’est-ce pas ? (Corpus II, page 33, ll. 12-15)
31
The French passive has one distinctive feature which the English language does not.
The past participles in French are subjected to modifications according to gender and number
of the subject. It is clear from the examples below that in French variants the forms of the
predicates and the past participles correspond their subjects.
2a. Sometimes he would get seized with oddly distracted moods and stare into the sky as if
hypnotized until someone asked him what he was doing. (Corpus I, page 11, ll. 9-11)
2b. Il était pris parfois de bizarres accès de distraction et contemplait le ciel, comme hypnotisé,
jusqu’à ce qu’on vienne lui demander ce qu’il cherchait. (Corpus II, page 27, ll. 27-30)
3a. Though the planet Earth, the Islington flat and the telephone have all now been
demolished, it’s comforting to reflect that they are all in some small way commemorated by
the fact that twenty nine seconds later Ford and Arthur were rescued. (Corpus I, page 77, ll. 33,
page 78, ll.1-4)
3b. Bien que la planète Terre, l’appartement d’Islington et le téléphone soient aujourd’hui
démolis, il est réconfortant de se dire que tous ces éléments ont en quelque modeste manière
été commémorés par le fait que vingt-neuf secondes plus tard exactement Arthur et Ford
devaient être sauvés. (Corpus II, page 105, ll. 17- 22)
In Chapter II of the second part of the research paper we will examine, estimate and
compare the ways and methods of translation of the passive voice examples from English into
French. Taking into consideration their syntactic, morphological and semantic characteristics
we will try to analyse how French translation of the English passives differs, if it does, and
we will make a French corpus, corresponding to the English examples.
Chapter II Translation of the Passive Voice from English into French
2.1 Basic Passive Voice Structure
The pattern of the basic passive voice constructions in French resembles the one in
the English language, i.e. an auxiliary (verb usually être, which is the counterpart of be) and
the past participle form. Examples 4b and 6b easily prove this fact, as the constructions are
the same in both languages. The English examples are translated into French keeping their
temporal and aspectual characteristics.
4a. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of them were largely concerned
with the movements of small green pieces of paper… (Corpus I, page 1, ll. 11-14)
4b. Bien des solutions avaient été suggérées mais la plupart d’entre elles faisaient largement
intervenir la mise en circulation de petits bouts de papier vert… (Corpus II, page 15, ll. 14-16)
5a. The bottle would then be refilled. The game would be played again. (Corpus I, page 14, ll.
30-31)
32
5b. On remplissait de nouveau la bouteille. Et le jeu recommençait. (Corpus II, page
32, ll. 1-2)
6a. As soon as a predetermined quantity had been consumed, the final loser would have to
perform a forfeit, which was usually obscenely biological. (Corpus I, page 15, ll. 3-5)
6b. Dès qu’avait été consommée une quantité prédéterminée, le perdant devait
accomplir un gage, lu plus souvent d’un caractère biologiquement obscène. (Corpus II,
page 32, ll. 7-10)
French example 5b does not have the classic passive voice construction in its
structure. The game would be played is translated into French by means of the active voice
construction. The lexical verb played is translated by the verb recommançait, with the prefix
re- instead of the adverb again. The French language tends to avoid passive voice
constructions in favour of the active voice or the structures with passive interpretation. Would
be refilled in 5a is translated by means of the impersonal pronoun on. This pronoun is highly
used in the French language. The sentences with the pronoun on have an active structure,
where on is the subject. In the French language this construction is very handy, as it helps
avoid the basic passive voice structure.
7a. And then, one Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a
tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people… (Corpus I, page 2, ll. 1-3)
7b. Et puis, un beau jeudi, près de deux mille ans après qu’on eut cloué un homme sur un
arbre pour avoir dit combien ça pourrait être chouette de se montrer sympa avec les gens…
(Corpus II, page 16, ll. 8-11)
8a. The Guide also tells you on which planets the best Pan Galactic Blasters are mixed […]
(Corpus I, page 20, ll. 12-13)
8b. Le Guide vous indique également sur quelles planètes on prépare le meilleur gargle
blaster pan galactique […] (Corpus II, page 37, ll. 12-14)
It is a very common practice to use on in the French translation of the English
passive voice. The impersonal pronoun on is the subject of an active sentence, which means it
is the performer of an action. Using the active construction with the pronoun on, the
prepositions par or de cannot be used, as there is no mention of the agent – on takes on the
role of the performer of the action. The English language has a similar construction in generic
context.
2.2 Short and Long Passives
Quite often an agent of an action is introduced by the preposition by or with. In the
French passive voice as well as in the English the subject is acted upon. The agent
33
responsible for the action is usually introduced by the preposition par, as in example 9b, and
more rarely de is used even if earlier in classic French mostly de was used. These
constructions are the counterparts of the English long passives with by-phrases. Any kind of
physical action tends to be introduced by par, whereas any state, feeling, perception or
adjectival passive – by de.
9a. Pages one and two had been salvaged by a Damogran Frond Crested Eagle and had
already become incorporated into an extraordinary new form of nest which the eagle had
invented. (Corpus I, page 42, ll. 12-16)
9b. Les pages une et deux avaient été piquées par un aigle damograin à crête huppée et se
trouvaient d’ores et déjà incorporées à une forme de nid radicalement nouvelle que venait
d’inventer ce rapace… (Corpus II, page 63, ll. 5-9)
10a.The voice was low and hopeless and accompanied by a slight clanking sound. (Corpus I,
page 94, ll. 16-18)
10b. La voix, basse et désespérée, était accompagnée d’un léger bruit de ferraille. (Corpus II,
page 127, ll. 6-7)
But again as it often happens the active voice construction as celui que lui présentait
l’araignée becomes a translation of example 11a. 12a is translated as le processus ultime de
décision serait en définitive aux mains d’un ordinateur by means of a static verb serait.
Sometimes it may be explained by peculiarities of the French language or simply by an
intention of the translator to make a text more artistic and pleasant for the reader. The
expression aux mains d’ordinateur has a figurative meaning.
11a. Zaphod Beeblebrox would not be needing his set speech and he gently deflected the one
being offered him by the spider. (Corpus I, page 42, ll. 21-23)
11b. Zaphod Beeblebrox n’avait aucunement besoin d’un discours préparé, aussi
repoussa-t-il doucement celui que lui présentait l’araignée. (Corpus II, page 63, ll.
15-17)
12a. Most of the others secretly believe that the ultimate decision-making process is handled
by a computer. (Corpus I, page 38, ll. 37-36)
12b. La plupart des autres croient en secret que le processus ultime de décision serait en
définitive aux mains d’un ordinateur. (Corpus II, page 58, ll. 31-33)
Again similarly to the English language the passive voice constructions sometimes do
not have an agent in their structures, which corresponds to the English short passives. This
type of passive voice is used when it is undesirable or impossible to mention the agent in its
active counterpart.
34
13a.[…] it must be properly iced or the benzine is lost. (Corpus I, page 21, ll. 1-2)
13b. […] il doit être bien frappé, faute de quoi tout le benzène s’évapore. (Corpus II, page 38,
ll. 5-6)
14a. This had about a hundred tiny flat press buttons and a screen about four inches square on
which any one of a million “pages” could be summoned at a moment’s notice. (Corpus I,
page 26, ll. 9-12)
14b. Mais celui-ci possédait une centaine de minuscules boutons plats ainsi qu’un écran
d’environ dix centimètres de côté sur lequel on pouvait appeler en un clin d’œil plus d’un
million de « pages ». (Corpus II, page 43, ll. 17-20)
15a. “It’s probably just your house being knocked down”, said Ford, downing his last pint.
(Corpus I, page 28, ll. 28-29)
15b. « C’est sans doute simplement ta maison qu’on abat », constata Ford en éclusant son
dernier verre. (Corpus II, page 46, ll. 19-20)
The majority of the passive constructions in French do not have par-phrase
complement. This allows the speaker not to mention an agent responsible for the event at
hand. In examples 14b and 15b the semantic role associated to the subjects is not expressed.
The referents are not mentioned, either because the speaker finds it preferable not to mention
the referents, or just because there is simply no information about them. The impersonal
pronoun on appears to be a preferable and favourable decision in translating English short
passives in French.
2.3 Get-passives
The auxiliary get is often used in the passive voice constructions. In the English
language get takes place of the auxiliary be in the sentence. In French the passive voice
constructions with get are translated in different ways, as there is no any corresponding
structure. For example, it would hardly be acceptable to translate get in 16a or 18a as devenir
or obtenir. It can be replaced by être but with the tendency to avoid the passive voice
constructions, any other acceptable form is preferable. As the impersonal construction with
the pronoun on in example 16b, or the active voice form in 18b. However example 17a is
translated into French by means of the classic passive voice construction with the auxiliary
être and the past participle.
16a. […] and no one would have to get nailed for anything (Corpus I, page 2, ll. 8-9)
16b. Et puis, un beau jeudi, près de deux mille ans après qu’on eut cloué un homme sur un
arbre pour avoir dit combien ça pourrait être chouette de se montrer sympa avec les gens […]
(Corpus II, page 16, ll. 8-11)
35
17a. Many respectable physicists said that they weren’t going to stand for this, partly because it
was a debasement of science, but mostly because they didn’t get invited to those sorts of
parties. (Corpus I, page 86, ll. 19-22)
17b. Plus d’un physicien respectable estimait ne pouvoir encaisser une telle chose, en partie
parce que c’était rabaisser la science, et en parti parce qu’ils n’étaient jamais invités. (Corpus
II, page 117, ll. 3-6)
18a. […] who was arguing with a spokesman for the bulldozer drivers about whether or not
Arthur Dent constituted a mental health hazard, and how much they should get paid if he did.
(Corpus I, page 15, ll. 20-23)
18b. […] qui était en discussion avec un port parole des chauffeurs de bulldozer pour savoir si
oui ou non le cas Arthur Dent relevait de la psychiatrie et, dans l’affirmative, combien il
faudrait les payer. (Corpus II, page 32, ll. 26-30)
Example 19a is translated into French by means of the verbal construction se
faire+infinitive. This infinitive construction may be read with a passive interpretation.
According to the context, the protagonists made an effort and initiated their rescue, but still it
happened by means of the spaceship, so an action was applied on them. Moreover in both
examples there are agents it and lui, introduced by by and par, respectively.
