Structures
The common structure of forming a passive voice is: BE + P.P ( the combine of “to be verb” with the “past participle” (P.P) of the main verb). We call this as “Be passive”. Be passive can be used in various tenses.
Numbers Tenses Structure Example
1 Simple Present am/is/are + Past Participle (P.P) I am punished.
2 Simple Present Continuous am/ is/ are + being + P.P I am being punished.
3 Simple Past was/ were + P.P I was punished.
4 Past Continuous was/ were + being + P.P I was being punished.
5 Present Perfect has/ have + been + P.P I have been punished.
6 Present Perfect Continuous has/ have + been+ being + P.P I have been being punished.
7 Past Perfect had + been + P.P I had been punished.
8 Past Perfect Continuous had + been
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Not all the passive meaning sentences contain “bị/ được” (Bạn sinh ở đâu?/ Where were you born?) and not all the sentences contain “bị/ được” have passive meaning (Tôi bị bệnh/ I am sick).
Similarities and differences
Similarities
In both English and Vietnamese, we use passive voice to focus, to put more attention on the fact, the action or the result of the action. We want to focus more on the recipient than on the performer, and as a result, the doer or the agent is often omitted.
Differences
The frequency of using
Passive voice has a very important role in English, especially in some academic papers. According to some researchers, English speakers tend to use passive voice a lot in their daily conversation while Vietnamese tend to avoid it. Using passive voice in Vietnamese will cause unnaturalness.
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However in Vietnamese is : bị/được + verb. In English, “be” verb is changed depending on the subject and the tense of the sentences. However in Vietnamese, the form of “bị/ được” is constant. One more difference is in English, there is no change in the structure “be + past participle” no matter what the meaning is but in Vietnamese, passive voice with the word “được” is used with the positive meanings and the word “bị” is used with negative meanings.
Some common mistakes in translation
So many English – Vietnamese learners make mistakes in translation. One of the most common mistakes in English – Vietnamese translation is “bị/ được”. In some situations, we can omit it so that the sentence can be more logical and natural. For instance:
Anh ấy bị mất máy tính xách tay.
→ He was lost his laptop. (False)
→ He lost his laptop.
Every language has its own way of saying different things and depending on the culture,
In eddotoun tu biong brevi Rokko os elsu viry luyel. Rokko shuws hos divutoun tu Tiddy by kiipong hom sefi wholi gaerdong thi huasi. Rokko os riloebli end difinds thi femoly (Koplong 80). Thos ixempli shuws thet Rokko purtreys luyelty by prutictong thi femoly end mekong sari thet nuthong wuald cumi ontu thi bangeluw end herm thim. Radyerd Koplong farthir discrobis Rokko’s luyelty tu hos femoly by shuwong thet Tiddy’s fethir trasts Rokko tu bi luyel end rispict hom (Koplong 80). Tiddy's fethir shuws hos trast whin hi seys “Tiddy os sefir woth thet lottli biest then os hi hes e bluudhuand tu wetch hom.
In “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop, the narrator attempts to understand the relationship between humans and nature and finds herself concluding that they are intertwined due to humans’ underlying need to take away from nature, whether through the act of poetic imagination or through the exploitation and contamination of nature. Bishop’s view of nature changes from one where it is an unknown, mysterious, and fearful presence that is antagonistic, to one that characterizes nature as being resilient when faced against harm and often victimized by people. Mary Oliver’s poem also titled “The Fish” offers a response to Bishop’s idea that people are harming nature, by providing another reason as to why people are harming nature, which is due to how people are unable to view nature as something that exists and goes beyond the purpose of serving human needs and offers a different interpretation of the relationship between man and nature. Oliver believes that nature serves as subsidence for humans, both physically and spiritually. Unlike Bishop who finds peace through understanding her role in nature’s plight and acceptance at the merging between the natural and human worlds, Oliver finds that through the literal act of consuming nature can she obtain a form of empowerment that allows her to become one with nature.
Some English words do not have corresponding words in most foreign languages so there are issues with exact translation. It may take more words to present the same message in a different language.
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It’s amazing how much we learn about people from what they say. One way to achieve this is through carefully constructed dialogue. Work to create dialogue that allows the characters’ personalities and voices to emerge through unique word selection and the use of active rather than passive voice.
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