Iraqi EFL Learners' Performance on Middle Verbs Hawraa ...

2014 ايلول( 3( العدد )4لمجلد )ا

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Iraqi EFL Learners' Performance on Middle Verbs

Hawraa Hasan Oraibi

College of Education for Humanities

English Department

List of Abbreviations and symbols S Subject

N Noun

V Verb

O Object

Od. Direct object

Np. Noun phrase

* Ungrammatical sentence

Act. Active voice

Pass. Passive voice


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Abstract

While almost all passive sentences contain transitive verbs, not all transitive verbs can participate in passive constructions, e.g. middle verbs. Middle verbs are a group of transitive verbs followed by object, but they can't be passive. The present paper aims, first, to know whether the fourth-year students have the ability to recognize and distinguish which transitive verbs can be turned into passive and which ones cannot. Second, to show why the sentence of middle verbs cannot be passive? And finally, do the learners know the semantic effect of transitivity on the passive construction?

In view of the preceding aims, it can be hypothesized that: most the fourth year students suppose that all the active transitive sentences can be converted into passive ones. They are unable to differentiate the middle verbs from other types of transitive verbs.

This study is limited to fourth year students, Department of English, College of Education, University of Thiqar for Humanities during the academic year (2015-2016).The fourth year students have been selected because they have been taught this topic during the second and fourth years of study.


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The research has adopted the following steps in order to achieve the objectives of this paper.

1- Producing, as far as possible, a comprehensive exposition of English middle verbs, depending on the literature available in this field.

2- A test has been submitted to fourth year students in order to pinpoint the problems and difficulties that may face in using English middle verbs.

3- Analyzing the results of the test, on the bases of which conclusions have been presented.

الملخصفي الوقت الذي تحتوي فيه جميع جمل المبني للمجهول تقريباً افعالآ متعديةً، فإنه ليس

Middle . جميع الأفعال المتعدية يمكنها المشاركة في تراكيب مبنية للمجهول مثل Verbs

Middle Verbsان تأخذ صيغة هي افعال متعدية بمفعول به واحد لكن لايمكنهافي ما إذا الى معرفة يهدف البحثُ الحاليالمبني للمجهول أي أنها دائما مبنية للمعلوم.

كان لدى طلبة المرحلة الرابعة القدرة على إدراك وتمييز أي من الأفعال المتعدية التي يمكن لك، وهي أن تتحول إلى أفعال مبنية للمجهول، وأي من تلك الأفعال المتعدية لا يمكنها ذ

". ثانيا لماذا لا يمكن للجملة التي تحتوي على" "Middle Verbsالمعروفة ب"Middle Verbs ان تكون مبنية للمجهول ؟ وأخيراً هل لدى الطلبة دراية كافية

بمفهوم التعدي ومدى تأثيره على تكوين تراكيب المبني للمجهول؟


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ضييتين، الأولى: إن جميع طلبة المرحلة في ضوء ما تقدم من أهداف تضع الدراسة الحالية فر الرابعة يفترضون أن أي جملة مبنية للمعلوم، أياً كان الفعل، يمكن ان تتحول الى مبنية للمجهول، والفرضية الثانية: إن الطلبة غير قادرين على تمييز الأفعال المعروفه ب

"middle verbs .من الأنواع الأخرى من الأفعال المتعدية "

لباحث باتباع الخطوات الآتية، أولًا: قدم الباحث جانباً نظرياً لمجموعة الأفعال قام ا"، ثانياً: صمم اختباراً Middle verbsالمتعدية المبنية للمعلوم دائماً والمعروفة ب "

لطلبة المرحلة الرابعة لتشخيص الصعوبات والمشاكل التى تواجههم في استخدام مجموعة "، ثالثاً: تحليل نتائج Middle verbsلمبنية للمعلوم المعروفه ب "الأفعال المتعدية ا

الاختبار .

وتتخذ هذه الدراسة عيِّنةً لها وهم طلاب المرحلة الرابعة لقسم اللغة الإنكليزية في كلية (. وتم اختيار 3102-3102التربية للعلوم الإنسانية في جامعة ذي قار للعام الدراسي )

عه لانهم درسوا هذا الموضوع في المرحلتين الثانية، والرابعة حيث جرى طلبة المرحلة الراب . اختبارهم

1 .Passive Voice Verb is one of the important lexical categories; often defined as "a type of word which expresses an action, process, state, condition or mood of existence" (Simpson: 1979: xvi-xvii). Grammatically speaking, verb can be subdivided into transitive and intransitive. Transitive verb is followed by one object (direct object), ditransitive verb is followed by two objects (direct and indirect); intransitive is not.


