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At least three different sub-meanings can be found among passive verbs: stative, dynamic and adjectival
THE VARIABILITY OF PASSIVE VERB MEANING
A general meaning of English passive verbs does not exist. The nearest we can come to one is to say “the subject of a passive verb is affected by the action or state of the verb”. The problem with this is that it does not apply in all cases, and sometimes it applies to verbs that are not passive, such as SUFFER (see 21. Active Verbs with Non-Active Meanings). There is a resemblance here to the problem of the meaning of “uncountable” nouns (see 14. Noun Countability Clues 1).
As with uncountable nouns, if we wish to characterise passive verbs in general, we are better off saying what they do rather than what they mean: they enable associated nouns or their equivalents to be in different sentence positions from the ones they would have if the verb was in the active voice, the purpose usually being either better text flow or non-mention of undesirable noun meanings (see 27. How to Avoid Passive Verbs, 69. How Computers Get Grammar Wrong 2 and 113. Verbs That Cannot Be Passive).
Passive verb meaning, however, is not only about who does what to whom. One obvious other aspect, not the focus here, is the singular/plural distinction typical of so many verb forms (see 204. Grammatical Agreement). The aspect that I wish to examine here is the way passive verbs often express a state rather than an action. Of course, active verbs can express states too, but passive verbs seem to do it more often, and this needs investigating.
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DYNAMIC AND STATIVE VERB MEANING
Dynamic meaning belongs to actions (doing), where there is energy and change, while stative meaning belongs to states (being), where there is undisturbed continuity. Some active verbs have mostly dynamic/action meaning, e.g. TAKE, LAUGH and COMPARE; some are mostly stative, e.g. KNOW, EXIST and REMAIN; while the majority can be either, e.g. SUPPORT, JOIN, RECOGNISE, EXPRESS and STAND (see 21. Active Verbs with Non-Active Meanings). Here is the verb SUPPORT used in both ways:
DYNAMIC ACTIVE
(a) Migrants regularly support their families with remittances from abroad.
STATIVE ACTIVE
(b) Deep foundations support most tall buildings.
The choice between dynamic and stative meaning is more generally available with passive than active forms because many verbs are able only in the passive voice to express both meanings. Take the verb LOCATE. The active form locates seems always to be dynamic, whereas the passive is located is typically passive (see 295. Options in Saying Where, #1), but can easily be dynamic instead:
DYNAMIC PASSIVE
(c) The bridge was located (by its architect) in the town.
STATIVE PASSIVE
(d) The bridge is located (= can be found) in the town.
This double meaning found particularly in passive verbs can cause uncertainty in some sentences:
(e) The gates will be locked when the building is closed.
Both locked and closed here could be an action or a state: the sentence could be indicating two simultaneous states, two briefer simultaneous actions, or an action to be carried out during the time period of a neighbouring state.
Fortunately, such ambiguity can often be prevented by using alternative wording. For example, sentences like (e) might use while instead of when to more clearly mark the verb after it as stative (see 225. Simultaneous Occurrence), and continuous tenses instead of simple ones (e.g. is being closed instead of is closed) to clearly convey actions rather than states.
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SUBDIVISIONS OF STATIVE MEANING
Stative meaning is not always the same. A clue to this possibility is provided by adjectives. Consider the underlined adjective in this sentence:
(f) When the soldiers entered the building, the hostages were free.
Although free can be used as a verb, we can tell that here it must be an adjective because it follows a form of the verb BE (were) without an ending. If it were a verb, it would always need an ending after BE (unless it was irregular like PUT): either -ed, showing the passive voice, or -ing, showing the active voice in continuous tenses (see 140. Words with Unexpected Grammar 2, #f).
The meaning of the adjective free is, like that of most adjectives, not dynamic: it indicates a state that the hostages were in when the soldiers entered the building. This raises the question of whether and how the meaning of were free differs from the stative meaning of the passive verb form were freed. There is definitely a difference.
If were freed were used in (f) instead of were free, it could have the dynamic meaning that the freeing of the hostages started around the time when the soldiers entered the building, but it could also have the stative meaning that the hostages were already in a free state when the soldiers entered. Unlike were free, however, it would also indicate a recent initiation of the state – that the hostages were given freedom shortly before the soldiers’ entry.
