ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and formost, I would like to thank all the teachers of Foreign Languages
Department at Hai Phong University for their support in the whole four years that I
have studied here.
In addition, I am honored to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor,
Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thuy Giang for her constant support and all-round supervision.
Not only knowledge but also encouragement from her made me inspired and
motivated to overcome difficulties. Without her, the thesis could not be completed.
With no less sincerity, my friends in class English Major B academic year 13
brought me a strong motivation to complete the paper.
Last but not least, all my heart is delighted to my family, especially my
parents because of their emotional and technical supports. They are always beside
me and inspire me to try my best.

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SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS
S
V
O
C
P.P
C-V
E.g.

Subject
Verb
Object
Complement
Past Participle

confused so much about both its function and its equivalent meaning when they
translate a passive sentence into an active one in Vietnamese.
For example:
“I was born in Ho Chi Minh city” (Passive) and “Tôi sinh ra ở thành phố Hồ
Chí Minh” (Active)
As we can see, the English sentence above is written in passive form while
the Vietnamese one is in active but they have the same meaning. It is not always
that a passive sentence in English will be translated into a passive one in
Vietnamese. The reseachers are sure that many students who learn English as a
second language can hardly know when to use a passive form correctly.

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Or “The two houses are built near one another” and “Hai cái nhà này xây
gần nhau”.
From the point of view of English grammar, one might ask: How can a house
be built by itself? There must be someone to build the house. But in Vietnamese,
they are complete sentences. There is no difference in meaning between the two
sentences although the word orders between the two are different. One reason is that
the object of the verb can be tropicalized, often resulting in a sentence translated
with an English passive.
In this study, the researcher will discuss the similarities and differences of
passive sentences in English and Vietnamese. The similarities between the two
languages are that passive voice is used to emphasize the action, not the causes of
the action. However, in English, we tend to use more passive sentences while
people prefer to use more active form in Vietnamese. To help Vietnamese students
study Passive voice in English more easily, this essay will make a contrastive
analysis on passive voice in English and Vietnamese.
Having better awareness of the importance of English grammar, the

This study focuses on the contrastive analysis on passive voice in English
and Vietnamese (the comparisons). In this thesis, the passive is viewed from
different grammatical aspects based on the definitions, classifications, usage and
structures in both English and Vietnamese will be taken as the basis for the
comparison and contrast.
1.5. Methods of the study
The main purpose of this study is to find out the contrastivepassive voice in
English and Vietnamese. Therefore the researcher uses the documentary method
included collecting, analyzing and giving examples to make language learning and
teaching more effective. Document analysis is used to find out all the passive voice
from a variety of books and valuable resources such as internet, magazines,
previous graduation papers, etc. Besides, examples are used to illustrate given
information which are extracted from a variety of textbooks and resources.
In addition, comparison is indispensable method to point out similarities and
differences of passive voice in English and in Vietnamese.
1.6. Organization of the study
This graduation paper is divided into threeparts: The Introduction, the
Development and the Conclusion.

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The Introduction briefly introduces the thesis included: Rationale, Research
questions, Aims of the study, Scope of the study, Methods of the study, Organization
of the study.
In the Development, it contains four chapters: Chapter one and two will
present all the theoretical background about English and Vietnamese passive voice.
Chapter threecontains all the analysis that the researcher obtains after
researchingsome data and document about passive voice. In chapter four, she gives
some necessary implicatures for learners in teaching and learning.

A general rule is to use the passive voice only when the doer or the agent in
your sentence (the person or thing acting) is unknown or is unimportant or when
you want to connect the topics of the two clauses.
Ex: The pandas are rare. Two of them will be returned to the wild.
He had a lot people working for him, maybe sixty, and almost of them liked
him most of the time. Three of the will be seriously considered for his job.

