Saturday, March 21, 2015

Present simple Passive - Change in the meaning when translate from active to passive or Vice versa

I know that passives can not be formed if we don't have direct object. Except that do we have any other situation in which we cant convert active into passive OR Passive into active.



From Active to Passive



I wash my car.



Active: I wash my car.(It means that I wash my car on my own everyday. I like music...kind of habit/something which I do everyday.)



Passive: My car is washed by me. (Now when I read this sentence what my understanding is That the car is in clean state which is done by me.)




In case, if my understanding is correct then by changing voice i also changed the meaning of the sentence.In my understanding, the meaning should not change. Generally, in passive voice the focus changes from doer of the action to object on which the action is done. But the meaning remains the same.



Please let me know how it works? Can we form passive keeping the same meaning for this sentence?



From Passive to active



For simple Past:



"The door was locked." There can be two interpretation:




1) It was a state. (Past participle)
2) It was done by somebody. (passive)



We decide from the context in those cases. If from context I decide that It was done by somebody. I will change the sentence into active voice which will be "He locked the door". Of course if it is past participle. I cant do it because it is not passive voice.



The door is locked. there must be two interpretation:



The door is locked. (Past participle)
The door is locked by him. (Passive)




The issue is I cant form Active tense even if i know it is passive voice. Because if I do then the sentence will be " He locks the door." which means he locks the door everyday which is not the meaning it should be conveying.



Please let me know how these things work.

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