English and Chinese (Mandarin) Passive Constructions

Sentence Structure Mandarin

NP1 [recipient] + bei (+ NP2 [agent]) +verb English

NP1 [recipient] + be + -ed participle (short passive)

NP1 [recipient] + be + -ed participle +by NP2 [agent] (long passive)

Use and Function Mandarin

Disposal - an entity or person is dealt with Allow affected entity to be NP other than direct ob

ject E.g. ta bei ren tou le yi – ge dianhua

3sg BEI person steal PFV one – CL telephone

English Not for expressing disposal meaning

Use and Function Mandarin

Adversity - express an adverse situation Implications of adversity with neutral verbs

E.g. ta de xingdong bei ren zhidao le

3sg GEN action BEI person know CRS

English Not for expressing adversity

Use and Function English

Important means of reordering words (meaning not drastically changed) E.g. John bought the mirror

The mirror was bought by John.

Rare in conversation Too formal

More common in academic prose, news

Use and Function Short Passive

Convenient means for leaving out agent Unknown Redundant

E.g. The thief was arrested.

Irrelevant

Use and Function Long Passive

Tendency to place heavy elements towards the end E.g. The suggestion was objected by the whole

class of students

Subject contains given information and agent contains new information E.g. He found a novel on the shelf and the novel

was written by Amy.

Use and Function (English) Possible with most transitive verbs Verbs only possible with passive

E.g. John was said to be a lazy student.

*They said John to be a lazy student.

Use and Function Frequency of usage

Mandarin passive < English passive Restriction to adversity and disposal in Mandarin

Mandarin influenced by English Increasing number of bei constructions not ex

pressing adversity E.g. ta bei xuan zuo huizhang le

3sg BEI elect serve:as chariman PFV

Variant Forms Mandarin

bei replaced by gei, jiao, rang used in conversation content words with independent meanings jiao and rang

cannot replace bei in sentence NP1 bei verb E.g. *wo jiao/rang pian le

I cheat PFV

Variant Forms (Mandarin) bei replaced by jiao…gei, rang… gei

E.g. huaping jiao/rang ta gei dapo le vessel 3sg brea

k PFV

strengthen disposal function

Variant Forms English

be replaced by get E.g. He got cheated.

Variant Forms (English) Get

Less frequent than be-passive Avoided in formal English Restricted to conversation and colloquial fiction Limited to constructions without an expressed agent

E.g. He got discovered.

Reflection of unfavorable attitude towards action E.g. Why did the chocolates get eaten?

Variant Forms (English) Verbs common with get passive

E.g. married, hit, involved, left, stuck E.g. She got married last Sunday.

Usually with negative connotations left, hit, stuck

E.g. He got left in the dark room.

Constraints Common constraints in English and Mandarin passive

Verb constraints Active only verbs: copula and intransitive verb

E.g. *He is been a boy. E.g. *ta bei shi ge nanhai le

3sg BEI be CL boy PFV E.g. *He was swum. E.g.*ta bei youyong le

3sg BEI swim PFV Stative (middle) verbs: transitive but no sense in passive

E.g. * The girl was liked by him. E.g. *na nu haizi bei ta xihuan

that female child BEI 3sg like.

Constraints (English & Mandarin) Object constraints

Coreference between subject and noun phrase object blocks passive correspondence Reflexive pronoun

E.g. *Himself was scared by him. E.g. *ziji bei ta long shang le

self BEI 3sg make hurt PFV Reciprocal pronoun

E.g. * Each other is loved. E.g. * bi ci bei women xiang’ai le

each other BEI we reciprocal love PFV

Constraints Mandarin

Definite subject E.g. na ge beizi bei diaodiao le

that CL cup BEI throw away PFV

Cannot ends with a verb only (extra element needed) Perfective marker -le: the most common and simples

t extra element E.g. ta bei da le 3sg BEI bit PFV

Constraints (Mandarin) Only few verbs can occur in passive senten

ce with adversely affected indirect object tou (steal), qiang (rob), duo (snatch), ying (wi

n) E.g. ta bei ren qiang le shoudai

3sg BEI person rob PFV handbag

Constraints (Mandarin) bei NP cannot be an instrument NP used by a pers

on or an animate being E.g. *dianshi bei yaokong chi kai le

television BEI remote control open PFV

bei NP can be an inanimate NP affecting action on their own if adversity is inferred E.g. yifu bei yushui long shi le

clothes BEI rainwater make wet PFV/CRS

Constraints (English) Prepositional verbs – figurative use only

E.g. This matter will be gone into. E.g.*The tunnel will be gone into.

Single-object prepositional verbs E.g. *Tony was looked at by me. Exceptions

E.g. Peter can be relied on to repair the car.

Object - possessive pronoun E.g. *Her leg was laid by May on the bed.

(May laid her leg on the bed)

The End