This form is
highly used in everyday language, as it requires to conjugate just the verb se faire. Except se
faire, another pronominal forms such as se laisser in 20b and 21b. The verb se faire has a
causative character, as it makes a subject to be responsible for an action at some extent. The
reflexive occurs when the subject undergoes some action evoked by the verb. On the
contrary,
se
laisser
emphasizes
its
passive
nature,
as
it
means
do
not
be
concerned/preoccupied. Se voir, s’entendre may be also considered as the structures
obtaining passive interpretation.
19a. “Bright idea of mine” said Ford, “to find a passing spaceship and get rescued by it”.
(Corpus I, page 80, ll. 19-20)
19b. Belle idée que j’ai eue, reprit Ford, de trouver un astronef de passage et de nous faire
recueillir par lui. (Corpus II, page 109, ll. 30-32)
20a. For a moment his embittered racial soul had been touched, but he thought no – too little
too late. (Corpus I, page 67, ll. 29-31)
20b. Durant un moment, sa conscience de race aigrie s’était laissé toucher mais il se ravisa:
non, c’était trop peu, et trop tard. (Corpus II, page 94, ll. 30-32, page 95, ll. 1)
21a Arthur would not be deterred. «A party six months ago. On Earth…England…» (Corpus
I, page 107, ll. 23-24)
21b Mais Arthur ne se laissait pas démonter. Il poursuivit : « Une soirée, il y a six mois…
Sur Terre… en Angleterre… » (Corpus II, page 143, ll. 8-10)
2.4 Bare Passives
36
In English the basic passive voice form with either the auxiliary be, or get is used as
often as bare passives, which do not have any auxiliary verb in their structure. As it is seen
from the examples below the English bare passives are translated in French without any
replacements or modifications. In French an auxiliary is also omitted. So in both languages
bare passives structure represents a subject together with a verbal contracture in a non-finite
clause. The only difference may occur in the French language, as it requires a subject to
correspond a past participle in gender in number, as for example une cabine nichée in 22b.
22a Somewhere in a small dark cabin buried deep in the intestines of Prostentic Vogon Jeltz’s
flagship, a small match flared nervously. (Corpus I, page 47, ll. 1-3)
22b Quelque part au fin fond d’une cabine sombre nichée dans les tréfonds des entrailles du
vaisseau amiral de Prostentic Vogon Jeltz, une petite allumette se mit à luire nerveusement.
(Corpus II, page 69, ll. 19-22)
23a With her red head scarf knotted in that particular way and her long flowing silky brown
dress, she looked vaguely Arabic. (Corpus I, page 42, ll. 31-33)
23b […] avec son fichu rouge noué d’une manière si particulière et son ample le longue robe
de soie marron, elle avait l’air vaguement arabe. (Corpus II, page 63, ll. 27-29)
24a Zaphod Beeblebrox, adventurer, ex-hippie, good-timer, (crook? Quite possibly), manic
self-publicist, terribly bad at personal relationships, often thought to be completely out to
lunch. (Corpus I, page 37, ll. 26-29)
24b Zaphod Beeblebrox, aventurier, ancien hippy, bon vivant (escroc ? c’est bien possible !),
caractérisé par son autosatisfaction maladive ainsi que par une redoutable inaptitude aux
relations personnelles, un homme assez souvent jugé comme complètement parti du bulbe.
(Corpus II, page 56, ll. 30-32, page 57, ll. 1-3)
2.5 Expanded Passives
Expended passives, which have an auxiliary in their structure, are translated in
relation to the type of the auxiliary and giving priority to a form which is preferable in the
frames of the French grammar and stylistics. For example in 25b the basic passive voice
construction with the auxiliary be is translated by means of the basic in the French language
passive construction. In 26b the action has not happened yet. It is just a possibility. The
construction in example 26b is active.
25a Only six people in the entire Galaxy understood the principle on which the Galaxy was
governed […] (Corpus I, page 37, ll. 32-33)
25b Six individus seulement dans toute l’étendue de la Galaxie comprenaient le principe selon
lequel celle-ci était gouvernée […] (Corpus II, page 57, ll. 7-9)
26a Today he [Mr. Prosser] was particularly nervous and worried because something had gone
seriously wrong with his job, which was to see that Arthur Dent’s house got cleared out of
the way before the day was out. (Corpus II, page 7, ll. 2-6)
37
26b Et, aujourd’hui, il était particulièrement énervéet soucieux car quell-que chose clochait
sérieusement dans son boulot – lequel consistait à veiller à ce que la maison d’Arthur Dent
eut bien débarrassé le plancher d’ici au soir. (Corpus II, page 22, ll. 20-25)
Once again the interpretation depends on the context, in French as well as in English
the auxiliary être may be either a constitutive part of a passive voice construction, or can take
a role of copula with a predicative complement. This results in ambiguity, which we already
analysed in the first chapter of this work.
27a We’re trapped now, aren’t we? (Corpus I, page 74, ll. 3)
27b « On est coincés, hein ? » (Corpus II, page 102, ll. 19)
28a “Yes,” said Ford. The Vogons run the ship, the Dentrassis are the cooks, they let us on the
board.” - “I’m confused,” said Arthur. (Corpus I, page 51, ll. 25)
28b […] Je m’y perds. (Corpus II, page 75, ll. 22)
The passive voice construction we’re trapped from example 27a is translated into
French by means of the impersonal structure with the pronoun on. But in the French example
the construction is adjectival. The absence of the agent leads to ambiguity. On est coincés
expresses a stable final condition of the subject. In the English example the subject we is
affected by the process of trapping, so in its active counterpart somebody or something
trapped them. According to the context of the novel the protagonists, Arthur and Ford, are
caught by the Vogons guard and found themselves trapped into a tightly closed cylindrical
chamber to be later thrown out of the spaceship. They are affected by the actions of the
guardian. So a dynamic process takes place. Example 27b does not have an active counterpart
(quelqu’un nous coinçait). The meaning would be different (somebody pressed/nailed us to
the wall).
29a “But I was stuck there for fifteen years!” (Corpus I, page 108, ll. 3)
29b « Mais moi j’y suis resté coincé quinze ans! » (Corpus II, page 143, ll. 23)
So on est coincés is an adjectival construction expressing the final state of the
subject. It interpretation is close to the interpretation of the example 29b, which is the
translation of the English adjectival passive. In French it also could have been translated by
means of the verbal construction, as on s’est fait coincés.
38
The adjectival passive I’m confused in example 28a is translated into French with a
pronominal construction J’y me perds. Pronominal verbs are quite frequently used in the
French language. With the tendency to avoid the basic passive voice construction pronominal
verbs sometimes are preferable in French, when the English language requires passive voice.
Some scholars qualify this type of French constructions as an independent French voice
category – the reflexive voice. This construction expresses an action implied to the subject
and performed by the subject itself.
30a “Yellow”, he thought, and stomped off back to his bedroom to get dressed. (Corpus I, page
5, ll. 24-25)
30b « Jaune », remarqua-t-il, avant de retourner, pesamment, s’habiller dans sa chambre.
(Corpus II, page 21, ll. 4-5)
31a It startled him even more when just after he was awarded the Galactic Institute’s Prize
for Extreme Cleverness he got lynched by a rampaging mob of respectable physicists […]
(Corpus I, page 87, ll. 19-22)
31b Sa surprise fut plus grande encore lorsque juste après s’être vu décerner le prix
d’Extrême Habileté de l’Institut galactique il se retrouva lynché par une foule déchainée de
physiciens respectables […] (Corpus II, page 118, ll. 1-5)
32a […] a terrible, stupid catastrophe occurred, and the idea was lost forever (Corpus I, page 2,
ll. 11-12)
32b […] la nouvelle, une terrible catastrophe survint et l’idée se perdit à jamais (Corpus II,
page 16, ll. 22)
Pronominal verbs in French has a tendency for impersonalization. The reflexive
pronoun se refers an action to the subject and makes it oppressed by it. There is no agent in
example 30b but s’habiller indicates a dynamic process and an action referred to the subject.
In example 30a get is usually used in sentences with no agent presented and emphasizes an
influence on the subject. The passive construction he was awarded in example 31a is again
translated into French with the reflexive construction s’être vu décerner. Literary it means
*he see himself awarded the prize. In the English language this structure is unacceptable,
whereas in French it occurs quite frequently. As well as the constructions se faire/se laisser
the structure se voir forms an active construction with a passive meaning, as it is clear that the
subject he cannot award the prize to himself. Example 31b could also have been translated by
means of the basic passive voice structure il a été décerné du prix or with the impersonal
pronoun on, as on a lui décérné le prix.
The idea was lost in example 32a is translated into French using the reflexive
construction, as it is important to keep the original interpretation of the sentence. In the
English variant the idea was lost because of the terrible stupid catastrophe, but for sure there
39
is somebody or something responsible for it. The intention of the writer was to omit this
information, so the short passive was used. Even if the impersonal pronoun on does not
indicate the performer of the action, it still emphasizes its presence. That is why either the
reflexive construction, or the basic passive voice (L’idée a été perdu) is preferable.
The English equivalent to the French reflexive construction is the suffix –self. They
have some similar characteristics and both occur in constructions whose process affects the
subject. As was mentioned above, the subject appears to be at the same time the performer
and the patient of the action. It applies to the English as well as to the French, which means
that the passive interpretation of this construction is common for both languages, which is
illustrated in the examples below.
2.6 Adjectival passives
Adjectival passives are considered to be passive constructions but with a derivative
sense. As seen from the examples the ways of their translation from English into French are
different. Some of the examples are translated with the use of a resembling structure, as in
examples 33b and 34b. The only difference between examples 33a and 33b is in the words
looked and semblait but it does not influence the sense. The word preoccupied is close in its
meaning to the word worried, which quite often has statal interpretation. Whereas in example
34b absorbée is a form of the dynamic verb absorber. Moreover in example 34b there is an
agent sa tâche introduced by the preposition par. These are all the characteristics of the
verbal passive voice construction.
33a It looked insanely complicated, and this was one of the reasons why the snug plastic
cover it fitted into had the words DON’T PANIC printed on it in large friendly letters. (Corpus
I, page 26, ll. 12-15)
33b Tout cela semblait effroyablement compliqué, ce qui était l’une des raisons pour
lesquelles la confortable housse de plastique dans laquelle il se glissait portait gravée en
grandes lettres amicales la mention PAS DE PANIQUE ! (Corpus II, page 43, ll. 20-25)
34a The right-hand head seemed to be thoroughly preoccupied with this task, but the lefthand one was grinning a broad, relaxed, nonchalant grin. (Corpus I, page 105, ll. 29-32)
34b Si cette dernière semblait entièrement absorbée par sa tâche, la tête gauche en revanche
lui adressait un grand sourire nonchalant et détendu […] (Corpus II, page 141, ll. 7-10)
The relexive construction is used to translate the adjectival passive from example
35a. In 35b the verb se mettre in the form of passé simple translates became. Vibrer is used to
convey the semantics of the adjective activated. Become expresses a change of state, it is a
dynamic verb. One of the meanings of the French verb se mettre is beginning of an action.