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1.2. Classification
1.2.1. Quirk’s view on classification of passive voice
The passive construction has been classified in many different ways.
Summarizing the discussion of the passive scale in the “A grammar of
contemporary English” (1972), Quirk set up the following subcategories.
1.2.1.1. Agentive passives
Agentive passive sentences are where the doer or the agent is explicitly
expressed by the proposition “by” plus agent. Sentence (1) The butler murdered the
detective and (2) The detective was murdered by the butler have a direct passiveactive relation. The difference between the next two is that the former has a
personal, the latter a non-personal agent:
(3) My father made this violin.
(4) The results hardly justify this conclusion.
With expressed agents:
(5) Coal has been replaced by oil. This is a passive with two possible active
transforms depending on the interpretation of the by-phrase.
(6) Oil has replaced coal.
(7) (People in many countries) have replaced coal by oil.
Sentence (6) is an active transform like (4) with a non-personal agent; (7) is
inactive transform where the by-phrase has been given an instrumental
interpretation (by=with). Consequently an active subject must be supplied.

active

complement construction.
The study in complement construction either non-agentive passives or
intensive active shows us the sentence without the agent often expressed by the
proposition “BY” in the passive voice and the complement in the active voice.
(13) The modern world becomes more highly industrialized and mechanized.
Sentence (13) has no active transform or possibility of agent addition, since
no “performer” is conceived of. The participles have adjectival values: compare
industrialized-industrial and mechanized-mechanical. Besides a number of such
“resulting” verbs ending in –ize (organize, Americanized, etc.), this class includes
“existing” constructions, as in
(14) The house is already sold.
The corresponding active of which are not (15) but (16).
(15) (The agent) already sells the house.
(16) (The agent) has already sold the house.
In this case, voice transformation involves aspectual shift from present to
present perfect.
While it is clear that (13) and (14) are not “passive” in the sense of
sentences, they still satisfy the formal passive requirement and, as in the case of
(14), often have an “indirect” voice relationship. We will therefore call this class
“non-agentive passive/ intensive active complement constructions”, recognizing

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that The house is already sold. It is related both to agentive passive The house has
already been sold and to the intensive (active) complement construction.
(17) The house is already gone/ no longer available.
1.2.2. Quirk’s another passive scale

(20) She’s been rather elusive as far as I’m concerned, so I don’t really know her.
(21) I am amazed at the price of houses out here.
(22) I feel we’re all faced with this problem.
(23) I’m fairly closely connected with that work.
(24) But I have these two houses that are built on to the next door’s back
garden sort of thing.

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Granger’s classification is in great detail. Actually the latter four categories
are the borderline cases and they are very much related to, and sometimes can be
put into the first category.
1.3. Structures
It can be said that passive voice is one of the most popular grammatical
points in English. By tense we understand the correspondence between the form of
the verb and our concept of time.
The passive voice is commonly formed by combining a form of the "to be
verb" with the past participle (P.P) of the main verb BE + P.P. We call this type as
“Be passive”.
1.3.1. Common passive voice structures
All these structures below that we often catch them. We use a form of be +
past participle to form the passive voice. This form also can be used in various
tenses.
For example:
This house is built. (Simple present)
This house is being built at the present. (Present continuous)
This house will be built next month. (Simple future)
This house was built in 1990. (Simple past)
This house has been built for 20 days. (Present perfect)…

has/ have + been + P.P

by my mother.
This cake has been made

has/ have + been+ being + P.P

by my mother.
This cake has been being

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continuous
Past perfect
Past perfect
continuous
Simple future
Future
continuous
Future perfect
Future perfect
continuous

had + been + P.P

made by my mother.
This cake had been made

had + been+ being + P.P

based on the kinds of verb and structures. In each type, they have respective
meanings. Here are some forms with passive meaning that the writer denoted.
1.3.2.1.1. Modal verb in the passive
We can use the passive with a modal verb (or an expression like have to).
Thomson (1986:263) gave the pattern in his report is:
Modal verb + be+ past participle
E.g.: The doors must/should be shut.
Eastwood (1994:136) also said that a modal verb can also go with the perfect
and the passive together. H gave the pattern is:
Modal verb + have been + past participle
E.g.: The plane might have been delayed by the fog.
1.3.2.1.2. The passive with “GET”
According to Thomson (1986:265),GET is sometimes used instead of bein
colloquial speech:
E.g.: You’ll get (=be) sacked if you take any more time off.

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We use the passive with GET mainly in informal English, and it has a more
limited use than be. The passive with get expresses action and change, not a state. It
often refers to something happening by accident, unexpectedly or incidentally.
However, we do not use GET as this sentence:
E.g.:Wembly Stadium got built in 1923.
To use the verb GETreasonably, Alexander (1988:245) also mentioned
some rules as following:
 We do something to ourselves
E.g.: I got dressed as quickly as I could.
 We manage to arrange something in our favor. Reflexive pronouns can
often be used in such cases.


