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3.2.1.3.The regular passive

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This section discusses personal passive constructions, that is, passive constructions with a derived subject. Two cases of personal passives should be distinguished: regularworden-passives such as (60b), whichinvolve promotion to subject of the direct objects of the corresponding active constructions, and so-called krijgen-passives such as (60c), whichinvolve promotion to subject of the indirect objects. This section is concerned with the regular passive; the krijgen-passive will be discussed in Section 3.2.1.4.

a.		Marienom	biedt	hemdat	het boekacc	aan.
		Marie	offers	him	the book	prt.

b.		Het boeknom	wordt	hemdat	(door Marie)	aangeboden.	regular passive
		the book	is	him	by Marie	prt.-offered

c.		Hijnom	krijgt	het boekacc'	aangeboden	(door Marie).	krijgen-passive
		he	gets	the book	prt.-offered	by Marie

I. Verbs entering the regular passive
II. The derived subject of the regular passive
III. Meaning differences between active and passive sentences
IV. Special cases of the regular passive

[+] I. Verbs entering the regular passive

This subsection discusses the types of verbs that may enter the regular passive. Since the core property of the passive is the demotion of the external argument, it does not really come as a surprise that the core cases of the regular passive involve verbs with an agentive or causer subject. There are, however, several special cases, which will also be discussed in this subsection.

[+] A. Verbs with an agentive subject

Since agents are typically +animate entities, the regular passive involves the demotion of an animate subject in the majority of cases, as in the (a)-examples in (61). However, Section 3.2.1.1, sub III, has shown that, if an inanimate entity is construed as agentive, passivization is possible as well. This is illustrated again by the (b)-examples.

a.	Jan bestudeert	het passief.
	Jan investigates	the passive
	'Jan is investigating the passive.'

a'.	Het passief	wordt	door Jan	bestudeerd.
	the passive	is	by Jan	investigated
	'The passive is investigated by Jan.'

b.	Die machine	sorteert	het huisafval.
	that machine	sorts.out	the household.garbage
	'That machine sorts out the household garbage.'

b'.		Het	huisafval	wordt	door die machine	gesorteerd.
		the	household.garbage	is	by that machines	sorted.out

[+] B. Verbs with a causer/cause subject

A causer can be considered a special kind of agent, and it is therefore not surprising that verbs with a causer subject can also be passivized. This is illustrated here by means of the transitive verb breken'to break' in the (a)-examples in (62). The demoted subject of the causative verb can also be inanimate as long as it is construed as the causer of the event; this is shown in the (b)-examples.

a.		Jan	breekt	de vaas.
		Jan	breaks	the vase

a'.		De vaas	wordt	(door Jan)	gebroken.
		the vase	is	by Jan	broken

b.	Die machine	breekt	het afgekeurde porselein.
	that machine	breaks	the disapproved china
	'That machine breaks the disapproved china.'

b'.		Het afgekeurde porselein	wordt	door die machine	gebroken.
		the disapproved china	is	by that machine	broken

The primed examples in (63) suggest that causative object experiencer psych-verbs like irriteren'to irritate' and overtuigen'to convince' (cf. Section 2.5.1.3, sub II) can also be passivized. This requires, however, that the met-PP referring to the cause (the means by which the causer brings about the mental state of the experiencer) is not overtly realized.

a.		JanCauser	irriteert	haarExp	met zijn gezeurCause.
		Jan	irritates	her	with his nagging

a'.		Zij	wordt	door	Jan	geïrriteerd	(*met zijn gezeur).
		she	is	by	Jan	irritated	with his nagging

b.		JanCauser	overtuigt	haarExp	met zijn verhaalCause.
		Jan	convinces	her	with his story

b'.		Zij	wordt	door Jan	overtuigd	(*met zijn verhaal).
		she	is	by Jan	convinced	with his story

A typical property of the psych-verbs in (63) is that the cause can also be realized as the subject of the active construction, as in the primeless examples of (64). The primed examples again suggest that passivization of such causative psych-constructions is possible.

a.		Zijn gezeurCause	irriteert	haarExp.
		his nagging	irritates	her

a'.		Zij	wordt	door zijn gezeur	geïrriteerd.
		she	is	by his nagging	irritated

b.		Zijn verhaalCause	overtuigde	haarExp.
		his story	convinced	her

b'.		Zij	werd	door zijn verhaal	overtuigd.
		she	was	by his story	convinced

The claim that we are dealing with passives in the primed examples in (63) and (64) presupposes that the door-PPs are agentive phrases similar to the ones we find in unequivocal passive examples. This seems, however, to be at odds with the fact that the door-phrases in (64) contain an inanimate, non-agentive noun phrase. Furthermore there is an alternative analysis according to which the door-phrases function as causative adjuncts comparable to the ones we find in unaccusative constructions like De ruit brak door de harde wind'The window broke due to the hard wind'. A final reason for doubting the passive analysis of the primed examples in (63) and (64) is that the verb worden can be replaced by raken'to get', which is typically used with a copular-like function.

a.		Zij	raakte/werd	door	Jan/zijn gezeur	geïrriteerd.
		she	got/became	by	Jan/his nagging	irritated

b.		Zij	raakte/werd	door Jan/zijn verhaal	overtuigd.
		she	got/became	by Jan/his story	convinced

The examples in (65) strongly suggest that the verb worden in (63) and (64) is also used as a copular verb meaning "become". If so, we would expect that in embedded clauses the participle must precede the finite verb. The judgments on the primed examples in (66) show, however, that this expectation is not really borne out; for at least some speakers the order worden-participle is considerably better than the order raken-participle.

a.		dat	zij	door Jan/zijn gezeur	geïrriteerd	raakte/werd.
		that	she	by Jan/his nagging	irritated	got/became

a'.

dat zij door Jan/zijn gezeur *raakte/%werd geïrriteerd.

b.		dat	zij	door Jan/zijn verhaal	overtuigd	raakte/werd.
		that	she	by Jan/his story	convinced	got/became

b'.

dat zij door Jan/zijn verhaal *raakte/%werd overtuigd.