40
Beginning of an action is a change of state. So the interpretation of example 35b corresponds
to the one of example 35a.
35a Every tin can, every dustbin, every window, every car, every wineglass, every sheet of
rusty metal became activated as an acoustically perfect sounding board. (Corpus I, page 34, ll.
4-7)
35b Chaque boite de conserve, chaque poubelle, chaque fenêtre, chaque voiture, le moindre
verre à vin, la moindre plaque de tôle rouillée se mirent à vibrer comme de parfaites caisses de
résonance. (Corpus II, page 52, ll. 28-31)
The verb remained from example 36a is translated into French with the use of the
negative construction ne laissait pas de+V. Apart from the inversion applied to the lexical
verb remind, the verb être is used in the French translation, whereas in its English counterpart
there is no verb be in the sentence. So by contrast with the original English version French
translation has a passive infinitive construction. According to the context of the sentence
worried has a stative interpretation. It expresses a mental condition of the protagonist [Ford],
when he realized that there are lots of things people do not know about. The verb affliger is
also static. In 36b there is a complement la terrifiante étendue, introduced by the preposition
par.
As discussed above, together with the auxiliary be English adjectival passives
accept some other verbs such as remain, look or seem. In French it appears to be less
appropriate to keep the similar word rester in translation as it obtains more physical
character. And also by means of the inversion the French variant obtains some artistic value.
36a […] he quite liked human beings after all, but he always remained desperately worried
about the terrible number of things they didn’t know about. (Corpus I, page 49, ll. 1-4)
36b […]il aimait bien les humains après tout ; mais il ne laissait pas d’être désespérément
affligé par la terrifiante étendue de leur ignorance. (Corpus II, page 72, ll. 15-17)
Example 37a is interesting as it is also translated by means of an infinitive
construction, which is introduced by the preposition de and takes the role of the indirect
object, whereas in the original version the gerund acting forms the sentence. But alternatively
to the English version the French one does not have a corresponding past participle. A
subordinate clause de jouer la surprise in example 37b is an active infinitive. Surprised
refers to the noun surprise with the definite article la to determine the reason of the surprise
(demolition of the planet). In the English example about it is a determiner of the surprise.
41
37a There is no point in acting all surprised about it». (Corpus I, page 35, ll. 3)
37b Il est inutile de jouer la surprise : tous les plans du projet […] (Corpus II, page 53, ll. 2829)
The way of translating example 38a into French is a bit unforeseen. The French
version obtains an impersonal construction with the pronoun on, which is the subject of the
main clause. The impersonal construction is in the active voice. Whereas the counterpart of
on avait admis is the adjective accepted in the original sentence. This adjective has a
concealed passive meaning, as Arthur’s role has been accepted by somebody. The performer
of the action is unknown, so the impersonal pronoun on appears to be a good choice for
translation.
38a It was Arthur’s accepted role to lie squelching in the mud making occasional demands to
see his lawyer, his mother or a good book […] (Corpus I, page 12, ll. 19-21)
38b On avait admis que le rôle d’Arthur consistait à rester couché dans la boue en réclamant
épisodiquement son avocat, sa mère ou un bon bouquin […] (Corpus II, page 29, ll. 10-13)
2.7 Born and Gone
We discussed in the first part of the research paper the fact that the cases with gone
and born are not considered to be examples of passive voice constructions. Gone obtains
adjectival characteristics because be functions in this case as a copula. Born can be explained
in the same way, unless there is a by-complement, usually – mother.
39a […] the supermarket was gone, everyone in it was gone. (Corpus I, page 60, ll. 20-21)
39b […] le supermarché avait disparu ! Avec tous ses occupants ! (Corpus II, page 86, ll. 1516)
40a Ford Prefect was at this moment under great stress, and he was born 600 light years away
in the near vicinity of Betelgeuse. (Corpus I, page 29, ll. 32; page 30, ll. 1-2)
40b Ford Prefect était à ce moment même soumis à une tension extrême et lui, il était né à six
cents années-lumière d’ici, aux confins de Bételgeuse. (Corpus II, page 48, ll. 3-5)
Example 39b has quite an interesting translation, as gone, which is not regarded as
a passive, is translated by means of active constructions. The first sentence in example 39b is
in the active voice. Even if disparu is the past participle, the verb disparaître requires the
verb avoir when conjugated. So the entire sentence is in the active voice with the subject
supermarché which cannot be considered as an agent, as it has experienced something.
Translation with the use of the structure il était parti is not possible, because nobody
42
participates in the action. Moreover partir is a dynamic verb, which simply requires the verb
être. And the sentence le supermarché était parti would be inadequate, as it would imply that
the supermarket has legs and can walk away. The second sentence of example 39a is
completely different. It is the continuation of the first part. They are separated by an
exclamation mark to emphasize how severe and significant the disaster is.
Il était né in 40b is not in the passive voice either. The verb naître is an active verb
which is always conjugated with the verb être because the subject is affected. Moreover
intransitive verbs cannot be used in the passive voice. So it is safe to say that neither to be
gone nor to be born are the forms of the passive voice. And no passive counterpart in the
French language exists.
2.8 Prepositional Passives
Prepositional passives occur quite often in the English language. This type of
passive voice constructions has a stranded preposition in its structure. It is a quite common
phenomenon in English. Below are examples of such passives with their translation in
French.
41a The room was much as Slartibarfast had described it. In seven and a half million years it
had been well looked after and cleaned regularly every century or so. (Corpus I, page 178, ll.
21-23)
41b La pièce était fort semblable à la description de Slartibartfast. En sept millions et demi
d’années, elle avait été soigneusement entretenue et régulièrement nettoyée à peu près une
fois par siècle. (Corpus II, page 228, ll. 8-11)
42a He kicked the hatch they’d just been thrown through. (Corpus I, page 74, ll. 12-13)
42b Il donna un coup de pied dans la porte par laquelle on venait de les jeter. (Corpus I,
page 102, ll. 30-31)
43a What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the
Galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through and still know where his
towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with. (Corpus I, page 27, ll. 23-28)
43b […] son raisonnement était que tout homme ainsi capable de sillonner de long en large la
Galaxie en vivant à la dure, de zoner en affrontant de terribles épreuves et de s’en tirer sans
avoir perdu sa serviette ne peut être assurément qu’un homme digne d’estime. (Corpus II,
page 45, ll. 13-17)
This construction is not typical for the French language. It is not at all in use. As
seen from the examples, no prepositional structure is presented. Looked after in example 41a
is a phrasal verb. It is translated with the basic passive voice construction, which evidently
does not have any preposition in its structure. The preposition through refers to the
preposition par in example 42b. But while through takes the last position in the sentence, par
is “inside” the structure and functions as a binding element between the principle and
43
subordinate clauses, which in turn forms relation between the clauses. Generally the passive
construction from example 42a is translated in French with the impersonal active structure
with on taking the role of the subject. Un homme digne d’estime is the translation of the
infinitive prepositional passive man to be reckoned with into French. Except the preposition
de, which does not correspond to the preposition with from example 43a, there are no other
prepositions in the sentence. Un homme digne d’estime means a man who deserves to be
admired. It may be considered as a concealed passive though the structure is active and
estime is a noun.
2.9 Impersonal Passives
In the French language there are two impersonal constructions which may be used in
the passive voice. The impersonal proouns il and on are usually used. Some impersonal
constructions are also typical to the English language.
44a It is possible that her remark would have commanded greater attention had it been
generally realized that human beings were only the third most intelligent life form present on
the planet Earth, instead of (as was generally thought by most independent observers) the
second. (Corpus I, page 137, ll. 4-9)
44b Sa remarque aurait sans doute soulevé davantage l’attention, à condition qu’eût été plus
généralement admise l’idée que les êtres humains n’étaient en fait que la troisième forme de
vie intelligente sur Terre et non pas (comme il était généralement admis par une majorité
d’observateurs impartiaux) la seconde. (Corpus II, page 178, ll. 10-16)
45a Eventually of course, after their Galaxy had been decimated over a few thousand years, it
was realized that the whole thing had been a ghastly mistake, and so the two opposing battle
fleets settled their few remaining differences in order to launch a joint attack on our own
Galaxy – now positively identified as the source of the offending remark. (Corpus I, page 196,
ll. 6-12)
45b Bien sûr, après que leur Galaxie eut été décimée durant quelques millénaires, on finit par
s’apercevoir que tout cela était le résultat d’une affreuse méprise, et, en conséquence, les deux
flottes adverses décidèrent de régler leurs ultimes différends, afin de lancer une attaque
concertée sur notre propre Galaxie, désormais nettement identifiée comme étant la source de la
remarque insultante. (Corpus II, page 249, ll. 17-25)
In example 44a two cases of impersonal passive voice constructions are presented.
The first one had it been generally realized is a conditional structure with an omitted
conditional conjunction. A conditional sense is achieved by inversion. No agent is involved
in the action of realization, which is considered to be a typical feature of impersonal passives.
Generally, no agent is needed, as a common attitude to the situation is described. Nobody
took attention to her remark, because before nobody had realized the fact that human beings
were only the third intelligent life form. This conditional impersonal structure refers to à
condition qu’eût été plus généralement admise l’idée in the French translation. Conditional
44
interpretation is expressed by means of the conjunction à condition que. In the French version
the clause in question is also in form of passive voice but with the presence of the subject
l’idée. The subject takes the last position in the structure to be emphasized, because it is
important to tell exactly, which idea had been accepted. Information about the performer of
the action is also omitted in the French version.
On the contrary, as was generally thought in example 44a has an agent most
independent observers, introduced by the preposition by. As was generally thought is also an
impersonal passive but with an omitted subject (as it was generally thought). Whereas the
French translation has the impersonal pronoun il, as seen from the example il était
généralement admis. Une majorité d’observateurs impartiaux is the agent, introduced by par.
