VERB: VOICE

§ The verbal category of voice shows the direction of the process as regards the participants of the situation reflected in the syntactic construction: the category does not illustrate the properties of an action itself. 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 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, fail, 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.

§ Voice is interpreted rather as a full-representative category, the same as person, number, tense, and aspect, because the demarcation line between the passivized and non-passivized sets is by no means rigid, as 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.

Consider the following examples:

§ I will shave and wash, and be ready for breakfast in half an hour.

§ I'm afraid Mary hasn't dressed up yet.

§ Now I see your son is thoroughly preparing for the entrance examinations.

The actions expressed by the verbs are not passed from the subject to any outer object; on the contrary, these actions are confined to no other participant of the situation than the subject, the latter constituting its own object of the action performance. This kind of verbal meaning of the action performed by the subject upon itself is classed as " reflexive ". The same meaning can be rendered explicit by combining the verb with the reflexive "self"-pronoun.

§ Consider the following examples:

§ The friends will be meeting tomorrow.

§ Unfortunately, Nellie and Christopher divorced two years after their magnificent marriage.

§ Are Phil and Glen quarrelling again over their toy cruiser?

The actions expressed by the verbs are also confined to the subject but these actions are performed by the subject constituents reciprocally. This verbal meaning of the action performed by the subjects in the subject group on one another is called " reciprocal ".

As is the case with the reflexive meaning, the reciprocal meaning can be rendered explicit by combining the verbs with special pronouns, namely, the reciprocal pronouns: the friends will be meeting one another; Nellie and Christopher divorced each other; the children are quarrelling with each other.

The verbs in reflexive and reciprocal uses in combination with the reflexive and reciprocal pronouns may be called, respectively, " reflexivized " and " reciprocalized ". Used absolutively, they are just reflexive and reciprocal variants of their lexemes.

Consider the following examples:

§ The new paper-backs are selling excellently.

§ The suggested procedure will hardly apply to all the instances.

§ Large native cigarettes smoked easily and coolly.

§ Perhaps the loin chop will eat better than it looks.

The actions expressed by the otherwise transitive verbs are confined to the subject, though not in a way of active self-transitive subject performance, but as if going on of their own accord. The presentation of the verbal action of this type comes under the heading of the " middle " voice. The peculiarity of this voice is in the voice neutralization when the weak member of opposition does not fully coincide in function with the strong member, but rather is located somewhere in between the two functional borders.

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