We therefore conclude that it is not entirely clear on the basis of the currently available evidence whether we are dealing with passive or copular (adjectival passive) constructions in the primed examples in (63) and (64); see Section 2.5.1.3, sub IID, for more relevant discussion.
We conclude with a discussion of a set small set of causative non-experiencer verbs exhibiting behavior more or less similar to that of object experiencer psych-verbs like irriteren'to irritate', cf. Section 2.5.1.3, sub V. A typical example is the verb verduidelijken'to clarify' in (67), which, like irriteren, allows the subject of the active construction to be either a causer or a cause.

a.		JanCauser	verduidelijkte	de stelling	met een voorbeeldCause.
		Jan	clarified	the thesis	with an example

a'.		De stelling	werd	(door Jan)	met een voorbeeld	verduidelijkt.
		the thesis	was	by Jan	with an example	clarified

b.		Dit voorbeeldCause	verduidelijkt	de stelling	aanzienlijk.
		this example	clarifies	the thesis	considerably

b'.		De stelling	wordt	door dit voorbeeld	aanzienlijk	verduidelijkt.
		the thesis	is	by this example	considerably	clarified

It is again not clear whether the primed examples are passive counterparts of the primeless examples, given that the door-phrase is causative in nature. This is especially evident in this case given that some of these causative verbs may also take a causative door-phrase in the active voice. As a result there is no doubt that the door-phrase in (68c) can be construed as causative.

a.		Jan redde	de situatie	door zijn doortastend optreden.
		Jan saved	the situation	by his vigorous action

b.		Zijn doortastend optreden	redde	de situatie.
		his vigorous action	saved	the situation

c.		De situatie	werd	gered	door zijn doortastend optreden.
		the situation	was	saved	by his vigorous action

If (68c) were a passive construction and if the door-phrase in this example were the same type of phrase as the door-phrase in (68a), we would expect that we may add an additional agentive door-phrase in (68c). Our intuitions given in (69) are not entirely clear and depend on the precise positions of the two door-phrases.

a.	??	Door zijn doortastend optreden	werd	de situatienom	door Jan	gered.
		by his vigorous act	was	the situation	by Jan	saved

De situatienom werd door Jan door zijn doortastend optreden gered.

De situatienom werd door zijn doortastend optreden door Jan gered.

Door Jan werd de situatienom door zijn doortastend optreden gered.

It seems premature to us to draw any conclusions from the examples in (69); again it is not clear on the basis of the currently available evidence whether we are dealing with a passive or a copular (adjectival passive) construction in the primed examples in (67).

[+] C. Other verbs

There are various types of non-agentive/non-causative verbs with inanimate subjects that nevertheless do allow passivization. Some examples are given in (70). Other verbs of this type are begrenzen'to bound', omcirkelen'to encircle', omlijsten'to frame', omringen'to surround', overdekken'to cover', and overwoekeren'to overgrow'. Observe that the passive counterparts of the stative primeless examples in (70) require the door-phrase to be present; if it is absent the passive verbs receive an agentive, activity reading.

a.		De snelwegen	omringen	dat huis	aan alle kanten.
		the highways	surround	that house	at all sides

a'.		Dat huis	wordt	aan alle kanten	#(door snelwegen)	omringd.
		that house	is	at all sides	by highways	surrounded

b.	Tal van rivieren	doorsnijden	het land.
	many of rivers	crisscross	the land
	'A great number of rivers crisscross the land.'

b'.	Het land	wordt	#(door tal van rivieren)	doorsneden.
	the land	is	by many of rivers	crisscrossed
	'A great number of rivers crisscross the land.'

Other non-agentive verbs that can be found in the regular passive are verbs taking an object with propositional content like aantonen'to demonstrate', bewijzen'to prove', demonstreren'to show/demonstrate', bepalen'to determine', impliceren'to imply' as well as the verb vormen'to make up'. The examples in (71) show that in these cases too, the passive constructions must contain a door-PP.

a.	Die maatregelen	impliceren	een grotere werkloosheid.
	these measures	imply	a greater unemployment
	'These measures imply greater unemployment.'

a'.		Een grotere werkloosheidnom	wordt	*(door die maatregelen)	geïmpliceerd.
		a greater unemployment	is	by these measures	implied

b.	Twaalf dozijn	vormt	een grosacc.
	twelve dozen	makes.up	a gross
	'Twelve dozen make up a gross.'

b'.		Een grosnom	wordt	gevormd	*(door twaalf dozijn).
		a gross	is	made.up	by twelve dozen

The (a)-examples in (72) show that measure verbs like duren'to last', kosten'to cost', tellen'to count' and wegen'to weigh' with a non-agentive subject cannot be passivized. If the verb denotes an activity, as in the (b)-examples, passivization is possible.

a.		Peter weegt	100 pond.
		Peter weighs	100 pound

a'.	*	100 pond	wordt/worden	(door Peter)	gewogen.
		100 pound	is/are	by Peter	weighed

b.		Peter weegt	de appels.
		Peter weighs	the apples

b'.	De appels	worden	(door Peter)	gewogen.
	the apples	are	by Peter	weighed
	'The apples are being weighed by Peter.'

The difference between the two sets of examples could in principle be attributed to the non-agentive nature of the subject in (72a), but it is sometimes also assumed that it is the nature of the nominal complement (here: 100 pond) that is relevant; it is not a direct object but a predicatively used phrase comparable to the adjective zwaar in Jan weegt zwaar'Jan weighs heavy'.

[+] II. The derived subject of the regular passive

This subsection discusses a number of properties of derived subjects in regular passive constructions.