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The verbal grammatical categories of verb are: tense, aspect, mood and voice. Where tense and aspect work together to place an event or state with a time frame, voice provides a strategy for focusing on different participants in an event. English contains two voices: the active and the passive. Active sentences are unmarked; in other words, if a sentence is not specifically marked passive, it is technically active. Most passive sentences contain the auxiliary (be or get) followed by a verb in past participle form (Jack was pushed by Jill).

Palmer (1965:81-83) claims that the passive is the grammatical

structure which uses the concept of transformation. The transformation involves a change in position of the subject and the object where the active subject becomes the passive agent and the active object becomes the passive subject and the addition of the preposition by which is introduced before the agent. To make it clear, Palmer introduces following formula for the formation of the passive voice from the active voice: NP1 Vact NP2 → NP2 Vpass by NP1. (ibid).

Passive is not merely a formal variant of the active voice, but Jespersen (1933: 120f) summarizes the reasons


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for using passive as follow: (a) the agent is irrelevant or unknown (b) the agent is self evident from the context (c) mentioning the agent is avoided due to special reasons (d) there is a greater interest in the passive subject (e) as a cohesion –building tool in discourse.

In English, the passive is only possible with transitive verbs that have direct object, for example the active sentence:

1. (a) The boy ate the yellow apple. (b) The yellow apple was eaten by the boy.

The characterization of the basic passive involves only one object, i.e. the direct object. However, ditransitive verbs in English can also be passivised. Thus, the active sentence (2a) has the passives in (2b) and (2c)

2. a Tom gave Mary a present. b. Mary was given a present by Tom. c. A present was given Mary by Tom.

Therefore, English does not form the passive with intransitive verbs, which don't take objects. In the active sentence (3a) for days is not the object of the verb but an adverbial. 3. a They travelled for days. b. * For days were travelled by them.


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And some "verb + noun" combinations, which have the force of intransitive verb, can never take the passive:

4. The medicine soon took effect.

5. The plant will soon take root. In the above sentences "effect" and "root" are nouns and seemingly function as the objects of took and take respectively. But take effect and take root are actually phrasal verbs used to indicate the sense of work and put down. This kind of forms is mostly treated as single- word verb and they are intransitive verbal phrases. They certainly take no passive counterparts.

Also the verbs of reflexive objects can't have passive 5. Henry hates himself. The same applies to reciprocal pronouns and possessive pronouns referring to the subject. (Quirk et al. : 1985)

6. They loved one another. * One another was loved.

The locative adverbial containing a preposition and a locative noun (functioning as the object of the preposition) can not perform as a subject in a sentence,


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so the sentence in active voice cannot be transferred into passive one:

7. He has traveled in America.

*America has been traveled in by him.

8. The piano won't go through the narrow entrance. * The narrow entrance won't be gone through by the piano.

Even more, there is a group of transitive verbs that have objects but never occur in passive. These verbs are called middle verbs.

2. Middle Verbs In English, the term Middle verbs is used by different grammarians to refer to "a transitive verb whose subject is not an agent, especially a relational verb (have, deserve), but sometimes also a verb of perception, cognition or emotion" (Trask: 1993:171)

Quirk et al. (1985: 735) use the term middle verbs for "a small group of apparently transitive verbs, the most


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common of which is have, normally occur only in the active. They are all stative relational verbs and therefore normally do not occur in the progressive."

Stagrberg (1981:209) also uses the same term when he states that "there is in English a tiny group of transitive verbs called middle verbs that do not form the passive "

Jacobs (1995: 163) claims that the middle verbs refer to states rather than actions or processes: "some verbs that appear to be transitive, in that they are followed by a noun phrase, and yet do not occur in the passive voice."

In addition to linking verbs, the English middle verbs include: have, resemble, lack , hold, become, took after, suit, fit, boast, weigh, numbered, equal, mind, befell, fail, marry, met, agree with, measure, cost, run, possess, strike, contain, mean, know, join, grew, look like and consist of .