In example 45a it was realized is also an impersonal passive construction. In the
French translation the impersonal pronoun on is used instead of il to express an impersonal
character of the sentence. Moreover we find the translation of the past participle realized in
the infinitive s’apercevoir with the reflexive pronoun se which reflects an effect on the
subject on. In the English version the action is completed, as the construction is in preterit,
whereas in French its counterpart is in the present. But there is the verb finit which is the
mark of termination. So literally it would be we finally finished by understanding.
2.10 Passive Gerunds
Examples 46b and 47b demonstrate the way of translation passive gerund structures
from English into French. The passive gerunds from the English examples being put from
46a and being picked up from 47a refer to infinitive constructions d’être mis in 46b and
d’être recuilli in 47b. In English gerunds are verbal forms functioning as nouns. Whereas
gérondif in French has verbal and adverbial characteristics. It does not possess any properties
of a noun. As adverb it functions as circumstantial complement. Usually it is in form of a
present participle sometimes preceded by the preposition –en. In both English examples 46a
and 47a gerunds follow prepositions before and of, which find their translation in avant and
de, respectively.
46a […] in fact they had very little to be nervous about, because all mattresses grown in the
swamps of Sqornshellous Zeta are very thoroughly killed and dried before being put to
service. (Corpus I, page 51, ll. 29-31, page 52, ll. 1)
46b […] en fait, il n’avait guère à s’inquiéter car tous les matelas élevés dans les marécages de
Sqornshellous Zeta sont très soigneusement tués et séchés avant d’être mis en service.
(Corpus II, page 75, ll. 27-30)
45
47a However, it does go on to say that what with space being the mind-boggling size it is the
chances of getting picked up by another ship within those thirty seconds […] (Corpus I, page
77, ll. 22-25)
47b Toutefois, compte tenu des dimensions proprement ahurissantes de celui-ci, cela revient à
évaluer les chances d’être recueilli par un autre vaisseau […] (Corpus II, page 107, ll. 4-7)
2.11 Passive Infinitives
Below are presented the translation of passive infinitive forms. Seemed in example
48a requires an infinitive structure. In the French variant seemed refers to the comparative
conjunction comme, which is not restricted to any obligatory structures. So the French
example does not have an infinitive form in its structure. Literally the skin (was) as if pulled
backward. The subject is subjected to an action, consequently we can conclude that example
48b is a bare passive.
Passive infinitive construction signals are too minute to be noticed from example
49a is translated into French by means of a passive infinitive. In 49b the preposition pour has
equal interpretation as in order to, so it means the signals are too short in order not to be
noticed. Because of the fact that an agent is not mentioned in both examples, 49a can also be
translated by means of the impersonal pronoun on (signaux demeurent trop minimes pour
qu’on puisse les remarquer).
The passive infinitive the deadly missile attack shortly to be launched from example
50a with an ancient automatic defense system, which takes the role of an agent, refers to a
relative clause que va bientôt lancer un antique dispositif de défense automatique. The
relative clause in the French example is in the form of active voice. Un antique dispositif de
défense automatique is the performer of the action.
48a His skin seemed to be pulled backword from the nose. (Corpus I, page 10, ll. 25-26)
48b […] la peau comme tirée en arrière depuis le nez […] (Corpus II, page 27, ll. 9-10)
49a On Earth it is never possible to be father than sixteen thousand miles from your birthplace,
which really isn’t very far, so such signals are too minute to be noticed. (Corpus I, page 29, ll.
29-32)
49b Sur Terre, comme il n‘est guère possible de se trouver à plus de vingt mille kilomètres de
son pays natal (ce qui ne fait vraiment pas loin) de tels signaux demeurent trop minimes pour
être remarqués. (Corpus II, page 47, ll. 29-30/page 48, ll. 1-2)
50a The deadly missile attack shortly to be launched by an ancient automatic defense
system will result merely in the breakage of three coffee cups and a mouse cage […] (Corpus I,
page 122, ll. 5-7)
50b […] la meurtrière attaque de missile que va bientôt lancer un antique dispositif de
défense automatique n’aura pour seules conséquences que le bris de trois tasses à café et
d’une cage à souris […] (Corpus I, page 160, ll. 9-12)
46
2.12 Theme is to be emphasized
Bearing in mind the fact that in French passive voice is not as commonly used as in
the English language, there are still some cases when it is inevitably needed. For example,
when a theme of a sentence should be emphasized. As in example 51b the focus is on the
theme cette déviation, because as we know from the context, the construction of the bypass is
of high importance for everybody and it must be built even in spite of the fact that Arthur
Dent’s house is supposed to be destroyed.
Missle attack shortly to be launched in example 50a implies an action that will
happen in the future. So an ancient automatic defense system will launch the attack. Example
50b is in the form of the active voice. No infinitive construction is used for translation. To
demonstrate that the action has not happened yet but will be done soon is expressed by va
bientôt. The Un antique dispositif de défense automatique is a rheumatic component, which
takes the last position in phrase to emphasize the fact that particularly this system will launch
the attack.
51a […] this bypass has got to be built, and it’s going to be built (Corpus I, page 7, ll. 15-16)
51b Cette déviation doit être construite et elle sera construite. (Corpus II, page 23, ll. 4-5)
Another reason for not mentioning a patient in French is when the agent is unknown,
unimportant or should not be mentioned. For example, 52b expresses a process concerning le
Cœur-en-Oras the theme and subject but there is no information about the performer of this
action, as it does not matter.
52 a […] the day that the Heart of Gold was finally to be introduced to a marvelling Galaxy
[…] (Corpus I, page 37, ll. 14-15)
52b […] le grand jour de la révélation, celui ou le Cœur-en-Or allait enfin être offert à
l’émerveillement de la Galaxie […] (Corpus II, page 56, ll. 16-18)
2.13 Faire l’objet de
The basic passive voice structure it has been compiled and recompiled in example
53a is translated in the French language by means of the construction fait l’objet de, which is
not typical to the English language. Together with such structures as subir, être la cible de,
être la victime de, être la proie de, construction fait l’objet de semantically may be related to
the passive voice. One of the meanings of the verbal construction faire l’objet de quelque
47
chose in English is to be subjected to something or sometimes suffer from something. These
verbs imply passive reading, which means that the Guide has been subjected to adjustments
and updates. So the Guide has been adjusted and updated.
53a It [the Guide] has been compiled and recompiled many times over many years and
under many different editorships. (Corpus I, page 76, ll. 2-4)
53b Il a fait l’objet de bien des remaniements et mises à jour depuis bien des années et sous la
responsabilité de nombreux rédacteurs. (Corpus II, page 105, ll. 2-5)
In the second part of the research paper we examined how the examples from the
English corpus were translated into French. Both languages, English and French, have
differences as well as similarities. The way of using of the passive voice is not an exception.
In comparison to the English language the French passive has one distinctive
feature. Past participles can be modified according to gender and number, whereas in the
English language it is not at all applicable.
The French language as well as the English language has the canonical passive voice
construction. However, as mentioned above, French searches every time for a way to avoid
the basic passive structure. It should be admitted that except habitual passive voice
constructions with their specific morphology and canonical definition, associated with the
classic syntactical scheme, there are other compatible constructions with one or a number of
similar distinctive features in French as well as in English. Whereas the English language
requires nothing but passive, the French language is not restricted to a particular passive
construction. Very often the active voice, pronominal or impersonal constructions are used.
Structures with the impersonal pronoun on are quite widespread. Some English passives find
their translations in verbal constructions such as faire l’objet de, subir, être la victim de, etc.
In most cases this helps avoid an ambiguity, whereas in English it occurs quite often.
48
Conclusion
We have been intended to explore the use, formation and ways of expression of the
English passive voice together with the analysis of its translation from English into French.
We displayed and examined the examples taken from the novel “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to
the Galaxy” written by Douglas Adams.
We aimed to study the examples of the passive voice in the frames of context and
according to syntactical, morphological and semantic parameters. To do this we gathered
examples for the English corpus and presented them in accordance with their types and
classification given by Huddleston and Pullum in The Cambridge Grammar of the English
Language, 2002.
In Chapter I of the first part of the paper we observed the definition of the passive
voice, its formation and manifestations in the English language. In Chapter II we classified
and analysed the English examples in relation to forms and types of passive constructions. It
is safe to say that apart from the classical passive structure be + past participle there are other
constructions compatible to the basic one.
Auxiliary get, for example, is commonly used in informal speech patterns and in
some situations when a kind of benefit or, on the contrary, loss is described.
With the tendency of the English language to reduction, bare passives consider as an
integral part of the English passive voice system. Bare passives are opposed to expanded
passives, which have an auxiliary in structure which is either be or get. However sometimes
in constructions with be an ambiguity may occur, as be may also function as a copula. Hence
there are cases when it is quite difficult to be certain in distinguishing the passive voice from
a complex-intransitive construction. Presence of a by-phrase complement, an agent of an
action, helps recognize a passive construction. Short passives, which do not have such
complement in structure, are opposed to long passives. The latter help in avoiding of an
ambiguous sense of a sentence which may occur, when no agent is presented.
Quite often adjectival passives appear in the corpus. They are considered as
extended passive forms. Even if in adjectival passives a subject is also affected, this
adjectival structure illustrates a final condition of the subject, but not an action in process. So
adjectival passives possess more adjectival characteristics than verbal.
Infinitives and gerunds are also used in the passive voice. They have their special
forms and usually, depending on context, infinitives emphasize either a patient or an agent of
the sentence, whereas gerunds attract attention to a process.
49
Cases with the use of born and gone are not considered to be the examples of the
passive voice.
Prepositional passives are commonly used in the English language not only in the
passive voice. They are structured with a stranded preposition.
Impersonal passives are also regarded as a habitual phenomenon for the English
language. Apart from ordinary application very often they function as parenthesis, just to
provide some assessment or additional information.
Chapter III reveals some non-passive forms semantically related to the passive
voice. Bearing in mind context, ways of formation, morphology and some other factors, a
latent passive interpretation may be uncovered.
Adjectives ending in –able may be read with a passive meaning. The suffix –able
implies that somebody is able to do something, hence something can be done. Adverbs
derived from adjectives ending in –able sometimes obtain passive reading too. The suffix –
less in terms of context may also possess passive features, as for example countless may
denote something which cannot be counted.
Reflexive structures as well as reciprocal may imply a passive orientation even if
their forms are active. In reflexive constructions a patient and an agent perform an action
simultaneously, experiencing it at the same time. Reciprocal constructions has a notion of
mutuality, when all the participants produce an action and in parallel with it they are
subjected to the same action. All these constructions prove the fact that the passive voice
cannot be restricted just to its classical form.