[+] A. The thematic role of the derived subject

Since regular passivization results in promotion to subject of the theme argument of the active verb, it is sometimes claimed that an important function of regular passivization is "externalization" of the internal argument of the active verb. Section 3.2.1.1, sub IV, has already shown that this cannot be correct; the obligatoriness of the complementives van de tafel af'from the table' and kapot'broken' in the primeless examples in (73) shows that the accusative noun phrases are subjects (external arguments) of these phrases, and not internal arguments of the verb vegen.

a.		Jan veegde	de kruimels	*(van de tafel af).
		Jan wiped	the crumbs	from the table af

a'.		De kruimels	werden	(door Jan)	van de tafel af	geveegd.
		the crumbs	were	by Jan	from the table af	wiped

b.		Jan	veegde	de bezem	*(kapot).
		Jan	brushed	the broom	broken

b'.		De bezem	werd	(door Jan)	kapot	geveegd.
		the broom	was	by Jan	broken	brushed

Section 3.2.1.1, sub IV, concluded from this that, in contrast to the active verb, the passive participle is unable to assign accusative case to the noun phrase de kruimels/de bezem, which must therefore be promoted to subject in order to receive nominative case. That we are not dealing with externalization of the internal argument is also clear from the fact that arguments that are not assigned accusative case but surface in the form of a PP cannot be promoted to subject; intransitive PO-verbs only give rise to impersonal passivization; see Subsection IVB.

a.	Wij	spraken	lang	over die jongen/hem.
	we	talked	a.long.time	about that boy/him
	'We talked about that boy/him for a long time.'

b.		Er	werd	(door ons)	lang	over die jongen/hem	gesproken.
		there	was	by us	long	about that boy/him	talked

b'.	*	Die jongen/Hij	werd	(door ons)	lang	over	gesproken.
		that boy/he	was	by us	a.long.time	about	talked

The (a)-examples in (75) show the same thing for complement clauses. Note in passing that the expletiveer in (75a') does not have the syntactic function of subject, that is, it is not an anticipatory pronoun introducing the embedded clause. This function is restricted to the pronoun het in the (b)-examples. The passive examples in (75) thus differ in that the passive construction in (75a') is an impersonal passive, whereas the one in (75b') is a regular passive.

a.	Jan	zei	dat	het boek	gestolen	was.
	Jan	said	that	the book	stolen	was
	'Jan said that the book was stolen.'

a'.		Er	werd	(door Jan)	gezegd	dat	het boek	gestolen	was.
		there	was	by Jan	said	that	the book	stolen	was

b.	Jan	zei	het	dat	het boek	gestolen	was.
	Jan	said	it	that	the book	stolen	was
	'Jan said it that the book was stolen.'

b'.		Het	werd	(door Jan)	gezegd	dat	het boek	gestolen	was.
		it	was	by Jan	said	that	the book	stolen	was

[+] B. Placement of the derived subject (nominative-dative inversion)

In English, the derived subject is not only assigned nominative case but also obligatorily placed in the regular subject position of the clause. The latter does not hold for Dutch: the derived subject may remain in its original position, that is, the position normally occupied by the direct object of the active verb. This can readily be demonstrated by means of the passive counterparts of the active ditransitive construction in (76a); the derived object may either follow or precede the indirect object, an option that is not available to the subject of active constructions (like Jan in (76a)).

a.	dat	Jan de kinderendat	dat mooie boekacc	aangeboden	heeft.
	that	Jan the children	that beautiful book	prt.-offered	has
	'that Jan offered the children that beautiful book.'

b.		dat	de kinderendat	dat mooie boeknom	aangeboden	werd.
		that	the children	that beautiful book	prt.-offered	was

b'.		dat	dat mooie boeknom	de kinderendat	aangeboden	werd.
		that	that beautiful book	the children	prt.-offered	was

The difference between the two (b)-examples in (76) is related to the information structure of the clause: if the derived subject surfaces in its original position, as in (76b), it typically belongs to the focus ("new" information) of the clause, whereas it is presented as part of the presupposition("old" information) of the clause if it is placed in the canonical subject position, as in (76b'). That this is the case is supported by the distribution of (non-specific) indefinite noun phrases like een mooi boek'a beautiful book', which typically belong to the focus, and referential personal pronouns like het'it', which typically belong to the presupposition of the clause; the examples in (77) show that the former normally follow and the latter precede the indirect object.

a.	dat	de kinderen	een mooi boek/*het	aangeboden	werd.
	that	the children	a beautiful book/it	prt.-offered	was
	'that a beautiful book was offered to the children.'

b.	dat	het/*een mooi boek	de kinderen	aangeboden	werd.
	that	it/a beautiful book	the children	prt.-offered	was
	'that it was offered to the children.'

The examples in (76) and (77) show that the placement of the derived subject into the regular subject position is subject to conditions similar to scrambling of nominal objects; cf. Section N8.1.3. This is not really surprising given that the placement of subjects of active clauses is also subject to similar conditions. This is illustrated in example (78a), in which the position of the adverbial phrase gisteren'yesterday' shows that the subject does not have to occupy the canonical subject position right-adjacent to the complementizer. The (b)- and (c)-examples show that the information structure of the clause is also involved in this case. Note in passing that the presence of er in (78b) depends on whether gisteren'yesterday' is presented as part of the focus or the presupposition of the clause; cf. N8.1.4. Note further that we assume a more or less neutral intonation pattern; example (78b') becomes acceptable if the noun phrase een student is assigned contrastive focus.

a.		dat	<die student>	gisteren <die student>	weer	belde.
		that	that student	yesterday	again	phoned

b.		dat	(er)	gisteren	een student	belde.
		that	there	yesterday	a student	phoned

b'.

dat

een student gisteren belde.

c.		dat	<hij>	gisteren <*hij>	belde.
		that	he	yesterday	phoned

For completeness' sake, it can further be observed that in some cases the derived subject can never be placed in the regular subject position. This holds for passive counterparts of idiomatic expressions like (79a&b), in which the obligatory presence of the expletive er'there' suggests that the derived subject is not in the canonical subject position. The reason for this is probably that the derived subject is not referential, and therefore cannot be part of the presupposition of the clause.

a.	dat	Jan	een stokje	voor dat plan	stak.
	that	Jan	a stick	in.front.of that plan	put
	'Jan forestalled that plan.'

a'.		dat	??(er)	een stokje	voor dat plan	gestoken	werd.
		that	there	a stick	in.front.of that plan	put	was

b.	dat	Peter	de draakacc	met Els	stak.
	that	Peter	the dragon	with Els	stabbed
	'Peter always made fun of Els.'

b'.		dat	?(er)	de draaknom	met Els	werd	gestoken.
		that	there	the dragon	with Els	was	stabbed

[+] C. Grammatical function of the promoted object in the active clause

The derived subject in regular passives normally corresponds to the accusative phrase in the corresponding active clause. In some cases, however, it seems that dative phrases can also be promoted to subject in the regular passive.

