Surprisingly, she did not protest, for she had given up the struggle (M. Dickens). "What have you been doing down there?" Miss Peel asked him. "I've been looking for you all over the play-ground" (M. Dickens).
The exception is the future perfect that practically always requires a contextual indicator of time due to the prospective character of posteriority, of which we have already spoken.
It should be noted that with the past perfect the priority principle is more distinct than with the present perfect, which again is explained semantically. In many cases the past perfect goes with the lexical indicators of time introducing the past plane as such in the microcontext. On the other hand, the transmissive semantics of the perfect can so radically take an upper hand over its priority semantics even in the past plane that the form is placed in a peculiar expressive contradiction with a lexical introduction of priority. In particular, it concerns constructions introduced by the subordinative conjunction before. Cf:.
It was his habit to find a girl who suited him and live with her as long as he was ashore. But he had forgotten her before the anchor had come dripping out of the water and been made fast. The sea was his home (J. Tey).
§ 9. In keeping with the general tendency, the category of retrospective coordination can be contextually neutralized, the imperfect as the weak member of the opposition filling in the position of neutralization. Cf:.
"I feel exactly like you," she said, "only different, because after all I didn't produce him; but. Mother, darling, it's all right..." (J. Galsworthy). Christine nibbled on Oyster Bienville. "I always thought it was because they spawned in summer" (A. Hailey).
In this connection, the treatment of the lexemic aspective division of verbs by the perfect is, correspondingly, the reverse, if less distinctly pronounced, of their treatment by the continuous. Namely, the expression of retrospective coordination is neutralized most naturally and freely with limitive verbs. As for the unlimitive verbs, these, bу being used in the perfect, are rather turned into "limitive for the nonce". Cf;.
"I'm no beaten rug. I don't need to feel like one. I’ve been a teacher all my life, with plenty to show for it" (A. Hailey).
Very peculiar neutralizations take place between the forms of the present perfect-imperfect. Essentially these neutralizations signal instantaneous subclass migrations of the verb from a limitive to an unlimitive one. Cf:.
Where do you come from? (i.e. What is the place of your origin?) I put all my investment in London, (i.e. I keep all my money there.)
Characteristic colloquial neutralizations affect also some verbs of physical and mental perceptions. Cf:.
I forget what you've told me about Nick. I hear the management has softened their stand after all the hurly-burly!
The perfect formsin these contexts are always possible, being the appropriate ones for a mode of expression devoid of tinges of colloquialism.
§10. The categorial opposition "perfect versus imperfect" is broadly represented in verbids. The verbid representation of the opposition, though, is governed by a distinct restrictive regularity which may be formulated as follows: the perfect is used with verbids onty in semantically strong positions, i.e. when its categorial meaning is made prominent. Otherwise the opposition is neutralized, the imperfect being used in the position of neutralization. Quite evidently this regularity is brought about by the intermediary lexico-grammatical features of verbids, since the category of retrospective coordination is utterly alien to the non-verbal parts of speech. The structural neutralization of the opposition is especially distinct with the present participle of the limitive verbs, its indefinite form very naturally expressing priority in the perfective sense. Cf.:
She came to Victoria to see Joy off, and Freddy Rigby came too, bringing a crowd of the kind of young people Rodney did not care for (M. Dickens).
But the rule of the strong position is valid here also. Cf.
Her Auntie Phyll had too many children. Having brought up six in a messy, undisciplined way, she had started all over again with another baby late in life (M. Dickens).
With the gerund introduced by a preposition of time the perfect is more often than not neutralized. E.g.:
He was at Cambridge and after taking his degree decided to be a planter (S. Maugham).
Cf. the perfect gerund in a strong position:
The memory of having met the famous writer in his young days made him feel proud even now.
Less liable to neutralization is the infinitive. The category of retrospective coordination is for the most part consistently represented in its independent constructions, used as concise semi-predicative equivalents of syntactic units of full predication. Cf:.
It was utterly unbelievable for the man tohave no competence whatsoever (simultaneity expressed by the imperfect).- -It was utterly unbelievable for the man tohave had no competence whatsoever (priority expressed by the perfect).
