Page 50 - Grasp English C1 (Workbook)

5 WELL-BEING

Grammar Passive structures with have and get

Prepositional Passives This problem only occurs if the adjective form is
Where a preposition follows a verb in an active identical to the past participle.
sentence, the preposition remains immediately The door was opened. (passive).
after the verb in the passive sentence. The door was open. (stative).

This is more common in informal English, as it is
bad form to end a formal, written sentence with a Get can be used as the auxiliary verb in passive
preposition.
sentences instead of instead of be. This is more
Someone broke into the shop. common in informal situations.
The shop was broken into. My car was stolen. My car got stolen.
The teacher shouted at me.
I was shouted at by the teacher. Get cannot be used in a stative sense, however.

Someone has slept in this bed. The window got broken by children.
This bed has been slept in. The window got broken. It needed fixing.

Some uses of the prepositional passive are not
acceptable, however.
I arrived in London last night.
Correct the mistakes.
London was arrived in by me last night.
1. The bakery is lived above by me.
The boat sank into the sea.
2. The door got opened.
The sea was sunk into by a boat.
3. The door got open.

The reason is that the subjects (London, the sea)
were not changed significantly by the action.

Stative passive forms
In some sentences, a passive sentence can look
identical to a sentence with an adjective. In
these cases, the sentence can have an active
meaning, that is, an action has just happened, or
a stative meaning, in which the permanent state of
something is being described. This means that the
meaning of the sentence can be ambiguous.
Example:
The window was broken.
The window was broken by the children. (passive
sentence, describing an event)
The window was broken. It needed fixing. (stative
sentence, describing a permanent state)

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