[+] 1. Transitive, ditransitive and intransitive PO-verbs

English and Dutch differ with respect to the original grammatical function of the object that is promoted to subject in passive constructions. This does not, of course, hold for regular passives of transitive clauses, given that the direct object is the only available one in such cases.

a.		Marienom	slaat	haaracc.
		Marie	beats	her

b.	Zijnom	wordt/is	(door Marie)	geslagen.
	she	is/have.been	by Marie	beaten
	'She is/has been beaten (by Marie).'

English and Dutch do differ, however, if the verb is ditransitive. In English, the derived subject may correspond to either the direct or the indirect object, depending on whether the indirect object is realized as a noun phrase or a PP. In Dutch, on the other hand, it is normally the direct object that is promoted to subject, as is shown in the examples in (81).

a.		Ik	bood	de boeken	aan Jan	aan.	prepositional indirect object
		I	offered	the books	to Jan	prt.

a'.	De boeken	werden	aan Jan	aangeboden.
	the books	were	to Jan	prt.-offered
	'The books were offered to Jan.'

b.		Ik	bood	Jan/hem	de boeken	aan.	dative indirect object
		I	offered	Jan/him	the books	prt.

b'.		De boeken	werden	Jan/hem	aangeboden.
		the books	were	Jan/him	prt.-offered

b''.	*	Jan/Hij	werd	de boeken	aangeboden.
		Jan/he	was	the books	prt.-offered

The promoted objects in (80) and (81) are internal arguments of the verbs. Recall from Subsection A, however, that externalization of internal arguments is not the core property of passivization given that intransitive PO-verbs or verbs selecting a clause only give rise to impersonal passivization. It is therefore not the thematic but the case assignment relation between the verb and its objects that is relevant.

[+] 2. Ditransitive verbs with a clausal direct object

Although regular passivization normally involves promotion of the accusative noun phrase to subject, there seem to be some, at least marginally acceptable, cases that involve the promotion of an indirect object to subject. This is, for instance, the case with object controlverbs like verzoeken'to request' in (82). Besides the expected impersonal passive construction in (82b), the construction in (82c) is regularly produced. Other object control verbs that seem to allow promotion of the indirect object are aanraden'to recommend', beletten'to prevent', verbieden'to prohibit', verwijten'to blame' and vragen'to ask'.

a.	Peternom	verzocht	de studenten/hun [PRO	het terrein	te verlaten].
	Peter	requested	the students/them	the premises	to leave
	'Peter asked the students to leave.'

b.		Er	werd	de studenten/hun	verzocht	het terrein	te verlaten.
		there	was	the students/them	requested	the premises	to leave

c.	%	De studenten/zij	werden	verzocht	het terrein	te verlaten.
		the students/they	were	requested	the premises	to leave

The judgments of our informants do not really change if the complement clause in (82) is replaced by a PP-complement; see also Section 2.3.3, sub IID, where it is shown that PO-verbs with a dative object exhibit this behavior in general.

a.	Peter heeft	zijn schuldeisers/hun	om uitstel van betaling	verzocht.
	Peter has	his creditors/them	for suspension of payment	requested
	'Peter has asked his creditors/them for suspension of payment.'

b.		Er	is zijn schuldeisers/hun	om uitstel van betaling	verzocht.
		there	is his creditors/them	for suspension of payment	requested

c.	%	Zijn schuldeisers/Zij	worden	om uitstel van betaling	verzocht.
		his creditors/they	are	for suspension of payment	requested

However, if the complement clause in (82) is replaced by a pronominal noun phrase, promotion of the indirect object leads to a severely degraded result. This suggests that promotion of the indirect object is only possible if no accusative noun phrase is present.

a.	Peter heeft	de studenten/hun	dat	verzocht.
	Peter has	the students/them	that	requested
	'Peter has asked that of the students/them.'

b.		Dat is	de studenten/hun	verzocht.
		that is	the students/them	requested

c.	*	De studenten/Zij	zijn	dat	verzocht.
		the students/they	are	that	requested

It is tempting to speculate that the acceptability of the (c)-examples in (82) and (83) is the result of a reanalysis process that started with an incorrect analysis of examples such as (85); since the object and the subject form of the politeness pronoun are identical, this may have led to misinterpretation of u'you' as a subject pronoun.

U	wordt	verzocht [PRO	de rekening	zo spoedig mogelijk	te voldoen].
you	are	requested	the bill	as soon as possible	to pay
'You are requested to pay the bill as soon as possible.'

It has also been suggested that the acceptability of the (c)-examples in (82) and (83) is due to the fact that the verb verzoeken'to request' has a meaning akin to that of the transitive PO-verb uitnodigen (tot)'to invite'; see onzetaal.nl/advies/reizigers.php. It is highly unlikely, however, that verzoeken is a transitive PO-verb if it selects a complement clause, as in (82), given that example (84) has already shown that the pronominalized form of the complement clause is a pronoun and not a pronominal PP; this shows unequivocally that we are dealing in (82) with a regular ditransitive verb and not with a PO-verb.

[+] 3. Ditransitive verbs like voeren'to feed' and betalen'to pay'

The generalization that promotion to subject of the indirect object is (only) possible if no accusative noun phrase is present may also shed light on the exceptional behavior of verbs like voeren'to feed', betalen'to pay', vergeven'to forgive' and voorlezen'to read aloud to'. Consider the examples in (86). Example (86a) shows that the verb voeren can be used as a ditransitive verb, and the singular inflection on the auxiliary in (86a') shows that its passive counterpart involves promotion to subject of the accusative phrase brood. The verb voeren is somewhat special, however, in that it has a cognate direct object that can be left implicit, as shown in example (86b); in this case the indirect object can, or actually must, be promoted to subject.

