PASSIVE WITH NON-FINITES & HAVE

Non-finite verbs are, like finite verbs, considered an integral part of the English Grammar, what is more, they also find representation in the passive voice. Let’s have a look at what are they people call the non-finite. Non-finite verbs are identified with those that unlike the finite verbs can't make the predication complete. They are used as double parts of speech as the infinitive, the gerund and the participle.

THE INFINITIVE:

The infinitive is the base form of the verb preceded by 'to' or without 'to.' e.g. 'It is almost impossible for a single man to carry a water-tank upstairs'. It is an active voice in so far as the sentence emphasises on the ‘single man' (agent or topic) and adds extra information (can’t carry a water- tank upstairs) to the topic. Make note ‘it’ used here is a preparatory subject to refer forward to the main subject or topic (a single man). The sentence turned into the passive becomes ‘It is almost impossible (that) a water-tank to be carried upstairs by a single man’. Infinitives have the sense of a noun combined with a verb.

INFINITIVE  FORMS IN TENSES: 

Simple infinitives in the active (to play)→simple infinitives in the passive (to be played). Perfect infinitives in the active (to have played)→perfect infinitives in the passive (to have been played). Some more examples are ‘I don’t expect to be invited to the ceremony’ ‘It is awful to be criticized in front of the followers’ and ‘The man next door wanted the rubbish to be cleared away’. The third sentence when reproduced in the passive voice becomes ‘The man next door wanted someone to clear away the rubbish’. The same sentence could have been rewritten in the perfect mode as ‘The man next door wanted the rubbish to have been cleared away before he came back’ with a significant change in meaning as the time of the perfect infinitive comes before that of the finite verb (wanted). The man wished that the rubbish had already been cleared away. But we should at the same time remember the time of the simple infinitive follows that of the finite verb.

THE GERUND:

Gerunds are often deemed as double parts of speech (a verb and a noun combined). They are formed by adding ‘ing’ to the base (present) form of the verb preceding it. Look at this chart here. Simple/present gerunds in the active (playing)→simple/present gerunds in the passive (being played). Perfect gerunds in the active (having played) → perfect gerunds in the passive (having been played). A few examples of gerunds used in the passive are ‘I was afraid of being laughed at (passive)→I was afraid of people/people’s laughing at me (active). ‘I am annoyed at having been made a fool of (passive)’. Here also the time of the perfect gerund comes before that of the finite verb.

THE PARTICIPLE:

Participles are those words that refer to the present form of the verb combined with an ‘ing’ ending i.e. talking, playing, and walking. Participles have a combined sense of both a verb and an adjective. ‘Having been warned about the bandits, he left his valuables at home’, ‘Being hit with a piece of stone, the man sat down bleeding’. These sentences when used in the active voice read like ‘Someone having warned him about the bandits, he left his valuables at home’ and ‘A piece of stone having hit him, he sat down bleeding’.

HAVE:

Now compare these three sentences given here: ‘The window was broken by a strong wind’ ‘A strong wind broke the window’ and ‘Phil had one of his windows broken (by a strong wind)’. There is absolutely no doubt as to how the first two sentences find application in our everyday life, but the third one raises confusion as it sounds a bit unfamiliar to some of us. ‘Have’ used this way can have two different senses: causative and experience something.

HAVE+OBJECT+PRESENT PARTICIPLES/ BARE INFINITIVES:

This construction means that the subject causes somebody to do something. The sentence ‘The teacher has/had us all singing/sing in the classroom’ gives the sense that the teacher gives or gave us instructions to sing in the classroom, the present participles usually denotes something in progress. The past participles (participles ending in ed, t, n etc) means ‘to cause something to be done’ and conveys a passive sense. Look at the sentence’ ‘He had the letter signed’. It says he made somebody else to sign the letter. ‘Have’ is mostly used here in the passive. ‘Get’ sometimes replaces ‘have’ to convey the causative sense but takes an infinitive with ‘to’; I am going to get my hairdresser to cut my hair this evening when converted into a passive becomes I am going to get my hair cut this evening.

EXPERIENCE

‘Have+object+present/past participle’ refers to an experience that somebody undergoes or something done to him. ‘His sister had her purse stolen on the train’, ‘If you don’t use pesticides you will have insects creeping up the stems’ and ‘My mother has had her kitchen painted light brown’. All the three subjects of the three successive sentences above underwent/will undergo or have undergone several experiences mentioned in the sentences. For more about voices please read LEARN LANGUAGE: VOICES  .