The main characteristics of these verbs involve that they are transitive (monotransitive verbs), active, without passive counterparts, and agentless.

2.1 Classification of Middle Verbs


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According to the classification of Quirk et al (1985:735), all the middle verbs belong to the stative verb class that includes "being" and "have", while Dixon (2005: 361) adds that they can be classified into three main groups:

the verbs may be symmetrical ,

verbs that refer to a static relationship, and

verbs that inherently focus on the subject .

2.1.1. Symmetric verbs Symmetrical or reciprocal verbs are referring to a state or activity that relates equally to two entities: subject and object (Dixon: 2005: 361). A relation is symmetrical if it holds for the arguments in both directions, so that only one term, not two, is required: if John is married to Mary, Mary is married to John (Palmer 1981: 98). The middle symmetrical transitive verbs are: marry, resemble, meet, mean, and look like:

House means maison then Maison means house.

Mary resembles Kate. It has the same meaning as: Kate resembles Mary.

2.1.2.Verbs that refer to a static relationship


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Have, mean, fit, contain, consist of, cost, weigh, took

after, suit, elude, boast, lack, number, equal, mind, befal,

hold and last are classified as transitive stative middle

verbs. The stative verbs are related to a state (a situation

that does not change) and not to an action (Palmer: 1965:

97). They show a state, quality or description of the

subject.

9. He lacks confidence.

10. I haven't any money.

11. Your humor eludes me.

2.1.3. Verbs that inherently focus on the subject

The third class of middle transitive verbs is the linking

verbs. Linking verbs link the subject to their

complements. Their subject is an experiencer. The

experiencer subject experiences a sensory perception or a

psychological state (which is normally human). In other

words, the verbs that co-occur with experiencer subject

relate to consciousness; they are verbs that reflect

'private' internal states (Berk: 1999: 17). Sentences with

experiencer subjects don't make passives.

12. She became Queen.

*A Queen was become by her. ( Eckersley & Eckersley:

1970:222)

13. Martha wants this book. *This book is wanted by

Martha.

In addition to the above classification of the middle verbs,

there are other verbs behaving as middle verbs (the

passivisation is impossible) .These verbs are: possess,

join, believe, and know.


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14. I believe them. *They are believed by

me.

Quirk et al. (1985:735) claim that the noun phrases of

measure (denoting measure and phrases of extent in

space), that coming after middle transitive verbs as cost,

run, measure, weight grew, numbered, are either direct

objects or adverbials:

15. In length it measures seven feet.

16. He ran a mile to work.

17. It costs ten dollars.

18. It weighed almost a ton.

They allow adverbial questions: How far did he run?

How much does it cost? But the measure phrases can also

be questioned by "what" What does it measure? What

does it cost?

3. Transitivity The term transitive derived from the Latin

Trans, "across" and ire, "go",i.e. "going

across"(Matthews: 2007:413). Traditionally, the concept

of transitivity is understood as a global property of an

entire clause, such that an activity is ‘carried-over’ or

‘transferred’ from an agent to patient

(Hopper&Thompson:1980:251). Thus transitivity in this

view involves necessarily at least two participants, i.e., the

action is transferred from the subject (which is more or

less agentive, which can be animate or not) to the object


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(the patient, which can be more or less effective) through

the verb.

19. a. Kim broke the vase. (active voice ) b. The vase was broken by Kim. (Passive voice)

Transitivity involves a number of components,

only one of which is the presence of an object of

the verb. Hopper and Thompson (1980:252)

explain the formal and semantic features of

transitivity as the following: 1. Participant: At least two participants are

involved.(agent, object direct or indirect )

2. Kinesis: only action verbs can transfer the action from

one participant to another; states cannot.

3. Aspect: an action viewed from its endpoint as: a telic

action (the activity is viewed as completed and the

transferred is carried out in its entirety) and the atelic

(the activity is only partially carried out).

4. Punctuality: an action has a more marked effect on

their patients than actions which were inherently on-

going.

5. Volitionally: the action is volitional.

6. Affirmation: this is the affirmative/negative

parameter.


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7. Mode: this refers to distinction between 'realis' and

'irrealis' encoding of events.