a.		Jan voerde	de eendjesdat	broodacc.
		Jan fed	the ducks	bread

a'.		Er	werd/*werden	de eendjesdat	broodnom	gevoerd.
		there	was/were	the ducks	bread	fed

b.		Jan voerde	de eendjesdat/acc?.
		Jan fed the	ducks

b'.		De eendjesnom	werden/werd	gevoerd.
		the ducks	were/was	fed

Example (87) provides similar examples for the verb betalen'to pay'; in the (a)-examples the verb is ditransitive and it is the direct object een hoog loon rather than the indirect object de werknemers that must be promoted to subject; in the (b)-examples the direct object is omitted and now it is the noun phrase de werknemers that must be promoted to subject; cf. Van den Toorn (1971).

a.		Els betaalt	de werknemersdat	een hoog loonacc.
		Els pays	the employees	a high salary

a'.		Er	wordt/*worden	de werknemersdat	een hoog loonnom	betaald.
		there	is/are	the employees	a high salary	paid

b.		Els betaalde	de werknemersdat/acc?	niet	op tijd.
		Els paid	the employees	not	in time

b'.		De werknemersnom	werden/*werd	niet	op tijd	betaald.
		the workers	were/was	not	in time	paid

If one does not want to appeal to the idea that promotion of the indirect object is possible if no accusative noun phrase is present, one would be forced to assume that the objects de eendjes and de werknemers have different grammatical functions in the (a)- and (b)-examples, namely that of indirect and direct object, respectively. Such a view might be undesirable given that these objects have a similar semantic role in all cases, namely that of recipient, but we cannot rule out this possibility beforehand.

[+] 4. Verbs corresponding to German verbs with a dative complement

Another reason for accepting the generalization that promotion of the indirect object is possible if no accusative noun phrase is present comes from verbs like assisteren'to assist', gehoorzamen'to obey', helpen'to help', huldigen'to honor', and volgen'to follow'. The primed examples in (88) show that these verbs all allow personal passivization in Dutch, even though the Standard German counterparts of these verbs take a dative object; see Drosdowski (1995:608-9) for an extensive list of such verbs. One might, of course, assume that the syntactic function of the objects in the Dutch examples simply differs from those in the corresponding German constructions, but then we would have to conclude that the assignment of syntactic functions may differ considerably even among closely related languages.

a.		De jongens	gehoorzaamden	de agent.
		the boys	obeyed	the policeman

a'.		De agent	werd	(door de jongens)	gehoorzaamd.
		the policeman	was	by the boys	obeyed

b.		Jan helpt	mijn vader.
		Jan helps	my father

b'.		Mijn vader	wordt	(door Jan)	geholpen.
		my father	is	by Jan	helped

For completeness' sake, note that a special problem is constituted by the verb danken in (89a), which also takes a dative object in German. In Dutch, this verb resists both impersonal and personal passivization. Perhaps the unacceptability of the constructions in (89b&c) is due to the fact that danken is somewhat formal. The more usual form is bedanken (which clearly takes an accusative object in Dutch).

a.		Ik	dank	hem	voor zijn hulp.
		I	thank	him	for his help

b.	*	Er	werd	hem gedankt	voor zijn hulp.
		there	was	him thanked	for his help

c.	*	Hij	werd	gedankt	voor zijn hulp.
		he	was	thanked	for his help

[+] 5. Idiomatic ditransitive constructions

Promotion of the indirect object is sometimes also accepted with some more or less fixed expressions that include a direct object. Consider example (90a) with the collocation iemand slagen toebrengen'to beat someone'. The expected passive form of this example is given in (90b), in which the direct object enkele slagen functions as the subject of the passive construction, as is clear from the fact that it agrees in number with the auxiliary verb worden. However, if the noun phrase de jongen is placed in clause-initial position, many speakers also accept singular agreement on the auxiliary, which suggests that this noun phrase is promoted to subject.

a.	De agent	bracht	de jongen/hemdat	enkele slagenacc	toe.
	the policeman	gave	the boy/him	several blows	prt.
	'The police officer gave the boy/him some blows.'

b.		Er	werden/*?werd	de jongen/hemdat	enkele slagennom	toegebracht.
		there	were/was	the boy/hem	several blows	prt.-given

c.		De jongen	werden/%werd	enkele slagen	toegebracht.
		the boy	were/was	several blows	prt.-given

It should be noted, though, that speakers who allow (90c) with singular agreement on the verb do not allow replacement of de jongen by the subject pronoun hij, which might indicate that promotion of the indirect object is actually ungrammatical, and that the acceptance (and production) of singular agreement is a reflex of some parsing error; sentence-initial de jongen can of course be replaced by the object pronoun hem but then the verb must exhibit plural agreement, just as in (90b).
Actually, many speakers are very uncertain about their judgments on the passive counterparts of collocations like iemand slagen toebrengen. The same thing holds for collocations like iemand de stuipen op het lijf jagen'to give someone a scare' in (91), which seems to involve a possessive dative.

a.	De agent	joeg	de jongen	de stuipen	op het lijf.
	the police officer	gave	the boy	the spasms	on the body
	'The police officer gave the boy a scare.'

b.		De jongen	werd/?werden	de stuipen	op het lijf	gejaagd.
		the boy	was/were	the spasms	on the body	given

Examples of this type may be of a somewhat different nature, however, given that there are attested examples such as (92b). This example was found in two different contexts in two different newspapers, where the verb is singular and thus agrees neither with the possessor nor with the direct object de stuipen. The passive (b)-examples in (91) and (92) thus suggest that some speakers no longer construe the noun phrase de stuipen as a direct object but as part of a phrasal verb (cf. Schermer-Vermeer 1991:261-2) and that we are dealing with impersonal passives.

a.	De Fed	joeg	beleggers/hun	de stuipen	op het lijf.
	the Fed	caused.to.have	investors/them	the spasms	on the body
	'The Fed gave investors/them a scare.'

b.		Beleggers/hun	werd	de stuipen	op het lijf	gejaagd	door ...
		investors/them	was	the spasms	on the body	given	by ...