The second part of the work was dedicated to the analysis of translation of the
English examples into French. We compared the structures, methods of expressing one and
the same thing in both languages.
Contrasting and examining the English and the French corpora we payed attention to
differences and similarities typical for both languages. And if any conclusion is to be drawn,
it is that the cases of the use of the passive voice in French are much less often than in the
English language. Cases when English requires a passive voice construction are translated
into French either by means of the active voice or by some different compatible
constructions. It has been observed that the most frequent translation solution was the use of
impersonal construction with the impersonal pronoun on. We would assume that it results
from the tendency of the French language to simplification, in order not to use bulky
complicated structures.
50
At the same time it should be admitted that there are some similarities in both
languages. Very often translation coincided with the original version. For example, the basic
passive voice constructions resemble in both languages as well as the use of bare passives,
passive infinitives or short and long passives. Preposition by which introduces an agent in the
English language refers to the preposition par in French. Both bore and gone do not have
passive interpretations in the French language, nor they are passives. The same principle
implies on être né and être parti, as they also are not the cases of the passive voice in French.
Such phenomenon as prepositional passives do not occur in French as structures
with stranded prepositions are not typical for the French language.
As mentioned above French tends to avoid the passive voice, so there are some
constructions with a passive orientation but not passive syntactically. One of them is faire
l’objet de, which may be interpreted as to be subjected to something which employs a passive
reading.
In general, the research revealed peculiarities of the use of the passive voice in both
languages. It demonstrated different types of passive constructions as well as non-passive
forms semantically related to the passive voice. Comparison of the examples provide a vision
of how on and the same concept, as for example the passive voice, is treated in different
realities. The examples of the corpora may be used in further studying of the passive voice in
both languages in question as well as in some others in comparison to English and French.
51
Bibliography
Primary sources
1.
Adams, Douglas. Le Guide du voyageur galactique H2G2,I. Barcelona: composition
Nord Compo, 2016 (translated from English by Jean Bonnefoy, edited Denoël,
1982)
2.
Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. New York: Del Rey ®
Books, 2015 (originally published in 1980)
Secondary sources
Works cited:
1. Haspelmath, Martin “Further remarks on reciprocal constructions”. Nedjalkov,
Vladimir P. (ed.). Reciprocal constructions. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2007
2. Huddleston
&
Pullum, The
Cambridge
Grammar
of
the
English
Language, Cambridge University Press, 2002
3. Miller, J. Semantics and Syntax: Parallels and connections. Cambridge: Cambridge
UP, 1985.
4. Puckica, Jerôme, “Passive Constructions in Present-Day English”. University
Grenoble 3, France: LIDILEM (EA 609), 2009
5. Pullum, Geoffrey K., “Fear and Loathing of the English Passive”. Language and
Communication, 2014. http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/~gpullum/passive_loathing.pdf (last
accessed 7 May 2017)
6. Quirk, R., et al., “A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language”. London:
Longman, 1985
7. Tseng, Jesse, “English Prepositional Passive Constructions”. Stanford Department
of Linguistics and CSLI’s LinGO Lab Stefan Müller (Editor), 2007
Works not cited:
1.
Alexiadou, Artemis. “A note on non-canonical passives: the case of the getpassive”.
Berlin:
Mouton
de
Gryuter,
2005.
http://ifla.unistuttgart.de/institut/mitarbeiter/artemis/noncanonical.pdf (last accessed
17 Avril 2017)
52
2.
Biber, D., et al. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Harlow:
Pearson Education Limited, 1999
3.
Freidin, Robert. “The Analysis of Passives.” Language, Vol. 51-2. Jun., 1975
4.
Huddleston, R. The Sentence in Written English. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1971.
5.
Huddleston, Rodney. Introduction to the Grammar of English. Cambridge:
Cambridge UP, 1984.
6.
Levin, Beth & Malka Rappaport. The Formation of Adjectival Passives.
Massachusetts: Linguistic Inquiry, Volume 17, 1986
7.
McIntyre, Andrew, “Adjectival passives and adjectival participles in English”. In A.
Alexiadou & Florian Schäfer (eds.), Non-canonical Passives. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins,
http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/001370/current.pdf?_s=ST7p_rCTXNWFFSg9
2012.
(last
accessed 17 May, 2017)
8.
Mel’čuk, I.A. “Grammatical Voice in French". Université de Montréal.
http://olst.ling.umontreal.ca/pdf/FrenchVoice.pdf (last accessed 8 May 2017)
We consulted the site Wikipedia https://fr.wikipedia.org/ in order to find information
about the passive voice, pseudo-passives, transitivity, stranded prepositions, etc.
53
Annex
Corpus I (English examples)
1. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but
most of them were largerly concerned with the
movements of small green pieces of paper […] (page 1,
ll. 11-14)
Corpus II (French examples)
1. Bien des solutions avaient été suggérées mais la plupart
d’entre elles faisaient largement intervenir la mise en
circulation de petits bouts de papier vert […] (page 15, ll. 1416)
2. And then, one Thursday, nearly two thousand years
after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how
great it would be ti be nice to people […] (page 2, ll. 13)
3. […] and she finally knew how the world could be
made a good and happy place (page 2, ll. 6-8)
4. […] and no one would have to get nailed for anything
(page 2, ll.8-9)
5. […] a terrible, stupid catastrophe occured, and the idea
was lost forever (page 2, ll. 11-12)
6. […] it has the words DON’T PANIC inscribed in
large friendly letters on its cover. (page 3, ll. 10-11)
7. “Yellow”, he thought, and stomped off back to his
bedroom to get dressed. (page 5, ll. 24-25)
8. […] which was to see that Arthur Dent’s house got
cleared out of the way before the day was out. (page 7,
ll. 4-6)
9. […] this bypass has got to be built, and it’s going to
be built (page 7, ll. 15-16)
10. People living at point C, being a point directly in
between, are often given to wonder what’s so great
about point A […] (page 7, ll. 25-28)
11. Mr Prosser’s mouth opened and closed a couple of
times while his mind was for a moment filled with
inexplicable but terribly attractive visions of Arthur
Dent’s house being consumed with fire […] (page 9,
ll. 20-23)
12. Mr Prosser was often bothered with visions like these
and they made him feel very nervous. (page 9, ll. 26-27)
13. His skin seemed to be pulled backword from the
nose. (page 10, ll. 25-26)
14. […] he would often gate-crash university parties, get
badly drunk and start making fun of any
astrophysicists he could find till he got thrown out.
(page 11, ll. 5-8)
2. Et puis, un beau jeudi, près de deux mille ans après qu’on eut
cloué un homme sur un arbre pour avoir dit combien ça
pourrait être chouette de se montrer sympa avec les gens […]
(page 16, ll. 8-11)
3. […] vit enfin comment on pouvait faire du monde un endroit
agréable et chouette. (page 16, ll. 15-16)
4. […] on n’aurait plus besoin de clouer n’importe où
n’importe qui. (page 16, ll. 17-18)
5. […] la nouvelle, une terrible catastrophe survint et l’idée se
perdit à jamais (page 16, line 22)
6. […] sur sa couverture on peut lire en larges lettres amicales
la mention : PAS DE PANIQUE ! (page 17, ll. 24-26)
7. « Jaune », remarqua-t-il, avant de retourner, pesamment,
s’hebiller dans sa chambre. (page 21, ll. 4-5)
8. […] lequel consistait à veiller à ce que la maison d’Arthur
Dent eut bien débarrassé le plancher d’ici au soir. (page 22,
ll. 23-25)
9. Cette déviation doit être construite et elle sera construite.
(page 23, ll. 4-5)
10. Les gens qui vivent au point C, exactement situé à mi-chemin,
ont souvent tendance à se demander ce qu’a de particulier le
point A […] (page 23, ll. 17-19)
11. La bouche de M. Prosser s’ouvrit et se referma plusieurs fois
de suite tandis que lui venaient à l’esprit, inexplicable mais
terriblement attirant, des visions de la maison d’Arthur Dent
consumée par les flammes […] (page 25, ll. 25-29)
15. Sometimes he would get seized with oddly distracted
moods and stare into the sky as if hypnotized until
someone asked him what he was doing. (page 11, ll. 911)
16. […] because fifteen years was a long time to get
stranded anywhere, particularly somewhere as mindbogglingly dull as the Earth. (page 12, ll. 5-7)
17. Ford Prefect was a roving researcher for that wholly
remarkable book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy. (page 12, ll. 14-16)
18. It was Arthur’s accepted role to lie squelching in the
mud making occasional demands to see his lawyer, his
mother or a good book… (page 12, ll. 19-21)
19. Ford stared at Arthur, and Arthur was astonished to
12. M. Prosser était souvent hanté par ce genre de visions qui
lui rendaient extrêmement nerveux. (page 25-26, ll. 32-33/1)
13. (…] la peau comme tirée en arrière depuis le nez […] (page
27, ll. 9-10)
14. […] il lui arrivait souvent de débouler à l’improviste dans les
soirées d’universitaires, de s’y saouler méchamment avant de
commencer à ce foutre de tous les astrophysiciens qu’il
pouvait dénicher jusqu’à ce qu’on soit obligé de le jeter
dehors. (page 27, ll. 21-26)
15. Il était pris parfois de bizarres accès de distraction et
contemplait le ciel, comme hypnotisé, jusqu’à ce qu’on
vienne lui demander ce qu’il cherchait. (page 27, ll. 27-30)
16. [...] car quinze ans c’est long lorsqu’on est paumé quelque
part, surtout quand ce quelque part s’avère aussi
désespérément ennuyeux que la Terre. (page 28, ll. 27-30)
17. Ford Prefect était un enquêteur itinérant pour le compte de cet
ouvrage en tout point remarquable qu’est Le Guide du
voyageur galactique. (page 29, ll. 4-6)
18. On avait admis que le rôle d’Arthur consistait à rester couché
dans la boue en réclamant épisodiquement son avocat, sa mère
ou un bon bouquin… (page 29, ll. 10-13)
19. […] et Arthur sentit non sans surprise sa volonté
54
find his will beginning to weaken. (page 14, ll. 9-10)
20. The bottle would then be refilled. The game would
be played again. (page 14, ll. 30-31)
21. As soon as a predetermined quantity had been
consumed, the final looser would have to perform a
forfeit, which was usually obscenely biological. (page
15, ll. 3-5)
22. […] who was arguing with a spokesman for the
bulldozer drivers about whether or not Arthur Dent
constitued a mental health hazard, and how much they
should get paid if he did. (page 15, ll. 20-23)
23. Well, if you’re resigned to doing that anyway, you
don’t actually need him to lie here all the time do you?