Hope
Intend
Know
Mention
Notice
Object

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Propose
Prove
Recommend
Regret
Report
Request

Show
State
Suggest
Suppose
Think
Understand


Claim
Consider
Decide

Fear

Estimate
Intend
Reveal
Think
Claim
Expect
Know
Say
Understand
Consider
Prove
Report
See
Mean
E.g.: Turner was considered to be a genius even in his lifetime.
Homeopathic remedies are believed to be very effective.
“The infinitive can also be perfect or continuous, or it can be passive.”
(Eastwood, 1994:138)
E.g.: The army was reported to be crossing the frontier.
The prisoner is known to have behaved violently in the past.
Stonehenge is thought to have been built over a period of 500 years.
Thomson (1986:268) referred that the suppose in the passive can be followed
by the present infinitive of any verb but this construction usually conveys an idea of
duty and is not therefore the normal equivalent of suppose in the active:
E.g.: You are supposed to know how to drive.
(3) It + passive verb + to-infinitive
“We can use this pattern only with the verbs agree, decide and
propose.”(Eastwood, 1994:139)
E.g.: Active: The committee agreed to support the idea.
Passive: It was agreed to support the idea.

E.g.: Active: The nurse gives the patient a sleeping pill.
Either of these objects can be the subject of passive sentence.
Passive: A sleeping pill is given to the patient.
The patient is given a sleeping pill.
Another example as:
A book was given to him. (The direct primary passive)
He was given a book. (The indirect secondary passive)
The indirect (secondary) passive is not infrequent in verb phrase with the
verb to give, such as: to give credit, to give command, to give an explanation, etc.
He was given a good chance to argue.
She is given an opportunity to go to the South in summer.
There are many verbs in English which take a direct and an indirect object in
the active construction, but they admit only one passive construction – the direct
passive.
Eastwood (1994:137) also denoted that we can use these verbs in the passive pattern:
Allow
Ask
Award
Bring
Buy

Deny
Feed
Find
Grant
Charge

Leave
Lend
Offer

The construction can refer to the completion of an activity, especially if a
time expression is used.
E.g.: We’ll get the work done as soon as possible.
Both have and get are ordinary verbs which can be continuous and which can
take the auxiliary. Get is more formal than have.
E.g.: We’re having/getting a new kitchen fitted.
1.3.2.1.6. Prepositions with passive verbs
When a verb + preposition + object combination is put into the passive, the
preposition will remain immediately after the verb:
E.g.: Active: You can play with these cubs quite safely.
Passive: These cubs can be played with quite safely.
Thomson (1986:267) gave the similarly with verb + preposition/adverb
combinations:
E.g.: Active: They threw away the old newspapers.
Passive: The old newspapers were thrown away.
The prepositional passive is not used with verbs which take two objects,
direct and prepositional: to explain something to somebody, to point out, to
announce, to dedicate, to devote, to say, to suggest, to propose, etc. They can have
only a direct construction.
E.g.: The difficulty was explained to them.
The mistake to the rule was pointed out to the man.

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Rayevska (1976:122) said that the prepositional passive is not very frequent
in occurrence. Its use is common with rather limited number of verbs, such as:
 Verbs of saying: to speak about (of, to), to talk about (of), to comment
on, etc.
E.g.: The new play was much spoken of.

The door was shut.
The factory was closed by the inspectors.
The factory was closed.
According to Jacob (1995:166), the first sentence of each pair refers to the
actual event of door shutting or factory-closing. The second sentence of each pair
however is ambiguous. If shut and closed are interpreted as adjectives the door and
the factory are just not open. But these words could be past participles, in which
case the sentence would refer to the event, the action of closing.
1.3.2.2. Some special structure
Based on the special forms, in this particular type, English learners should
also pay attention to these nine special cases of the passive voice. They are:

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 Modal verbs
We use the modal + be + past participle.
Present: I can be misunderstood.
Future:

I could be misunderstood.

Past:

I could have been misunderstood.