We tested this by means of a Google search (1/27/2014) on the singular search strings [wordt/werd de stuipen op het lijf gejaagd]'is/was given a scare', which resulted in 59 hits: we checked these manually and found 12 cases such as (92b) with a plural noun phrase and one case with the plural object pronoun ons'us'. This seems consistent with an impersonal passive analysis. For completeness' sake, we also performed a Google search on the plural search string [worden/werden de stuipen op het lijf gejaagd'are/were given a scare'. These resulted in 76 hits, but a manual check revealed that in virtually all cases the noun phrase preceding the finite verb worden/werden was plural as well. This fact suggests that such examples should be analyzed not as regular passives with the noun phrase de stuipen as subject, but as passives in which the dative possessor is promoted to subject. We will not digress on this surprising conclusion, which is also supported by the fact noted in (92b) that plural agreement is marked if the noun phrase preceding the finite verb is singular, and leave it to future research to investigate it in more detail.

[+] 6. Conclusion

The discussion in the previous subsections has shown that subjects of regular passives normally correspond to accusative objects in active constructions. It also seems possible, however, to promote an indirect object to subject provided that no accusative noun phrase is available, e.g., if the direct object is a clausal complement or if it is omitted. The fact that many verbs related to German verbs with a dative complement allow regular passivization in Dutch also suggests that promotion of indirect objects is possible. Perhaps idiomatic ditransitive verbal expressions like iemand slagen toebrengen'to beat someone' or iemand de stuipen op het lijf jagen'to give someone a scare' may be used to show the same thing, but the evidence is much weaker because the judgments on the relevant passive examples are less clear and other factors may interfere.

[+] III. Meaning differences between active and passive sentences

Although the semantic relation between verbs and their internal arguments is basically the same in active and passive constructions, the following subsections will show that passivization may give rise to changes in interpretation. Sometimes this change of interpretation is also dependent on the actual position of the derived subject in the clause.

[+] A. The interpretation of subject-oriented adverbs

The interpretation of certain adverbs is sensitive to grammatical function and thus sensitive to passivization; the adverb graag in (93) is related to the agent in the active sentence in (93a), but to the theme in the passive construction in (93b).

a.	Jannom	licht	Marieacc	graag	in.
	Jan	informs	Marie	gladly	prt.
	'Jan likes to inform Marie.'

b.	Marienom	wordt	graag	door Jan	ingelicht.
	Marie	is	gladly	by Jan	prt.-informed
	'Marie likes to get informed by Jan.'

[+] B. Binding

The examples in (94) illustrate that passivization may affect the binding possibilities of pronouns. The possessive pronoun haar'her' in the active example in (94a) can be construed either as coreferential with Marie or as referring to some other person previously mentioned in the discourse, e.g., Els. In the passive sentence in (94b), on the other hand, the possessive pronoun is preferably interpreted as referring to some previously mentioned person, e.g., Els.

a.		Marienom	kust	haar verloofdeacc.
		Marie	kisses	her fiancé

b.	Haar verloofdenom	wordt	door Marie	gekust.
	her fiancé	is	by Marie	kissed
	'Her fiancé is being kissed by Marie.'

more or less the same thing is shown by the examples in (95a&b): whereas the reciprocal pronoun elkaar'each other' can be licitly bound by the indirect object in (95a), this is not possible in (95b). The example in (95c) shows, however, that this depends not only on passivization but also on word order; if the subject is not moved into the canonical subject position but stays in its underlying position following the indirect object, binding by the indirect object remains possible.

a.		dat	ik	de meisjes	elkaars werk	toonde.
		that	I	the girls	each otherʼs work	showed

b.	?	dat	elkaars werk	de meisjes	getoond	werd.
		that	each otherʼs work	the girls	shown	was

c.		dat	de meisjes	elkaars werk	getoond	werd.
		that	the girls	each otherʼs work	shown	was

The examples in (96) also show that it is a combination of passivization and word order that determines the interpretation of the sentence. In the active sentence in (96a), the possessive pronoun zijn'his' can be interpreted as bound by the quantifier iedereen'everyone' or it can refer to some entity previously mentioned in the discourse. The former interpretation gives rise tot the so-called bound variable reading, in which the pronoun functions as a variable in the semantic representation of the sentence: ∀x (x kissed x's brother). The latter interpretation will be called the independent reading given that the pronoun functions as a referential expression in the semantic representation: ∀x (x kissed his(=Jan) brother). The passive sentence in (96b) does not allow a bound variablereading of the pronoun, which can thus only be interpreted as referring to some previously mentioned person: ∀x (his(=Jan) brother was kissed by x). But again, word order seems to play a role; if the subject is not moved into the canonical subject position but stays in its underlying position following the door-phrase, as in (96c), the bound variable reading of the pronoun is easier to get (although it is not fully felicitous due to the fact that the quantifier is the complement of a PP and that pronominal binding from such a position is somewhat marginal in general).

a.		dat	iedereennom	zijn broeracc	kuste.	bound/independent reading
		that	everybody	his brother	kissed

b.		dat	zijn broernom	door iedereen	gekust	werd.	independent reading only
		that	his brother	by everybody	kissed	was

c.		dat	door iedereen zijn broernom	gekust	werd.	independent/bound reading
		that	by everybody his brother	kissed	was

The examples in (94) and (96) have shown that binding is bled by passivization if the derived subject moves into the canonical subject position. Binding can, however, also be fed by passivization. Example (97a) shows that a possessive pronoun embedded in a subject cannot be bound by the direct object: this example can only be construed with an independent reading of the pronoun zijn. In the corresponding passive construction in (97b), on the other hand, both the independent and the bound variable reading are available. Observe, however, that the derived subject must be moved into the canonical subject position in order to make the bound reading available: example (97c) only licenses the independent reading of the pronoun.

a.		dat	zijn broer	iedereen	uitnodigde.	independent reading only
		that	his brother	everyone	invited

b.		dat	iedereen door zijn broer	uitgenodigd	werd.	independent/bound reading
		that	everyone by his brother	invited	was

c.		dat	door zijn broer	iedereen	uitgenodigd	werd.	independent reading only
		that	by his brother	everyone	invited	was

[+] C. Scope

Passivization may affect the relative scope of quantified phrases. Consider the examples in (98). In (98a) the universal quantifier iedereen has scope over the indefinite noun phrase twee talen, that is, the languages spoken may differ from person to person. In the passive construction in (98b), on the other hand, the scope relations are reversed, that is, the sentence expresses that there are two languages that are spoken by all persons under discussion. This reversal of scope requires the derived subject to be moved into the regular subject position: example (98c), in which the derived subject remains in its base-position, has the same scope relation as (98a).

a.		Iedereen	spreekt	twee talen.	∀ > ∃
		everybody	speaks	two languages

b.		Twee talen	worden	door iedereen	gesproken.	∃ > ∀
		two languages	are	by everybody	spoken

c.		Er	worden	door iedereen	twee talen	gesproken.	∀ > ∃
		there	are	by everybody	two languages	spoken

[+] IV. Special cases of the regular passive

This subsection briefly discusses a number of more special cases of passivization. We start with a discussion of passivization of clauses with a modal verb, which is followed by some brief remarks on passivization of intransitive PO-verbs. We conclude with a discussion of causative and perception verbs in AcI-constructions.