(page 16, ll. 5-7)
24. Bureaucratic cock-ups, angry men lying in mud,
indecipherable strangers handing out inexplicable
humiliation and an unidentified army of horesmen
laughing at him in his head – what a day. (page 18, line
32, page 19, ll. 1)
25. Ford Prefect knew that it didn’t matter a pair of dingo’s
kidneys whether Arthur’s house got knocked down or
not. (page 19, ll. 4-5)
26. The Guide also tells you on which planets the best Pan
Galactic Blasters are mixed […] (page 20, ll. 12-13)
27. […] it must be properly iced or the benzine is lost.
(page 21, ll.1-2)
28. This had about a hundred tiny flat press buttons and a
screen about four inches square on which any one of a
million “pages” could be summoned at a moment’s
notice. (page 26, ll. 9-12)
29. It looked insanely complicated, and this was one of the
reasons why the snug plastic cover it fitted into had the
words DON’T PANIC printed on it in large friendly
letters. (page 26, ll. 12-15)
30. […] this device was in fact the most remarkable of all
books ever […] (page 26, ll. 15-16)
31. The reason why it was published in the form of micro
sub meson electronic component is that if it were
printed in normal book form, an interstellar hitch hiker
would require several inconveniently large buildings to
carry it around in. (page 26, ll. 18-23)
32. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch
the length and breadth of the Galaxy, rough it, slum it,
struggle against terrible odds, win through and still
know where his towel is, is clearly a man to be
reckoned with. (page 27, ll. 23-28)
33. He had given up being surprised, there didn’t seem to
be any point any longer. (page 28, ll. 13-15)
34. “It’s probably just your house being knocked down”,
said Ford, downing his last pint. (page 28, ll. 28-29)
35. On Earth it is never possible to be father than sixteen
thousand miles from your birthplace, which really isn’t
very far, so such signals are too minute to be noticed.
(page 29, ll. 29-32)
commencer à faiblir. (page 31, ll. 10-11)
20. On remplissait de nouveau la bouteille. Et le jeu
recommençait. (page 32, ll. 1-2)
21. Dès qu’avant été consommée une quantité prédéterminée,
le perdant devait accomplir un gage, lu plus souvent d’un
caractère biologiquement obscène. (page 32, ll. 7-10)
22. […] qui était en discussion avec un port parole des chauffeurs
de bulldozer pour savoir si oui ou non le cas Arthur Dent
relevait de la psychiatrie et, dans l’affirmative, combien il
faudrait les payer. (page 32, ll. 26-30)
23. Eh bien, si vous avez une bonne fois pour toutes décidé
d’agir ainsi, vous n’avez pas en fait aucun besoin qu’il reste
allongé là en permanence, n’est-ce pas ? (page 33, ll.12-15)
24. Les conneries de la bureaucratie, les râleurs dans la gadoue,
les étrangers insondable qui vous servaient d’inexplicables
humiliations, avec en prime une armée de cavaliers non
identifiés qui venaient se foutre de lui sous son crane – quelle
journée ! (page 36, ll. 16-20)
25. Ford Prefect se moquait comme d’une paire de rognons de
coyote de savoir si oui ou non on allait démolir la maison
d’Arthur. (page 36, ll. 21-23)
26. Le Guide vous indique également sur quelles planètes on
prépare le meilleur gargle blaster pan galactique […] (page
37, ll. 12-14)
27. […] il doit être bien frappé, faute de quoi tout le benzène
s’évapore. (page 38, ll. 5-6)
28. Mais celui-ci possédait une centaine de minuscules boutons
plats ainsi qu’un écran d’environ dix centimètres de côté sur
lequel on pouvait appeler en un clin d’œil plus d’un million
de « pages ». (page 43, ll. 17-20)
29. Tout cela semblait effroyablement compliqué, ce qui était
l’une des raisons pour lesquelles la confortable housse de
plastique dans laquelle il se glissait portait gravée en
grandes lettres amicales la mention PAS DE PANIQUE !
(page 43, ll. 20-25)
30. […] cet appareil était en fait le plus remarquable de tous les
livres […] (page 43, ll. 26-27)
31. Et s’il était publié sous la forme d’un microcomposant
subméson-électronique, il aurait contraint le routard
interstellaire à trimbaler avec lui l’équivalent (malcommode)
en volume de plusieurs gros pâtés de maisons. (page 43-44, ll.
29-34/2)
32. …son raisonnement était que tout homme ainsi capable de
sillonner de long en large la Galaxie en vivant à la dure, de
zoner en affrontant de terribles épreuves et de s’en tirer sans
avoir perdu sa serviette ne peut être assurément qu’un homme
digne d’estime. (page 45, ll. 13-17)
33. Il avait renoncé à être surpris ; cela semblait désormais sans
objet. (page 46, ll. 5-7)
34. « C’est sans doute simplement ta maison qu’on abat »,
constata Ford en éclusant son dernier verre. (page 46, ll. 1920)
35. Sur Terre, comme il n‘est guère possible de se trouver à plus
de vingt mille kilomètres de son pays natal (ce qui ne fait
vraiment pas loin) de tels signaux demeurent trop minimes
pour être remarqués. (page 47, lines 29-30/page 48, ll. 1-2)
55
36. Ford Prefect was at this moment under great stress, and
he was born 600 light years away in the near vicinity of
Betelgeuse. (page 29, ll. 32/page 30, ll. 1-2)
37. The barman reeled for a moment, hit by a shocking
incomprehensible sense of distance. (page 30, ll. 3-4)
38. Everything was ready, everything was prepared.
(page 33, ll. 18-19)
39. Every tin can, every dustbin, every window, every car,
every wineglass, every sheet of rusty metal became
activated as an acoustically perfect sounding board.
(page 34, ll. 4-7)
40. The plans for development of the outlying regions of
the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial
express route through your star system, and regrettably
your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition.
(page 34, ll. 20-23)
41. The terror moved slowly through the gathered crowds
[…] (page 34, ll. 28-29)
42. “There is no piont in acting all surprised about it”.
(page 35, ll. 3)
43. […] which by another meaningless coincidence was
called France (page 37, lines 7-8)
44. […] the day that the Heart of Gold was finally to be
introduced to a marveling Galaxy[…] (page 37, ll. 1415)
45. Zaphod Beeblebrox, adventurer, ex-hippie, good-timer,
(crook? Quite possibly), manic self-publicist, terribly
bad at personal relationships, often though to be
completely out of lunch. (page 37, ll. 26-29)
46. Only six people in the entire Galaxy understood the
principle on which the Galaxy was governed[…]
(page 37, ll. 32-33)
47. He is apparently chosen by the governement, but the
qualities he is required to display are not those of
leadershipbut those of finaly judged outrage. (page 38,
ll. 28-30)
48. Most of the others secretly believe that the ultimate
decision-making process is handled by a computer.
(page 38, l. 37-36)
49. His fair tousled hair stuck out in random directions, his
blue eyes glinted with something completely
unidentifiable, and his chins were almost always
unshaven. (page 41, ll. 6-9)
50. Pages one and two had been salvaged by a
Damogran Frond Crested Eagle and had already
become incorporatedinto an extraordinary new form of
nest which the eagle had invented. (page 42, ll. 12-16)
51. Zaphod Beeblebrox would not be needing his set speech
and he gently deflected the one being offered him by
the spider. (page 42, ll. 21-23)
52. With her red head scarf knotted in thar particular way
and her long flowing silky brown dress, she looked
vaguely Arabic. (page 42, ll. 31-33)
53. As he grinned his heart screamed unbearably and he
36. Ford Prefect était à ce moment même soumis à une tension
extrême et lui, il était né à six cents années-lumière d’ici, aux
confins de Bételgeuse. (page 48, ll. 3-5)
37. Le barman oscilla quelques instants, frappé d plein fouet par
cette impression d’immensité, aussi violente
qu’incompréhensible. (page 48, ll. 6-8)
38. Tout était en ordre. Tout était prêt. (page 52, ll. 5-6)
39. Chaque boite de conserve, chaque poubelle, chaque fenêtre,
chaque voiture, le moindre verre à vin, la moindre plaque de
tôle rouillée se mirent à vibrer comme de parfaites caisses de
résonance. (page 52, ll. 28-31)
40. …les plans de développement des régions périphériques de la
Galaxie requièrent la construction d’une voie express hyper
spatiale à travers votre système solaire et,
malencontreusement, votre planète fait partie de celles que
l’on va devoir démolir. (page 53, ll. 12-17)
41. Une terreur qui progressait lentement parmi les foules
rassemblées […] (page 53, ll. 21-22)
42. Il est inutile de jouer la surprise […] (page 53, ll. 28-29)
43. […] qui une autre coincidence sans plus de signification se
trouvait s’appeler France. (page 56, ll. 10-11)
44. […] le grand jour de la révélation, celui ou le Cœur-en-Or
allait enfin être offert à l’emerveillement de la Galaxie […]
(page 56, ll. 16-18)
45. Zaphod Beeblebrox, aventurier, ancien hippy, bon vivant
(escroc ? c’est bien possible !), caractérisé par son
autosatisfaction maladive ainsi que par une redoutable
inaptitude aux relations personnelles, un homme assez
souvent jugé comme complètement parti du bulbe. (page
56, ll. 30-32, page 57, ll. 1-3)
46. Six individus seulement dans toute l’étendue de la Galaxie
comprenaient le principe selon lequel celle-ci était
gouvernée[…] (page 57, ll. 7-9)
47. Il est apparemment choisi par le gouvernement mais on lui
demande moins de faire montre de qualités de dirigeant qu’au
contraire de susciter une subtile indignation. (page 58, ll. 1821)
48. La plupart des autres croient en secret que le processus ultime
de décision serait en définitive aux mains d’un ordinateur.