 Causative form
Passive voice with causative forms: HAVE, GET
Active:


Active: V + O + Adjunct

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Passive: Let + O + be + P.P + Adjunct.
For example:
He let me go out.
→ I was let to go.
→ I was allowed to go out.
 Intransitive verbs
Some verbs such as:HAPPEN, OCCUR, and TRY (to) are not used in the
passive voice.
For example: The ceremony was happened yesterday.
Morality is an issue that was tried to explain by many philosophers.
 Reduced relative clause
For example: None of the people invited to the party can come.
The money stolen in the robbery was never found.
 Past infinitive: must have, should have, …
For example: My bicycle must have been stolen.
The window should have been cleaned yesterday.
 Verb + Object 1 + Object 2
For example: Ann was offered a job.
A job is offered to Ann.
 Verb + Gerund
For example: I don’t like being told what to do.
I remember being given a present on my seventh birthday
 V-ing with passive meaning
For example: The grass need cutting
1.4. Usage

sentences so that the naturalness of the sentences are lucidly expressed. Take We
were surprised by the number of people trying to leave the city for the long
weekend. as an example. The naturalness of this sentence is undoubtedly better than
The number of people trying to leave the city for the long weekend surprises us.
In passive sentence the point of interest can be other information such as
time, place, manner or instrument.
E.g.: The gas should be lit with a match.
1.4.3. Avoiding responsibility
When we want to avoid responsibility: when the active voice seems
indiscreet, we can use passive voice to avoid assigning responsibility for the action.
For example: You made this machine out of order.
This machine was made out of order

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1.4.4. Removing an unessential agent
When we do not know who the performer of the action is, the performer will
be dropped from the sentence.
E.g.: Her car has been stolen (by someone)
(We do not know who stole her car)
In a passive sentence we mention the agent only if it is important
information. There is often no need to mention it.
E.g.: Nine million cigarettes are smoked.
There is no need to say that nine million cigarettes are smoked by smokers
all over the world. So we do not need use “by + agent”. Sometimes we don’t know,
or don’t know exactly, or have forgotten who did the action.
E.g.: The minister was murdered.
In spoken English we often use a subject such as people, somebody, they, we
or you even we do not know who the agent is. In formal English, particularly

basic grammar is the word order. Vietnamese words do not change form, even the
verbs. So we cannot base on the form of the verb or grammar to determine whether
a sentence is active or passive. We also cannot base on grammar structure because
there are some cases in which the structure of an active sentence cannot be
recognized.
According to Palmer (1994), passive constructions do not exist, and passive
meanings are expressed through verbs of experiencing and becoming, as well as
subject or topic markers. However, Nguyen (1987) pointed out that the passive
voice in Vietnamese can be also expressed by means of clause subordination that
depend on whether the action of the clause has adversative outcomes to the clause
subject or topic.
Phi Nguyen Khac in Literature 7 of Ministry of education and training said
that passive voice in Vietnamese is the sentence having a subject indicating a
person, an object or more which are impacted by other people or objects (indicating
to the object of activity).
In contrast to the active voice, the passive voice is used in writing reflexively
than in normal speech, and is used to write in texts than the others. Passive voice is
appeared in almost the press (magazines) rather than in the other kinds of story such
as: Novels, short stories, etc. However, most of journalists and novel writers often
use these statements frequently and flexibly. However, there are some kinds of
passive sentence to be used in scientific and technical writings. The articles about
scientific information typically contain more passive voice than others.
2.2.

Approaches

The issues of passive voice in Vietnamese have always been the most
controversial

among

“ĐƯỢC”are just the translation equivalents of passive constructions in IndoEuropean languages. He calls these logical passive expressions and does not
consider them as real passive constructions.
2.2.1.2. Morphological category
Beside the absence of passive voice as a morphological category, some
researchers base on the fact that Vietnamese is a topic-prominent rather than
subject-prominent language to deny the existence of passive sentences in
Vietnamese. They argue that in topic-prominent languages there must not
be passive constructions because passive constructions are typical of subjectprominent languages which have passive voice.
This argument could be traced back to Ch.N. Li & S.A Thompson’s
typological classification between two types of “topic-prominent languages” and
“subject-prominent languages” (1976). These authors claim that passive
constructions are very common in subject-prominent languages but usually absent
or rarely present in topic-prominent languages. And if they do occur in topicprominent languages, they usually carry a special meaning, like the adversity
passive in Japanese.

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