[+] A. Constructions with modal verbs

If an active clause contains a modal verb, passivization is normally possible. The modal verb remains the finite verb of the clause and the passive auxiliary is realized as an infinitive, but seems to be optional.

a.	Jan	moet	de muur	schilderen.
	Jan	must	the wall	paint
	'Jan must paint the wall.'

b.	De muur	moet	geschilderd	(worden).
	the wall	must	painted	be
	'The wall must be painted.'

Examples such as (99b) without the auxiliary are often assumed to involve an empty counterpart of the passive auxiliary. There is, however, reason for assuming that such an analysis is on the wrong track. Given that passive constructions can normally contain an agentive door-phrase, the postulation of an empty passive auxiliary would wrongly predict that this adjunct phrase can also appear in examples such as (100) if worden is not present.

100

De muur	moet	door Jan	geschilderd	*(worden).
the wall	must	by Jan	painted	be
'The wall must be painted by Jan.'

Example (100) therefore suggests that the participle in the construction without worden is not a passive participle but a predicatively used adjective; cf. De muur moet geel'the wall must be made yellow'. That we are dealing with an adjectival participle can perhaps also be supported by the examples in (101); whereas the unequivocal verbal participle in (101a) can either precede or follow the verbs in clause-final position, the participle in (101b) prefers the preverbal position, which is a hallmark for non-verbal status.

101

a.		dat	de muur <geschilderd>	moet	worden <geschilderd>.
		that	the wall painted	must	be

b.		dat	de muur <geschilderd>	moet <??geschilderd>.
		that	the wall painted	must

More support for assuming that the participle functions as a predicatively used adjective when worden is not present is that it seems possible to coordinate it with other predicatively used phrases like the PP in de lak in (102).

102

dat	deze deur	[[geschuurd]	en	[in de lak]]	moet.
that	this door	sanded	and	in the lacquer	must
'that this door must be sanded and be lacquered.'

Constructions in which modal verbs take an adjective as their complement are more extensively discussed in Section A6.2.3, sub II.

[+] B. Intransitive PO-verbs

Passivization of intransitive PO-verbs like rekenen op'to count on' in (103a) always involves the impersonal passive in (103b); passive constructions such as (103c), in which the complement of a preposition is promoted to subject, are unacceptable (but see the discussion of (105) below).

103

a.		Jan rekent	op zijn vader.
		Jan counts	on his father

b.		Er	werd	op zijn vader	gerekend.
		there	was	on his father	counted

c.	*	Zijn vader	werd	op	gerekend.
		his father	was	on	counted

Quirk et al. (1985: Section 3.69) and Huddleston & Pullum (2002:1433) show that English often allows passivization of the type in (103c). It is tempting to relate this to the fact that English does not allow impersonal passives; English passivization of the sort in the primed examples in (104) could then receive a functional explanation by assuming that it compensates for the unavailability of impersonal passivization.

104

My mother approved of the plan.

a'.

The plan was approved of by my mother.

Someone has slept in this bed.

b'.

The bed has been slept in.

Some Dutch speakers accept the string in (103c). This does not mean, however, that these speakers (marginally) allow promotion to subject of the complement of a preposition. They instead interpret example (103c) as a case of left dislocation; the structure is as given in (105) with the pronominal part of the PP daar ... op'on him' omitted. That the noun phrase zijn vader in (105a) is not a subject is clear from at least two fact. First, example (105b) shows that replacing this noun phrase by a subject pronoun severely degrades the result. Second, given that left dislocation only occurs in main clauses, the unacceptability of (105c) shows that we correctly predict that the surface string Zijn vader werd op gerekend in (105a) does not have an embedded counterpart.

105

a.	%	Zijn vader,	daar	werd	op	gerekend.
		his father	there	was	on	counted

b.	*	Hij	werd	op	gerekend.
		he	was	on	counted

c.	*	dat	zijn vader	gisteren	op	werd	gerekend.
		that	his father	yesterday	on	was	counted

That the noun phrase in sentence-initial position does not function as a subject in such examples is also clear from the fact that this noun phrase does not agree in number with the finite verb; cf. Klooster (2001:324). For all Dutch speakers example (106b') is unacceptable both with and without the pronominal part of the PP; this contrasts sharply with the following English example from Huddleston & Pullum: These problems werenʼt faced up to by the committee.

106

a.		Jan rekent	op zijn ouders.
		Jan counts	on his parents

b.		Zijn ouders	%(daar)	werd	op	gerekend.
		his parents	there	was	on	counted

b'.	*	Zijn ouders	(daar)	werden	op	gerekend.
		his parents	there	were	on	counted

[+] C. AcI-constructions

Section 3.2.1.1, sub IV, has shown that accusative noun phrases can be promoted to subject in the regular passive, regardless of whether they are internal arguments of the passivized verbs or not. There are, however, specific additional restrictions on the accusative noun phrase. First consider example (107). The accusative noun phrase de vaas is not an argument of the verb slaan'to hit' but of the predicative adjective kapot'broken'. However, since the verb is responsible for case assignment to this noun phrase, passivization results in its promotion to subject.

107

a.		Jan	slaat	de vaas	kapot.
		Jan	hits	the vase	broken

b.		De vaas	wordt	kapot	geslagen.
		the vase	is	broken	hit

Given this analysis of (107b), we would expect something similar to happen if we passivize the causative/permissive verb laten'to make/let' in (108a); since laten is generally taken to assign accusative case to the external argument of the verb dansen, we expect the latter to appear as the nominative subject of the clause after passivization. Example (108a') shows, however, that regular passivization is impossible. The (b)-examples in (108) provide similar examples with the perception verb horen.