(page 58, ll. 31-32)
49. Ses cheveux blonds ébouriffés pointqient dans toutes les
directions, il y avait dans ses yeux bleus l’éclat de quelque
chose de quasiment insaisissable et ses deux mentons étaient
presque constamment mal rasés. (page 61, ll. 19-24)
50. Les pages une et deux avaient été piquées par un aigle
damograin à crête huppée et se trouvaient d’ores et déjà
incorporées à une forme de nid radicalement nouvelle que
venait d’inventer ce rapace […] (page 63, ll. (5-9)
51. Zaphod Beeblebrox n’avait aucunement besoin d’un discours
préparé, aussi repoussa-t-il doucement celui que lui
présentait l’araignée. (page 63, ll. 15-17)
52. …avec son fichu rouge noué d’une manière si particulière et
son ample le longue robe de soie marron, elle avait l’air
vaguement arabe. (page 63, ll. 27-29)
53. Tandis que s’épanouissant son sourire, son cœur se déchirait
56
fingered the small Paralyso-Matic bomb that nestled
quitely in his pocket. (page 44, lines 21-23)
54. Somewhere in a small dark cabin buried deep in the
intestines of Prostentic Vogon Jeltz’s flagship, a small
match flared nervously. (page 47, ll. 1-3)
55. Ford Prefect’s original name is only pronounceable in
an obscure Betelgeusian dialect […] (page 47, lines 2122)
56. […] he quite liked human beings after all, but he always
remained desperately worried abut the terrible
number of things they didn’t know about. (page 49, ll.
1-4)
57. The report was an official release which said that a
wonderful new form of spaceship drive was at this
moment being unveiled at a governement research
base on Domogran which would henceforth make all
hyperspatial express routes unnecessary. (page 52, ll. 711)
58. Prostentic Vogon Jeltz was delighted. He knew that
when a Dentrassi looked that pleased with itself there
was something going on […] (page 51, ll. 9-10)
59. Ford frowned at the grubby mattresses, unwashed cups
and unidentifiable bits of smelly alien underwear that
lay around the cramped cabin. (page 51, ll. 16-18)
60. I thought you said they were called Vogons or
something. (page 51, ll. 21-22)
61. “I’m confused”, said Arthur. (page 51, ll. 25)
62. […] in fac the had very little to be nervous about,
because all mattresses grown in the swamps of
Sqornshellous Zeta are very thoroughly killed and
dried before being put to service. (page 51, ll. 29-31,
page 52, ll. 1)
63. Unfortunately I got stuck on the Earth for rather longer
than I intended… (page 54, ll. 3-4)
64. “Oh, that was easy”, says Man, and for an encore goes
on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed
on the next pedestrian crossing. (page 59, ll. 28-30)
65. […] the supermarket was gone, everyone in it was
gone. (page 60, ll. 20-21)
66. For a moment his embittered racial soul had been
touched, but he thought no – too little too late. (page
67, ll. 29-31)
67. “So what you are saying is that I write poetry because
underneath my mean callous hartless exterior I really
just want to be loved”, he said. (page 67, ll.33, page
68, ll. 1-2)
68. […] you’re talking about a positive mental attitude and
you haven’t even had your planet demolished today.
(page 69, ll. 17-19)
69. It’s now just after four in the afternoon and I’m already
being thrown out of an alien spaceship[…] (page 69,
ll. 21-23)
70. Ford tried desperately to think, but was interrupted by
douloureusement et son doigt caressait la petite bombe
Paralyso-Matic qui était gentiment nichée dans le fond de sa
poche. (page 65, ll. 30-31, page 66, ll. 1-2)
54. Quelque part au fin fond d’une cabine sombre nichée dans les
tréfonds des entrailles du vaisseau amiral de Prostentic Vogon
Jeltz, une petite allumette se mit à luire nerveusement. (page
69, ll. 19-22)
55. Le nom originel de Ford Prefect est uniquement prononçable
dans un obscur dialecte de Bételgeuse […] (page 69, ll. 26-27)
56. […] il aimait bien les humains après tout ; mais il ne laissait
pas d’être désespérément affligé par la terrifiante étendue de
leur ignorance. (page 72, ll. 15-17)
57. Ce message était en effet un communiqué officiel annonçant
qu’un des centres de recherche spatiale du gouvernement situé
sur Damogra venait de présenter un merveilleux nouveau
système de propulsion dont l’efficacité allait ôter toute utilité
aux voies express hyper spatiales. (page 74, ll. 19-25)
58. Prostentic Vogon Jeltz était ravi : il savait que lorsqu’on
Dentrassi semble aussi content de lui c’est qu’il y a sans
conteste à bord de quoi le mettre, lui, particulièrement en
colère. (page 75, ll. 3-6)
59. Ford fronça les sourcils en découvrant le matelas crasseux,
les tasses sales et les fragments non identifiables de sousvêtements épars qui empestaient leur réduit encombré. (page
75, ll. 10-13)
60. Je croyais t’avoir entendu les appeler des Vogons ou quelque
chose comme ça ? (page 75, ll. 17-18)
61. Je m’y perds. (page 75, ll. 22)
62. […] en fait, il n’avait guère à s’inquiéter car tous les matelas
élevés dans les marécages de Sqornshellous Zeta sont très
soigneusement tués et séchés avant d’être mis en service.
(page 75, ll. 27-30)
63. Malheureusement, je suis resté sur Terre un peu plus
longtemps que prévu […] (page 78, ll. 15-16)
64. « Bah, c’est facile », dit l’Homme puis – en guise de rappel –
il se met à prouver sur sa lancée que le noir est blanc et finit
écrasé sur le premier passage pour piétons. (page 85, ll. 16-19)
65. […] le supermarché avait disparu ! Avec tous ses
occupants ! (page 86, ll.15-16)
66. Durant un moment, sa conscience de race aigrie s’était laissé
toucher mais il se ravisa : non, c’était trop peu, et trop tard.
(page 94-95, ll. 30-33/1)
67. « Donc, ce que vous êtes en train de me dire, c’est que j’écris
des poèmes parce que sous mes dehors de brute épaisse et
sans cœur j’aurais envie d’être aimé ? » (page 95, ll. 3-6)
68. […] tu peux parler d’attitude mentale constructive, tu ne t’es
pas fait démolir ta planète aujourd’hui, toi ! (page 97, ll. 13)
69. Il est à peine quatre heures de l’après-midi et je me retrouve
déjà expulsé d’un astronef extra-terrestre[…] (page 97, ll. 68)
70. Ford essayait désespérément de réfléchir mais il fut
57
the guard shouting again. (page 69, ll. 31, page 70, ll.
1-2)
71. I’d better get you both shoved into this airlock and
then go and get on with some other bits of shouting I’ve
got to do. (page 72, ll. 24-26)
72. You see, if I keep it up I can eventually get promoted
to Senior Shouting Officer[…] (page 73, ll. 2-3)
71.
72.
73. We’re trapped now, aren’t we? (page 74, ll. 3)
74. He kicked the hatch they’d just been thrown through.
(page 74, ll. 12-13)
75. It has been compiled and recompiled many times
over many years and under many different editorships.
(page 76, ll. 2-4)
76. It contains contributions from countless numbers of
travelers and researches. (page 76, ll. 4-6)
77. However, it does go on to say that what with space
being the mind-boggling size it is the chances of getting
picked up by another ship[…] (page 77, ll. 22-25)
78. Though the planet Earth, the Islington flat and the
telephone have all now been demolished, it’s
comforting to reflect that they are all in some small
way commemorated by the fact that twenty nine
seconds later Ford and Arthur were rescued. (page
77, ll. 33, page 78, ll. 1-4)
79. “Bright idea of mine”, said Ford, “to find a passing
spaceship and get rescued by it”. (page 80, ll. 19-20)
73.
74.
80. We’ve been picked up by a ship powered by the
Infinite Improbability Drive! (page 85, ll. 2-4)
81. They were all officially denied, but they must have
done it! (page 85, ll. 5-6)
82. Arthur had jammed himself against the door to the
cubicle, trying to hold it closed, but it was ill fitting.
(page 85, ll. 8-9)
83. It was discovered by a lucky chance, and then
developed into a governable form of propulsion by the
Galactic Government’s research team on Damogran.
(page 86, ll. 5-7)
84. Many respectable physicists said that they weren’t
going to stand for this, partly because it was a
debasement of science, but mostly because they didn’t
get invited to those sorts of parties. (page 86, ll. 19-22)
85. It startled him even more when just after he was
awarded the Galactic Institute’s Prize for Extreme
Cleverness he got lynched by a rampaging mob of
respectable physicists[…] (page 87, ll. 19-22)
86. What’s the point? Nothing is worth getting involved in.
(page 95, ll. 3-4)
87. “No government owns it”, snapped the robot, “it’s been
stolen”. (page 96, ll. 6-7)
88. The right-hand head seemed to be thoroughly
preoccupied with this task, but the left-hand one was
grinning a broad, relaxed, nonchalant grin. (page 105, ll.
29-32)
89. “But I was stuck there for fifteen years!” (page 108, ll.
80.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
81.
82.
83.
interrompu de nouveau par les cris du garde […] (page 97,
ll. 17-19)
Je ferais mieux de vous balancer tous les deux dans ce sas
avant d’aller finir de pousser les hurlements qu’il me reste
encore à pousser. (page 100, ll. 25-28)
Vous voyez, en continuant dans cette voie, je peux terminer
promu au rang de Grand Officier de la Légion des hurleurs
[…] (page 101, ll.7-9)
« On est coincés, hein ? » (page 102, ll. 19)
Il donna un coup de pied dans la porte par laquelle on venait
de les jeter. (page 102, ll. 30-31)
Il a fait l’objet de bien des remaniements et mises à jour
depuis bien des années et sous l’égide de bien des équipes de
rédacteurs. (page 105, ll. 2-5)
Il recueille les contributions d’innombrables voyageurs et
chercheurs. (page 105, ll. 5-6)
Toutefois, compte tenu des dimensions proprement
ahurissantes de celui-ci, cela revient à évaluer les chances
d’être recueilli par un autre vaisseau […] (page 107, ll. 4-7)
Bien que la planète Terre, l’appartement d’Islington et le
téléphone soient aujourd’hui démolis, il est réconfortant de
se dire que tous ces éléments ont en quelque modeste
manière été commémorés par le fait que vingt-neuf
secondes plus tard exactement Arthur et Ford devaient être
sauvés. (page 105, ll. 17- 22)
Belle idée que j’ai eue, reprit Ford, de trouver un astronef de
passage et de nous faire recueillir par lui. (page 109, ll. 3032)
Nous avons été recueillis par un vaisseau propulsé par un
générateur d’improbabilité infinie ! (page 11, ll. 11-13)
[…] elles avaient toujours été démenties ! Et pourtant ils y
sont arrivés ! (page 115, ll. 13-16)
Arthur s’était précipité contre la porte du cagibi et cherchait
à la maintenir fermée mais elle joignait mal. (page 115, ll. 1921)
Sa découverte était l’effet d’un heureux hasard et sa
concrétisation était l’œuvre de l’équipe de recherche du
gouvernement galactique sur Damogra. (page 116, ll. 5-8)
84. Plus d’un physicien respectable estimait ne pouvoir encaisser
une telle chose, en partie parce que c’était rabaisser la science,
et en parti parce qu’ils n’étaient jamais invités. (page 117, ll.