The perfect infinitive of notional verbs used with modal predica-tors, similar to the continuous, performs the two types of functions. First, it expresses priority and transmission in retrospective coordination, in keeping with its categorial destination. Second, dependent on the concrete function of each modal verb and its equivalent, it helps convey gradations of probabilities in suppositions. E.g.:
He may have warned Christine, or again, he may not have warned her. Who can tell? Things must have been easier fifty years ago. You needn't worry, Miss Nickolson. The children are sure tohave been following our instructions, it can't have been otherwise.
In addition, as its third type of function, also dependent on the individual character of different modal verbs, the perfect can render the idea of non-compliance with certain rule, advice, recommendation, etc. The modal verbs in these cases serve as signals of remonstrance (mostly the verbs ought to and should). Cf:.
Mary ought to have thought of the possible consequences. Now the situation can't be mended, I'm afraid.
The modal will used with a perfect in a specific collocation renders a polite, but officially worded statement of the presupposed hearer's knowledge of an indicated fact. Cf.:
"You will no doubt have heard. Admiral Morgan, that Lord Vaughan is going to replace Sir Thomas Lynch as Governor of Jamaica," Charles said, and cast a glance of secret amusement at the strong countenance of his most famous sailor (J. Tey). It will not have escaped your attention. Inspector, that the visit of the nuns was the same day that poisoned wedding cake found its way into that cottage (A. Christie).
Evident relation between the perfect and the continuous in their specific modal functions (i.e. in the use under modal government) can be pointed out as a testimony to the category of retrospective coordination being related to the category of development on the broad semantic basis of aspectuality.
§ 1. The verbal category of voice shows the direction of the process as regards the participants of the situation reflected in the syntactic construction.
The voice of the English verb is expressed by the opposition of the passive form of the verb to the active form of the verb. The sign marking, the passive form is the combination of the auxiliary be with the past participle of the conjugated verb (in symbolic notation: be ...en-see Ch. II, §5). The passive form as the strong member of the opposition expresses reception of the action by the subject of the syntactic construction (i.e. the "passive" subject, denoting the object of the action); the active form as the weak member of the opposition leaves this meaning unspecified, i.e. it expresses "non-passivity".
In colloquial speech the role of the passive auxiliary can occasionally be performed by the verb get and, probably, become. Cf.:*
* For discussion see: Khaimwich, Rogovskaya, 128-129.
Sam got licked for a good reason, though not by me. The young violinist became admired by all.
The category of voice has a much broader representation in the system of the English verb than in the system of the Russian verb, since in English not only transitive, but also intransitive objective verbs including prepositional ones can be used in the passive (the preposition being retained in the absolutive location). Besides, verbs taking not one, but two objects, as a rule, can feature both of them in the position of the passive subject. E.g.:
I've just been rung up by the police. The diplomatwas refused transit facilities through London. Shewas undisturbed by the frown on his face. Have you ever been told that you're very good-looking? He was said to have been very wild in his youth. The dress has never been tried on. The child will be looked after all right. I won't be talked to like this. Etc.
Still, not all the verbs capable of taking an object are actually used in the passive. In particular, the passive form is alien to many verbs of the statal subclass (displaying a weak dynamic force), such as have (direct possessive meaning), belong, cost, resemble, fall, misgive, etc. Thus, in accord with their relation to the passive voice, all the verbs can be divided into two large sets: the set of passivized verbs and the set of non-passivized verbs.
A question then should be posed whether the category of voice is a full-representative verbal category, i.e. represented in the system of the verb as a whole, or a partial-representative category, confined only to the passivized verbal set. Considerations of both form and function tend to interpret voice rather as a full-representative category, the same as person, number, tense, and aspect. Three reasons can be given to back this appraisal.
First, the integral categorial presentation of non-passivized verbs fully coincides with that of passivized verbs used in the active voice (cf. takes-goes. is taking-is going, has token-has gone, etc.). Second, the active voice as the weak member of the categorial opposition is characterized in general not by the "active" meaning as such (i.e. necessarily featuring the subject as the doer of the action), but by the extensive non-passive meaning of a very wide range of actual significations, some of them approaching by their process-direction characteristics those of non-passivized verbs (cf. The door opens inside the room; The magazine doesn't sell well). Third, the demarcation line between the passivized and non-passivized sets is by no means rigid, and the verbs of the non-passivized order may migrate into the passivized order in various contextual conditions (cf. The bed has not been slept in; The house seems not to have been lived in for a long time).