108

a.	Marie	liet	hemacc	dansen.
	Marie	make/let	him	dance
	'Marie made him dance.'

a'.	*	Hijnom	werd	laten/gelaten	dansen.
		he	was	letinf/letpart	dance

b.	Els hoorde	henacc	een liedje	zingen.
	Els heard	them	a song	sing
	'Els heard them sing a song.'

b'.	*	Zijnom	werden	een liedje	horen/gehoord	zingen.
		they	were	a song	hear/heard	sing

It is not immediately clear what the unacceptability of the primed examples shows. For example, it might be that the problem is situated in the assumption that the verb assigns accusative case to the subject of the infinitival clause. However, if this assumption were wrong and this argument were assigned case by some other means, we would expect impersonal passivization to be possible, but the examples in (109) show that impersonal passivization is impossible as well.

109

a.	*	Er	werd	hem	laten/gelaten	dansen.
		there	was	him	letinf/letpart	dance

b.	*	Er	werd	een liedje	horen/gehoord	zingen.
		there	was	a song	hear/heard	sing

This means that some independent reason must be found for the impossibility of passivization. The constructions with the participles gelaten and gehoord might be excluded by the fact that they are part of the verbal complex; as in the perfect-tense constructions in (110), the verb is expected to surface as an infinitive (the so-called infinitivus-pro-participio effect).

110

a.	Marie	heeft	hemacc	laten/*gelaten	dansen.
	Marie	has	him	letinf/letpart	dance
	'Marie has made him dance.'

b.	Els heeft	henacc	een liedje	horen/*gehoord	zingen.
	Els has	them	a song	hear/heard	sing
	'Els has heard them sing a song.'

Evidence in favor of this claim is that German, which does allow participles in such verb sequences, also allows passivization of the type in the primed examples in (108); cf. Reis (1976) and Rutten (1991:121).

111

a.		dass	die Kinder	schlafen	gelassen	wurden.
		that	the children	sleep	letpart	were

b.		dass	das Buch	liegen	gelassen	wurde.
		that	the book	lie	letpart	was

This leaves us with the constructions with the infinitival forms laten and horen; the impossibility of these constructions might be accounted for by appealing to the hypothesis discussed in Section 3.2.1.1, sub I/Section 3.2.1.1, sub II, that passive morphology is needed in order to demote the external argument of the verb or to absorb case; see Bennis & Hoekstra (1989b).

[+] D. The geacht worden-construction

The examples in (112) in a sense pose the opposite problem. The primeless examples in (112) seem to be cases in which the subject of the infinitival clause is promoted to subject of the matrix clause. However, the expected active counterparts of these constructions in the primed examples are unacceptable; see Section 5.2.2.2, sub III, for a more detailed discussion of this construction.

112

a.	Iki	word	geacht	[ti	dat	te weten].
	I	am	supposed	[ti	that	to know
	'Iʼm supposed to know that.'

a'.	*	Mijn collegaʼs	achten	[mijacc	dat	te weten].
		my colleagues	suppose	me	that	to know

b.	Ziji	worden	verondersteld [ti	te kunnen	zwemmen].
	they	are	supposed	to be able	to swim
	'Theyʼre supposed to be able to swim.'

b'.	*	Wij	veronderstellen	[henacc	te kunnen	zwemmen].
		we	suppose	them	to be able	to swim

The unacceptability of the primed examples would follow if the verbs achten and veronderstellen are not able to assign accusative case to the subject of the infinitival clause (which might be related to the fact that these verbs differ from the causative and perception verbs in that they do not trigger verb clustering but extraposition of the infinitival clause). If so, the primed examples can be used to support the claim that the core property of passivization is the demotion of the external argument of the verb and not absorption of accusative case, as was argued in Section 3.2.1.1. For completeness' sake, we want to note that there is one exception to the rule that the active verb achten cannot assign accusative case to the subject of its infinitival complement: this involves the idiomatic expression in (113), in which achten alternates with the verb menen.

113

Elk	acht/meent	[zijn uilacc	een valk	te zijn].
each	supposes/supposes	his owl	a falcon	to be
'Everyone believes his [...] to be better than it actually is.'

References:

Huddleston, Rodney & Pullum, Geoffrey (eds.)2002The Cambridge grammar of the English languageCambridgeCambridge University Press
Bennis, Hans & Hoekstra, Teun1989Why Kaatje was not heard sing a songJaspers, Danny, Klooster, Wim, Putseys, Yvan & Seuren, Pieter (eds.)Sentential complementation and the lexiconDordrechtForis Publications21-40
Drosdowski, Günther1995Duden Grammatik der deutschen GegenwartsspracheDer Duden in 12 Bänden Bd. 04MannheimDudenverlag
Klooster, Wim2001Grammatica van het hedendaags Nederlands. Een volledig overzichtDen HaagSDU Uitgeverij
Quirk, Randolph, Greenbaum, Sidney, Leech, Geoffrey & Svartvik, Jan1985A comprehensive grammar of the English languageLondon/New YorkLongman
Reis, Marga1976Reflexivierung in deutsche A.c.I.-konstruktionen, Ein transformationsgrammatisches DilemmaPapiere zur Linguistik95-82
Rutten, Jean-Baptist1991Infinitival complements and auxiliariesAmsterdamUniversity of AmsterdamThesis
Schermer-Vermeer, E.C1991Substantiële versus formele taalbeschrijving: het indirect object in het NederlandsAmsterdamUniversiteit van AmsterdamThesis
Toorn, M.C. van den1971Enkele opmerkingen over het indirect objectLevende Talen 27432-71

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About this article

Author(s): Hans Broekhuis, Norbert Corver, Riet Vos

Category: Dutch Syntax

Keywords: AcI-ConstructionAdverbial ModifierAgentiveArgumentBindingCausativeCopular VerbInformation StructureLeft DislocationPassiveScopeSubjectVerb

Version: 1.0, January 2016

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Hans Broekhuis, Norbert Corver, Riet Vos	January 2016

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