3-6)
85. Sa surprise fut plus grande encore lorsque juste après s’être
vu décerner le prix d’Extrême Habileté de l’Institut
galactique il se retrouva lynché par une foule déchainée de
physiciens respectables […] (page 118, ll. 1-5)
86. « Pourquoi s’en soucier ? Quel intérêt ? Rien ne justifie que
l’on prenne parti. (page 127, ll.30-31)
87. Aucun, coupa le robot. Ce vaisseau a été volé. (page 129, ll.
11-12)
88. Si cette dernière semblait entièrement absorbée par sa
tâche, la tête gauche en revanche lui adressait un grand sourire
nonchalant et détendu […] (page 141, ll. 7-10)
89. Mais moi j’y suis resté coincé quinze ans ! » (page 143, ll.
58
3)
90. And I was meant to recognize that from a blank
screen? (page 113, ll. 9-10)
91. The planet’s surface was blurred by time, by the slow
movement of the thin stagnant air that had crept across
it for century upon century. (page 120, ll. 22-25)
92. The deadly missile attack shortly to be launched by
an ancient automatic system will result merely in the
breakage of three coffe cups and a mouse cage […]
(page 122, ll. 5-7)
93. They had swung round now on to a direct homing
course so that all that could be seen of them now was
the warheads, head on. (page 127, ll. 1-3)
94. A voice on a loud hailer said, “OK Beeblbrox, hold it
right there. We’ve got you covered.” – “Cops!” hissed
Zaphod […] (page 205, ll. 25-26)
95. The principle of generating small amounts of finite
improbability by simply hooking the logic circuits of a
Bambleweeny 57 Sub-Meson Brain to an atomic vector
plotter suspended in a strong Brownian Motion
producer (say a nice hot cup of tea) were of course well
understood […] (page 86, ll. 9-14)
96. Their early attempts at composition had been part of
bludgeoning insistence that they be accepted as a
properly evolved and cultured race, but now the only
thing that kept them going was sheer bloodymindedness. (page 65, ll. 6-10)
97. The man sitting next to Ford was a bit sozzled by now.
(page 30, ll. 24-25)
98. The room was much as Slartibarfast had described it. In
seven and a half million years it had been well looked
after and cleaned regularly every century or so. (page
178, ll. 21-23)
23)
90. Et j’étais censé la reconnaître à partir d’un écran vide ?
(page 149, ll. 31-32)
91. La surface de la planète était brouillée par le temps et le
travail de lente érosion, siècle après siècle, d’un air stagnant
et raréfié. (page 158, ll. 17-20)
92. […] la meutrière attaque de missile que va bientôt lancer
un antique dispositif de défense automatique n’aura pour
seules conséquences que le bris de trois tasses à café et d’une
cage à souris […] (page 160, ll. 9-12)
93. Ils avaient à présent basculé pour se mettre en trajectoire de
poursuite si bien qu’on ne distinguait plus que leur coiffe,
fonçant vers eux tête baissée. (page 165, ll. 22-25)
94. Une voix jaillit dans un beuglophone :
95. — O.K., Beeblebrox. Ne bougez plus ! On vous tient en joue.
— Des flics ! » siffla Zaphod (page 261, ll. 10-13)
96. Le principe de la génération de petites quantités
d’improbabilité finie par simple raccordement des circuits
logiques d’un cerveau sub-méson Bambleweeny 57 avec un
conspirateur vectoriel mis en suspension dans un puissant
émetteur de mouvement brownien (mettons, par exemple, une
bonne tasse de thé bien chaud), ce principe était certes
parfaitement maîtrisé […] (page 116, ll. 15-18)
97. Leurs premiers balbutiements dans le domaine de la
composition leur avaient en partie servi d’alibi pour réclamer
– avec une lourde insistance – leur entrée dans le concert des
races évoluées et cultivées ; (page 91, ll. 14-18)
98. Le voisin de Ford au comptoir était à présent quelque peu
abruti. (page 48, ll. 29-30)
99. La pièce était fort semblable à la description de Slartibartfast.
En sept millions et demi d’années, elle avait été
soigneusement entretenue et régulièrement nettoyée à peu
près une fois par siècle. (page 228, ll. 8-11)
99. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move,
and that no one should ever have left the oceans. (page
1, ll. 21-23)
100.
Eventually of course, after their Galaxy had
been decimated over a few thousand years, it was
realized that the whole thing had been a ghastly
mistake, and so the two opposing battle fleets settled
their few remaining differences in order to launch a
joint attack on our own Galaxy – now positively
identified as the source of the offending remark. (page
196, ll. 6-12)
100.
D’aucuns même affirmaient qu’avec les arbres
déjà… et qu’on aurait mieux fait de ne jamais quitter les
océans. (page 16, ll. 5-7)
101.
Bien sûr, après que leur Galaxie eut été décimée
durant quelques millénaires, on finit par s’apercevoir que tout
cela était le résultat d’une affreuse méprise, et, en
conséquence, les deux flottes adverses décidèrent de régler
leurs ultimes différends, afin de lancer une attaque concertée
sur notre propre Galaxie, désormais nettement identifiée
comme étant la source de la remarque insultante. (page 249,
ll. 17-25)
101.
Their relative velocity seemed unbelievable,
and Arthur had hardly time to draw breath before it was
all over. (page 158, ll. 21-23)
102.
He always felt vaguely irritable after
demolishing populated planets. (page 50, ll. 17-18)
102.
Leur vitesse relative paraissait incroyable et Arthur
eut à peine le temps de reprendre son souffle que tout était
terminé. (page 205, ll. 1-3)
103.
Il se sentait toujours vaguement écoeuré après avoir
démoli une planète habitée. (page 74, ll. 6-7)
103.
It said: “The History of every major Galactic
Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and
recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and
Sophistication […] (page 215, ll. 13-16)
104.
L’histoire de toutes les civilisations galactiques de
quelque importance tend à traverser trois stades distinctement
reconnaissables : celui de la Survie, celui de la Recherche,
enfin celui de la Sophistication […] (page 273, ll. 15-19)
59
104.
You are bound to feel some initial ill effects as
you have been rescued from certain death at an
improbability level […] (page 84, ll. 20-22)
105.
“But what are supposed to do with a
manically depressed robot?” (page 136, ll. 11-12)
106.
“I’m trying to baby, I’m trying to,” is what
Ford invariably replied on these occasions. (page 11, ll.
30-31)
107.
Arthur struggled to his feet and hugged himself
apprehensively. (page 49, ll. 22-23)
108.
These patterns quickly learned to copy
themselves (this was part of what was so extraordinary
about the patterns) and went on to cause massive
trouble on every planet they drifted on to. (page 80, ll.
4-8)
109.
The Vogon stared up at the law steel ceiling
and his eyebrows almost rolled over each other. (page
70, ll. 17-18)
110.
[…] he continued, as with a huge bang
Southend split itself into six equal segments which
danced and span giddily round each other in lewd and
licentious formation […] (page 82, ll. 10-14)
111.
The voice was low and hopeless and
accompanied by a slight clanking sound. (page 94, ll.
16-18)
112.
Arthur would not be deterred. «A party six
months ago. On Earth…England…» (page 107, ll. 2324)
105.
Il est tout à fait normal que vous ressentiez quelques
effets désagréables dus au fait que vous venez d’être sauvés
d’une mort certaine avec un niveau d’improbabilité […] (page
114, ll. 24-27)
106.
[…] mais qu’est-on censé faire lorsqu’on est, soimême, un robot maniaco-dépressif ?(page 177, ll. 10-11)
107.
— J’essaie, mon pote, j’essaie », répondait alors
invariablement Ford en ces occasions. (page 28, ll.19-20)
108.
Arthur se leva en titubant, les bras serrés avec
appréhension. (page 73, ll. 7-8)
109.
lesquelles structures ne tardèrent pas à apprendre à
se copier toutes seules (c’était en partie là ce qui les rendait
aussi extraordinaires) avant de s’avérer la cause de troubles
considérables sur toutes les planètes où elles devaient
échouer. (page 109, ll. 12-17)
110.
Le Vogon leva les yeux vers la tôle basse du plafond
et ses sourcils faillirent se chevaucher. (page 98, ll. 5-6)
111.
En fait, » continua-t-il au moment où dans une
énorme explosion Southend se fracturait en six parts égales
qui se mirent illico à mener une danse saccadée, organisant
une sarabande effrénée en formations lubriques et
licencieuses […] (page 111, ll. 31-32, page 112, ll. 1-4)
112.
La voix, basse et désespérée, était accompagnée d’un
léger bruit de ferraille. (page 127, ll. 6-7)
113.
Mais Arthur ne se laissait pas démonter. Il poursuivit
: « Une soirée, il y a six mois… Sur Terre… en Angleterre… »
(page 143, ll. 8-10)
113.
It is possible that her remark would have
commanded greater attention had it been generally
realized that human beings were only the third most
intelligent life form present on the planet Earth, instead
of (as was generally thought by most independent
observers) the second. (page 137, ll. 4-9)
114.
Sa remarque aurait sans doute soulevé davantage
l’attention, à condition qu’eût été plus généralement admise
l’idée que les êtres humains n’étaient en fait que la troisième
forme de vie intelligente sur Terre et non pas (comme il était
généralement admis par une majorité d’observateurs
impartiaux) la seconde. (page 178, ll. 10-16)
114.
Eventually of course, after their Galaxy had
been decimated over a few thousand years, it was
realized that the whole thing had been a ghastly
mistake, and so the two opposing battle fleets settled
their few remaining differences in order to launch a
joint attack on our own Galaxy – now positively
identified as the source of the offending remark. (page
196, ll. 6-12)
115.
Bien sûr, après que leur Galaxie eut été décimée
durant quelques millénaires, on finit par s’apercevoir que tout
cela était le résultat d’une affreuse méprise, et, en
conséquence, les deux flottes adverses décidèrent de régler
leurs ultimes différends, afin de lancer une attaque concertée
sur notre propre Galaxie, désormais nettement identifiée
comme étant la source de la remarque insultante. (page 249,
ll. 17-25)
In italics are the examples not included in the analysis.
60
Отзывы:
Авторизуйтесь, чтобы оставить отзыв