8. Agency: the subject is high in agency can effect

transfer of an action in way that those low in Agency

cannot.

9. Affectedness of object: object totally effective.

10. Individuation of object: object is highly individuated.

According to these components, we can specify the

transitivity of each sentence (either high transitivity or

low transitivity), for example:

20. a. John eats the sandwich. b. Jerry knocked Sam

down.

The sentence (b) is higher in transitivity than (a) because

it displays the following properties: Kinesis: action,

aspect: telic, punctual, affectedness of object: total, and

individuation of object: high, referential, animate, and

proper.

It's cited above that middle verbs do not permit the

passivisation, and to understand this point clearly, we

should analyze the structure of the middle verbs

syntactically and semantically.

4. Passivity of the Middle Verbs

From a syntactic point of view, the sentence of the

middle verb consists of three grammatical elements:

subject + transitive verb (middle) + object. Here the

transitive relation may be hold. As we know that the


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transitive relation is hold for three arguments as Palmer

(1981:84) explains: "a relation is transitive if, for three

arguments x, y, and z, the relation that holds both for x

and y and for y and z also holds for x and z". This may be

led us to the possibility of the middle verb to be passive.

21. He has a car.

S V O

22. He married her. .

S V O

23. John resembles his father.

S V O

24. The car lacks a mirror.

S V O

25. He run mile to work.

S V O

In fact, the relation of the middle verb is binary relation,

there is only one argument the subject and a property of

the subject is given. Thus, the sentence of the middle verb

is as a copula clause that consists of (subject + verb). And

it can be analyzed into two parts: subject and predicate,

as in the following examples:

He has a car. *A car is had.

Subject predicate

He married her. *She was married by him.

Subject predicate

John resembles his father. *His father is resembled by

John.

Subject predicate

The car lacks a mirror. *A mirror is lacked by the car.


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Subject predicate

He ran a mile to work. *A mile is run to work by him.

Subject predicate

The middle verbs (has, marry, resemble, lack, and run)

are followed by complements that have more or less the

status of object. A car, her, his father, and a mirror are

merely the complements of the verb without being an

object. For this reason, Duskova et al.(1994:259) claim

that "the semantics relation between middle verbs and

copular verbs can be demonstrated by the possibility of

using a periphrastic construction including copula''. She

compares:

26. It costs five pounds. The price was five pounds.

27. It weighs two pounds. The weight is two.

The transitive middle verbs are lack to passivity not

merely from syntactic point of view but also semantically

they are lack to transfer as we will explain in the next

section.

5. Middle verbs: semantically speaking

In semantics, the transitivity depends totally on the idea

of transfer, i.e., transfer the action from the subject to

object through the verb. (Cf. Lazard:1994:248). The

process of transfer appears as property of the whole

clause and functions as a semantic continuum, which

makes it necessary to take into consideration various

parameters of transitivity.


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Hooper & Thompson (2006:251) explain these

parameters saying: "the subject of the active is agentive,

the object is effected in some way in order to become the

subject of the passive as a consequence of the transfer.

And finally the verb is dynamic." All such parameters

account for possibility or impossibility of passivization.

Quirk et al. (1983:741) focus, also, on the semantic

importance of the transfer in forming a passive:

the most typical semantics role of a subject in a

clause that has a direct object is that of agentive

participant: that is, the animate being instigating

or causing the happening denoted by the verb.

And the direct object is affected participant: a

participant (animate or inanimate) which does

not cause the happening denoted by the verb, but

is directly involved in some other way.

The agentivity of the subject is variable and depends on

the verb. Agentivity can be described as a continuum, for

example, the subject is decreasingly agentive, the degree

of transitivity lower and lower (but never absent). But

when the semantic role of the subject is not agent, there’s

normally no transfer possible from the subject to the

object through the verb as in the case of middle verbs,

thus the passivization is unacceptable.

28 -The book weighs a pound. * A pound was weighed

by the book.

29 -The jar holds oil. *Oil is held by the jar. (Palmer:

1987:81-2)

30 -The reforms will benefit women. *Women will be

benefited by the reforms.