Saying the hostages were free is vague about what happened before – indeed the hostages might never have been locked or tied up at all. In the same way, saying statively that a sandwich was filled with meat suggests recent human causation, whereas was full of ants says nothing about how or when the ants got there.
Keeping the same spelling is one of various ways in which an adjective might show a close link to a verb (see 304. Adjectives Made from a Verb). Examples besides free are absent, articulate, clean, clear, complete, content, corrupt, dirty, double, empty, equal, hurt, level, manifest, narrow, near, open, slow, suspect and welcome. Various others end in -ate (see 172. Multi-Use Suffixes, #4). For more on content, see 254. Tricky Word Contrasts 10, #1.
It may be asked how a stative use of were freed differs from one in the present perfect or past perfect tense, like had been freed. I would suggest that, although both imply an action and a resultant state, the former emphasises the state, the latter the action. The meaning of were freed resembles that of passive forms of a few special verbs that disallow the normal passive use, such as GO (e.g. were gone: see 207. Exotic Grammar Structures 4, #1).
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PASSIVE VERBS WITH ADJECTIVE MEANING
In the examples above, the two types of stative meaning – suggesting or not suggesting a recent beginning of the state – are linked with two different language categories, passive verbs and adjectives respectively. However, the vast majority of passive verbs in English do not have a corresponding adjective, and instead sometimes express the adjective meaning themselves.
The verb CLOSE is a verb of this kind (although there is an adjective with the same spelling, it is not a related adjective, because it has a completely different meaning – “near” – and is pronounced differently, with /s/ at the end instead of /z/). Here is how CLOSE might be used with each of the three passive verb meanings:
DYNAMIC MEANING
(g) Beware of being hit by the gates as they are closed.
STATIVE MEANING (RECENT COMMENCEMENT)
(h) Gatekeepers are able to go home when the gates are closed.
STATIVE MEANING (NO INDICATION OF COMMENCEMENT)
(i) When the gates are closed, visitors should contact security.
When the meaning corresponds more to the adjective open than to the verb opened, as in (i), I would go so far as to say that closed and words like it actually are adjectives. Further evidence for their adjective status is sometimes provided by their association with a preposition other than by (see 245. Adjectives with a Participle Ending). Two particularly interesting examples are married (+ to) (in 201. Verbs with Complicated Grammar 1, #4) and confused (+ about) in 261. Words with Complicated Grammar 3, #3).
Of course I have tried here to construct sentences where the required meaning is the most likely. In everyday English usage, however, there will often be uncertainty about which meaning is intended, or indeed it will not matter.
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PRACTICE EXERCISE (PASSIVE VERB MEANINGS)
To help the above points to be remembered, here are some sentences to think about. The task is to decide whether the underlined verbs have dynamic or stative meaning, and in the latter case to consider which kind of stative meaning is more likely. The kind with no implied recent beginning can be called S1, that with it S2. My own opinions are given afterwards.
Sentences for Analysis
1. The passive verb form can be interpreted in different ways.
2. Atoms are understood to be made of subatomic particles.
3. It will be seen that demand is not always predictable.
4. The police found the weapon was cleaned of fingerprints.
5. Before a long drive, check that the tyres are properly inflated.
6. The exact procedure is demonstrated in the diagram above.
7. When Einstein died, he was recognised as a genius.
8. After the lecture, students who are confused may ask questions.
9. Adjustment of wing shape enables landing aircraft to be slowed.
10. From the survey responses, customers are known to be unhappy.
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Answers
1. DYNAMIC
2. STATIVE S1 (a general and longstanding understanding among scientists)
3. DYNAMIC
4. STATIVE S2 (Somebody had recently cleaned it. S1 would have had was clean)
5. STATIVE S1 or DYNAMIC (Not S2 because there is no clue to any recent inflating. Dynamic meaning would involve someone other than the addressee doing the inflating).
6. STATIVE S1 (Not dynamic because diagrams do not move; not S2 because a book diagram – suggested by above – is not something recently completed).
7. STATIVE S1 (Einstein’s recognition came before his death, not after it and not shortly before it).
8. STATIVE S2 (implies a state of confusion resulting from a recent lecture).
9. DYNAMIC or STATIVE S2 (S1 meaning is not possible because of “enables”, and anyway would be shown by “slow”).
10. STATIVE S2 (KNOW is nearly always stative; the survey is a recent beginning of the knowing).
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