2016-08-31 Grammar: passives with "get"

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - Notes from all my classes
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NO SCHOOL MONDAY SEPTEMBER 5 (Labor Day)
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Homework: p. 50 exercise 3
1 are spoken (multiple languages -> plural)
2 have been mined
3 are considered
4 is eaten
5 is consumed
	per capita = per person
6 were worshiped
7 has been developed
8 were invented
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Notice that none of these sentences have “by + agent” phrases.
How do we decide whether we should include the agent or not?
- If it’s already been mentioned (or is already known), it’s not necessary.
Shun was arrested. - we all understand it was by police, so we don’t need to say this
- If it’s unknown by everyone, it’s not necessary to say “by someone” or “by them”.
	Baik’s car was already stolen. - No one knows who did it, so we don’t say “by someone”.
- If it’s not important to the understanding of the sentence, it’s not necessary.
	This bridge was built in 1976. - The important information is the date, not who built it.
- If it’s new, useful, or surprising information, we should include the agent.
	This music was composed by a computer.
	The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci. - These would both be boring sentences without the agent, because of course the music was composed and the Mona Lisa was painted. The interesting thing is the agent.
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p. 53 exercise 8 - Identify the agent in each sentence, and decide if the by-phrase is necessary.
1 “by an unknown civilization” - maybe necessary because it’s interesting that it’s an unknown civilization
2 “by the teacher” - not necessary (we know the teacher is who assigns things)
3 “by Picasso” - not necessary because the next clause tells us it was Picasso
4 “by someone” - not necessary, because we don’t know anything about the person
  “by someone in my English class” - necessary, because I’m giving specific information about the person
5 “by friends or relatives” - necessary, because it’s important to know who’s supporting them
6 “by children” - necessary, because children translating them is the interesting thing
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We can sometimes use “get” instead of “be” for passive sentences.
- It’s more informal than “be” in many situations.
- You need do/does/did for questions and negatives in simple present and past.
	Shun didn’t get arrested. = Shun wasn’t arrested.
- It’s more common with animate subjects, and it emphasizes the action rather than the state.
- It emphasizes that an action was done to something that already existed.
	The house got painted., but NOT: The Mona Lisa got painted.
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Homework: p. 55 exercise 9 - Decide if “get” or “be” is appropriate for each sentence.