As mentioned above, the middle verbs (stative,

symmetrical and linking) can't be turned into passive


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since they lack transfer. For middle stative verbs, the

transfer is impossible because they indicate a static

relationship between two things, i.e. nothing "happens"

and so a passive construction, which normally describes

the results of an activity, could not be used. For

examples:

31. He has lots of money. *lots of money are had by him.

32. Two and two equal four. *Four is equaled by two and

two.

33. The meeting lasted all morning.* All morning was

lasted by the meeting.

Within middle symmetrical verbs, the transfer is also

impossible, for example:

34. Sophia resembles Alexander. *Sophia is resembled

Alexander.

35. House means maison. *House is mean maison

.

36. Othello married Desdemona. *Othello was married by

Desdemona.

37. John met Kate at the station. *She was met by John at

the station. (the meeting was not scheduled)

Symmetrical verbs do not co-occur with passive

because in the passive there is typically an agent or

instrument subject and an affected object party. That

dichotomy simply does not exist with symmetrical verbs.

Clearly the verbs resemble, mean, marry and met are

symmetrical transitive followed by object complements

(Alexander, maison, Desdemona, and the station), but the

object cannot be a subject to form the passive. These

verbs are unusual semantically because the subject and

direct object have the same relationship to one another: if

Sophia resembles Alexander then Alexander resembles


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Sophia. If Othello married Desdemona then Desdemona

married Othello.

The middle linking verbs have lack of transfer because

their subjects are experiencer but not agent, and the

objects are uneffected (stimulus). The subject of linking

verbs is not really engaging in action and hasn't a direct

effect upon the direct object. So the passivization is

impossible, for examples:

38. Mary is a teacher.

39. Susan loves stamp collecting.

40. Sheila trusts her son.

41. Kat can't believe in love.

42. Dick lacks courage and intelligence.

On the other hand, the above middle verbs can be

turned into passive when they denote acitivity or when

they are used dynamically, for examples:

43. We have sandwiches. *Sandwiches are had by us. (

have in stative meaning we took sandwiches with us)

44. We have sandwiches. Sandwiches are had by us. (

have in dynamic meaning we ate sandwiches) (Palmer:

1987: 162)

45. The jar holds oil. *Oil is held by the jar.

46. The thief was held by the police. (ibid:81)

47. Two and two equals four.*Four is equalled by two

and two.

48. The king possessed great wealth. *Great wealth was

possessed by the king.

49. The city was soon possessed by the enemy. (ibid:82)


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Symmetrical verbs resemble, look like, met, marry and

fight can be passive, for example Marry is a middle verb

in the sense "enter into a marriage", so passive is

impossible. While Marry in the senses "give in marriage"

or "perform the marriage ceremony for" is a transitive

verb occurring in the passive (Quirk et al.: 1983: 736):

50. David and Judith are marrying off their eldest son

next week.

51. Father Brown will be marrying Ron and Joan.

Met is non–symmetrical verb if it has the meaning "he

went to the station to meet her off a train" and here the

passive is possible (Dixon: 2005: 362): John met Mary at

the station. Similarly, fight may be symmetrical with a

human as object: Harry fought Tom in 1979. *Tom was

fought by Harry in 1979, or non-symmetrical with an

activity noun as object:

52. Tom fought a fierce battle.

6. The Test A diagnostic test has been designed in order to reveal

the difficulties

encountered by fourth-year students in using transitive

middle verbs. The random sample of the test consists of

(50) students taken from Department of English/ College

of Education for Humanities/ University of Thiqar for the

academic year 2015-2016.

The test consists of one question (see Appendix I),

including twenty-eight items in which students are asked

to underline the verb, classify it either as a transitive

verb, or middle verb and then change the sentence into

passive form if possible. Some items of the test are


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modified in the light of jury members' notes (1)

. The

question measures the subjects’ responses at two levels:

the recognition and the production.

1-Jury members include: 1.Prof Dr. Mahammed Al-

Seady 2.Asst.Prof. Dr. Raad Al-Nawas 3.Asst.Prof.

Mr.Ali Aubd Al-Rudh 4. Dr. Rheem Al-

Zubiadi(Lecturer).

7. Results and Discussion The following table explains the performance of fourth

year students at recognition level. The students are asked

to underline and distinguish the transitive middle verbs.

Table (1) Students' Performance of middle verbs at

Recognition Level

Items No

No. Correct

answers

% No. Incorrect

answers

%

1. 35 2.59 15

1.11

2. 5 0.37 45 3.33

3. 8 0.59 42 3.10

4. 24 1.71 26 1.92

5. 10 0.71 40 2.96

6. 23 1.70 27 1.99

7. 30 2.22 20 1.48

8. 19 1.40 31 2.29

9. 30 2.22 20 1.48

10. 38 2.81 12 1.03


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The table shows that the numbers of incorrect answers

have been scored highly (818, 60.54%) out of the total

11. 30 2.22 20 1.48

12. 11 0.81 39 2.88

13. 11 0.81 39 2.88

14. 9 0.66 41 3.03

15. 9 0.66 41 3.03

16. 23 1.70 27 1.99

17. 18 1.33 32 2.36

18. 32 2.36 18 1.33

19. 10 0.71 40 2.96

20. 46 3.40 4 0.29

21. 8 0.59 42 3.10

22. 6 0.44 44 3.25

23. 47 3.47 3 0.22

24. 25 1.85 25 1.85

25. 18 1.33 32 2.36

26. 3 0.56 47 3.47

27. 16 1.18 34 2.51

28. 38 2.81 12 0.88

Total

1351

533

39.45

818

60.54


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number (1351), while the correct answers scored (533,

39.54%).

It is clear that the fourth-year students are unable to

recognize and distinguish the middle verbs. They have

only the ability to recognize the verbs in the test as

transitive ones. In addition to that, they suppose that the

noun phrases followed these verbs function as direct

objects. As in items No. (1, 7, 9, 10, 11, 20, 23, 28):

*They have (Vtran) a nice house (Od).

*His son look after (Vtran) him(Od).

*The car weighs (Vtran) two tons(Od).

*The humor eludes (Vtran) me(Od).

*I ran (Vtran) a mile to work(Od).

As we mention earlier, the above noun phrases (a nice

house, him, two tons, me, and a mile to work) are not

objects but they are merely the complements of the

middle verbs (have, look after, weighs, eludes, and ran).

So their passivity is unacceptable. Learners' syntactic

knowledge has led them to analyze all items of the test

into {SVO}without paying any attention to the semantic

transitivity:

*The barrel (S) holds (V) petrol (Od).

*This dress(S) doesn't become (V) you (Od).

*A strange adventure (S) befell (V) him(Od).

*He(S) failed (V) her (Od) (= 'he let her down').

*The enemy (S) numbered (V) over 20,000(Od).


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*They(S) parted (V) company (Od).

Generalization plays a great role in the learners'

responses. They have generalized that each verb in the

test is transitive verb since it is followed by a direct object

so it can be passivized, as in their answers to items: (26,

21, 22, 14,15,16,19,5,12,13,25,27, 8).

The second part of the test measures the students'

performance at the production level. They have been

asked to rewrite the sentences into the passive form if

possible. The following table explains their responses.

Table (2) Students' Performance of Middle Verbs at

Production Level

Items.

No

No. Correct

Answers

% No. Incorrect

Answers

%

1. 18 1.28 32 2.28

2. 5 0.35 45 3.21

3. 12 0.85 38 2.71

4. 16 1.14 34 2.42

5. 10 0.71 40 2.85

6. 26 1.85 24 1.71

7. 17 1.21 33 2.35

8. 11 0.78 39 2.78

9. 10 0.71 40 2.85

10. 10 0.71 40 2.85

11 13 0.92 37 2.64

12 13 0.92 37 2.64

13 12 0.85 38 2.71

14 9 0.64 41 2.92

15 5 0.35 45 3.21

16 7 0.5 43 3.07

17 11 0.78 39 2.78


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18 18 1.28 32 2.28

19 11 0.78 39 2.78

20 13 0.92 37 2.64

21 39 2.78 11 0.78

22 14 1 36 2.57

23 10 0.71 40 2.85

24 36 2.57 14 1

25 41 2.92 9 0.64

26 15 1.07 35 2.5

27 12 0.85 38 2.71

28 9 0.64

41 2.91

Total 423

30% 97 70%

The result of the table explains that the students'

incorrect answers are scored highly (70%) than correct

answers (30%) out of the total number (1400). Most of

them answer items (21, 24, and 25) correctly:

My father gave me this watch.

The boy kicked the football.

The lazy man lay in bed until noon.

Here the students know that the verb "gave" is dynamic

ditransitive verb followed by two objects (indirect 'me'

and direct 'this watch'). Also the verb "kicked" is

dynamic monotransitive verb followed by direct object.

Both verbs can have a passive form, while the verb "lay"

cannot be passive because it is intransitive verb. Clearly

here learners rely on their grammatical knowledge

without concern to the semantic transitivity.


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In the following items No.(3,4,12,13,14,15,and 23), the

students have turned all these sentences into passive and

this is unacceptable :

He lacks the necessary money. *The necessary money is

lacked by him.


him.

The apples cost fifty cent. *Fifty cent is costed by the

apples.

The car weighs two tons. * Two tons are weighted by the

car.

Adam met Mary at the station. * Mary was met at the

station by Adam.

It is clear that the syntactic knowledge alone cannot be

used to convert the above sentences into passive ones. The

students' ignorance of semantic transitivity led them to

score highly numbers of incorrect answers for most of the

items but more specifically for items (2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,

13, 14,15,16, 19, 23,and 28):

*Everybody had a good time. A good time was had by

everybody. This sentence simply can be converted into

passive. Syntactically it has three elements (SVO).

Semantically the transfer is possible because the verb

"had"(spend) is dynamic transitive verb. In fact the

students answered it wrongly. They consider the verb

"had" is transitive stative verb and it can't be turned into

passive. Learners


22

This dress doesn't become you. * You aren't became this

dress

Here no possibility of passive. Syntactically this sentence

consists of two elements (SV) and "you" is not effected

object. Semantically the transfer is impossible because

the verb "become" is stative. Fourth year students

answered it wrongly and they turned it into passive and

this is unacceptable.

The apples cost fifty cent. *Fifty cent is coasted by the

apples.

Syntactically the sentence consists of three elements

(SVO), but the noun phrase "the apples" is not the agent

and the complete (noun phrase of measure "fifty cent") of

the active can't become subject of the passive since the

object equal the subject. Semantically the transitivity is

uncompleted because the verb "cost" is used statively. No

passive is possible. According to students' answers, this

sentence can has a passive form. It has three grammatical

elements (SVO) the noun phrase "fifty cent" is object of

the dynamic transitive verb "cost".

In this way the fourth year students have answered the

following sentences incorrectly:

The suit fits me. *I am fitted by this suit.

The car weighs two tons. *Two tons are weighed by this

car

Two and two equal four. *Four is equaled by two and

two


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A strange adventure befell him. *He was befell by a

strange adventure

Learners

Jack married Jill. *Jill was married by Jack

Adam met Mary at the station. * Mary was met at the

station by Adam.


John.

Kate agreed with Paul. * Paul was agreed by Kate.

He grew three centimeters. * Three centimeters are

grown by him.

*I ran a mile to work. *A mile to work is run by me.

In addition to that, the students' ignorance of the verbal

meanings (i.e., stative: verbs of inert perception and

congnition, relational verbs and dynamic verbs: activity

verbs, process verbs, verbs of bodily sensation and

transitional event verbs (Quirk and Greenbaum:

1973:46)) led them to give incorrect answers, for example,

their answers to items No. (1, 2, 10, 11, 16, 17, 22, and 23):

They have a nice house. * A nice house are had.

The verb have is middle transitive stative verb in

meaning relational verb (own). The passive is impossible

The car weighs two tons. *Two tons are weight by the

car.


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Here the stative meaning of the verb weigh is (cost,

appear) and it is followed by noun phrase of measure "

two tons"

Jack married Jill. *Jill was married by Jack.

The passive in this sentence is impossible because the

middle verb marriage is symmetrical one (enter into a

marriage)

Tom grew carrots .

Here the verbs (have, weigh, marry and grow) are middle

verbs. The possibility of their passive is impossible

because they are used stativily. Have, weigh, marry and

grow verbs can be passivized if they are used dynamically

as in the following:

Everybody had a good time.

Mr. Ali weighed the letters.

The Rev. Smith married them.

He grew three centimeters.

8. Conclusions

1. Middle verbs are static transitive verbs. They can

be followed by noun phrase , noun phrase for

measure and noun phrase for extent in space , but

these phrases cannot function as grammatical

object. Middle verbs are antipassive verbs and

agentless.