Thus, the category of voice should be interpreted as being reflected in the whole system of verbs, the non-passivized verbs, presenting the active voice form if not directly, then indirectly.
As a regular categorial form of the verb, the passive voice is combined in the same lexeme with other oppositionally strong forms of the verbal categories of the tense-aspect system, i.e. the past, the future, the continuous, the perfect. But it has a neutralizing effect on the category of development in the forms where the auxiliary be must be doubly employed as a verbid (the infinitive, the present participle, the past participle), so that the future continuous passive, as well as the perfect continuous passive are practically not used in speech. As a result, the future continuous active has as its regular counterpart by the voice opposition the future indefinite passive; the perfect continuous active in all the tense-forms has as its regular counterpart the perfect indefinite passive. Cf:.
The police will be keeping an army of reporters at bay. →An army of reporters will be kept at bay by the police. We have been expecting the decision for a long time. → The decision has been expected for a long time.
§ 2. The category of voice differs radically from all the other hitherto considered categories from the point of view of its referential qualities. Indeed, all the previously described categories reflect various characteristics of processes, both direct and oblique, as certain facts of reality exiting irrespective of the speaker's perception. For instance, the verbal category of person expresses the personal relation of the process. The verbal number, together with person, expresses its person-numerical relation. The verbal primary time denotes the absolutive timing of the process, i.e. its timing in reference to the moment of speech. The category of prospect expresses the timing of the process from the point of view of its relation to the plane of posteriority. Finally, the analysed aspects characterize the respective inner qualities of the process. So, each of these categories does disclose some actual property of the process denoted by the verb, adding more and more particulars to the depicted processual situation. But we cannot say the same about the category of voice.
As a matter of fact; the situation reflected by the passive construction does not differ in the least from the situation reflected by the active construction - the nature of the process is preserved intact, the situational participants remain in their places in their unchanged quality. What is changed, then, with the transition from the active voice to the passive voice, is the subjective appraisal of the situation by the speaker, the plane of his presentation of it. It is clearly seen when comparing any pair of constructions one of which is the passive counterpart of the other. Cf.:
The guards dispersed the crowd in front of the Presidential Palace,—The crowd in front of the Presidential Palace wasdispersed by the guards.
In the two constructions, the guards as the doer of the action, the crowd as the recepient of the action are the same; the same also is the place of action, i.e. the space in front of the Palace. The presentation planes, though, are quite different with the respective constructions, they are in fact mutually reverse. Namely, the first sentence, by its functional destination, features the act of the guards, whereas the second sentence, in accord with its meaningful purpose, features the experience of the crowd.
This property of the category of voice shows its immediate connection with syntax, which finds expression in direct transformational relations between the active and passive constructions.
The said fundamental meaningful difference between the two forms of the verb and the corresponding constructions that are built around them goes with all the concrete connotations specifically expressed by the active and passive presentation of the same event in various situational contexts. In particular, we find the object-experi-ence-featuring achieved by the passive in its typical uses in cases when the subject is unknown or is not to be mentioned for certain reasons, or when the attention of the speaker is centred on the action as such. Cf. respectively:
Another act of terrorism has been committed in Argentina. Dinner was announced, and our conversation stopped. The defeat of the champion was very much regretted.
All the functional distinctions of the passive, both categorial and contextual-connotative, are sustained in its use with verbids.
For instance, in the following passive infinitive phrase the categorial object-experience-featuring is accompanied by the logical accent of the process characterizing the quality of its situational object (expressed by the subject of the passive construction):
This is an event never tobe forgotten.
Cf. the corresponding sentence-transform: This event will never be forgotten.
The gerundial phrase that is given below, conveying the principal categorial meaning of the passive, suppresses the exposition of the indefinite subject of the process:
After being wrongly delivered, the letter found its addressee at last.
Cf. the time-clause transformational equivalent of the gerundial phrase: After the letter had been wrongly delivered, it found its addressee at last.
The following passive participial construction in an absolutive position accentuates the resultative process: