Intermediate English Grammar for ESL Learners - Robin Torres-Gouzerh 2016

Adjectives and participles
11 The stative passive

Past participles in a passive-voice sentence can act like adjectives, in the sense that they describe a noun.

The car is old.

The car is locked.

In the first example, the word old is an adjective and describes car. )n the second example, locked is a past participle; it functions as an adjective and also describes car.

Essentially, the participle is derived from passive-voice sentences like the following.

The car has been locked by someone. (The car is locked.)

The window was repaired by someone. (The window is repaired.)

Adjectives and participles

The passive past participle can be used to describe an existing state or situation; when it does, it is called the stative passive. Consider the following examples.

I locked the car door five minutes ago. Now the car door is locked.

Peter broke the window two days ago. Now the window is broken.

We were without water for a week. Now the pipe is finally fixed.

In all three examples, the action took place earlier, as described in the first sentence, and the state of that action in the present is expressed in the second sentence of each pair. In these second sentences, the past participle functions as an adjective.

Notice that there is no by phrase in any of the sentences. However, the stative passive is often followed by prepositions other than by.

She is satisfied with her job.

Marc is married to Vanessa.

There are many other common adjectives in English that are, in reality, stative passive structures.

Frank is interested. I’m bored.

The store was closed. He saw nothing but closed stores.

The work was finished. He took the finished work home.

Following is a list of commonly used adjectives that are derived from present and past participles.

amazing/amazed

boring/bored

confusing/confused

disappointing/disappointed

exciting/excited

exhausting/exhausted

frightening/frightened

interesting/interested

satisfying/satisfied

surprising/surprised

terrifying/terrified

tiring/tired

The present participle is used as a modifier for the active voice. The past participle is used as a modifier for the passive voice.

The athlete was amazing. (This adjective describes what the athlete is.)

The athlete was amazed. (This adjective describes what happened to the athlete.)

This book is boring. (This adjective describes what the book is.)

This student is bored. (This adjective describes what happened to the student.)

Exercise 11.1 Underline the correct participle in each sentence.

1. The journalist was disappointing | disappointed that the newspaper didn’t accept her article.

2. Tokyo is an exciting | excited international city.

3. I am very interesting | interested in astrology.

4. Reading good novels is gratifying | gratified.

5. I am sorry for messing up the sauce. The recipe was really confusing confused.

6. Peter was also confusing | confused when he read the instructions.

7. Susan is exciting | excited, because she will see her parents soon.

8. Richard hoped that his family would be exciting | excited to meet his new girlfriend.

Exercise 11.2 Complete each sentence, using the simple present or simple past tense of be with the stative passive form of the verb in parentheses.

Example It’s getting warm in here, because the heater is fixed (fix) again.

1. It smells bad in this kitchen, because the ventilator ...(break).

2. It is hot in this car, because the window ... (close).

3. Yesterday it was hot in this room, because the window ... (close).

4. Peter is wearing a winter hat. It ... (make) of cotton.

5. The door to the castle ... (shut).

6. Bob looks worried. (e is sitting all by himself. His elbows ... (bend) and his hands ... (fold) in front of him.

7. We can leave now, since the movie ... (finish).

8. The headlights on his car ... (turn) on.

9. This theater ... (not + crowd).

10. Don’t look under the stairs! Your Christmas present ... (hide) there.

11. Oh no! How did this happen? My dress ... (tear).

12. Where are my keys? They ... (go)! Did you take them?

13. Mother just called us, because dinner is ready. The table ... (set), the chicken and beans ... (finish), and the candles ... (light).

14. His room is finally looking cleaner. The bed ...(make), the floor ... (vacuum), and the windows ... (wash).

15. We were trapped in a canyon for two days, because the car ... (stick) in mud.

16. We are trapped here. The car ... (stick) in mud.