2. Syntactically, the sentence of the middle transitive

verb, as any other transitive sentence, consists of


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subject, transitive middle verb and object; so that

it can be turned into passive. While semantically, it

lacks transfer, i.e. the middle verbs are unable to

transfer the action from subject to object; so

passive is impossible. For this reason they are,

probably, called middle verbs. Their transitivity is

incomplete so that the middle verbs lack the

passive form.

3. In fact, the passivization is based on the semantic

criteria of transitivity. The results of the test reveal

that the students did not distinguish the syntactic

transitivity from the semantic transitivity so that

there is no way of understanding why middle

transitive verbs cannot be passivized.

4. High numbers of the incorrect answers for fourth

year students at both levels recognition (60 %) and

production (70 %) explain they are unaware that

there is a group of transitive verbs known as

middle verbs never passivised. Their ignorance of

the middle verbs (stative, symmetrical and linking)

and their ignorance of the semantic transitivity has

led them to generalize that each verb in the test is

transitive then it can be passive.

5. It is recommended that the techniques of teaching

passive constructions should emphasize on the

semantic transitivity of the verb not only on

syntactic transitivity because the passivity depends

on the idea of transfer. Students are not required

to memorize the syntactic constructions of passive.


22

It is required firstly to understand why certain

verbs can be passive and others cannot.

References

Berk, Lynn, M. (1999). English Syntax. Oxford: O.U. P.

Dixon, R.M.W. (2005). A Semantic Approach to English

Grammar. Oxford : O. U. P.

Duskova, L., et al. (1994). Studies in the English

Language. Prague: Karolinum, Charles University

Press.

Eckersley, C.W. & Eckersley, J.M. (1970). A

Comprehensive English Grammar for Foreign

Students. London: Longman Group Ltd.

Hopper, P. and Thompson, S.(1980). Transitivity in

Grammar and Discourse Language.

Huddleston, R. and Pullum, G. (2002). The Cambridge

Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge:

C. U. P.

Jacobs, R.A. (1995). English Syntax a Grammar for

English Language. Professionals Oxford: O.U. P.

Jespersen, O.(1972). Essentials of English Grammar.

London: George Allen and Unwin LTD

Palmer, F.R.(1981).Semantics. Cambridge: C. U. P.

----------- (1965). The Linguistics Study of the English

Verbs.

London: Longmans.


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---------- (1965). The English Verb. London: Longman.

Quirk et al. (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of the

English Language. London: Longman.

---------- .(1972) . A Grammar of Contemporary English.

London: Longman Group Ltd.

Quirk, R. and Greenbaum, S. (1973) A University English

Grammar. London: Longman Group Ltd.

Stageberg, N.C. (1981). An Introductory English

Grammar. Florida: Holt, Rinehart and

Winston, Inc.

Simpson, J.M.Y.(1979). A Course in Linguistics.

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Trask, R. L. (1993). A Dictionary of Grammatical Terms

in Linguistics. London: Routledge Inc.

Appendix (1)

Q1 Read the following sentences carefully, and underline

the verb (and classify it as middle or transitive), and then

state whether the following active sentences can be

changed into passive or not. If they can put ( ) and

change them, if they cannot put (X).

1. They have a nice house.

2. Everybody had a good time.

3. He lacks the necessary money .

4. The barrel holds petrol.

5. This dress doesn't become you.


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6. John resembles his father.

7. His son took after him.

8. The apples cost fifty cent.

9. The suit fits me.

10. The car weighs two tons.

11. Mr. Ali weighed the letters.

12. Two and two equal four.

13. I don’t think they mind your criticism.

14. A strange adventure befell him.

15. He failed her (= 'he let her down').

16. Jack married Jill.

17. The Rev. Smith married them.

18. Adam met Mary at the station.

19. Kate agreed with Paul.

20. The humor eludes me.

21. My father gave me this watch.

22. Tom grew carrots.

23. He grew three centimeters.

24. The boy kicked the football.

25. The lazy man lay in bed until noon.

26. The enemy numbered over 20,000.

27. They parted company.


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28. I ran a mile to work.

Iraqi EFL Learners' Performance on Middle Verbs Hawraa ...

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