Camel  +  253033 Sun, 06 Aug 06 01:51 PM I'm doing a English course and one aspect is that I have to learn about passive and active verbs. Obviously "The baby was fed" is passive since the subject of the sentence is being acted upon, but what about examples such as: "Kate was overworked", "The premises staff cleaned the floor" and "the papers should be photocopied". Sorry to sound so dumb, I can understand simple examples but I'm struggling to grasp identifying them by myself. Thanks Camel Joined on Sun, Aug 6 2006 New Member 06 Verbs

	Maple  +  253062 Sun, 06 Aug 06 03:26 PM  Camel wrote: "Kate was overworked", Maybe "passive" is the expected answer. But I'd like to take the pp "overworked" as an adj, and "was" as a linking verb.   Camel wrote: "The premises staff cleaned the floor" active  (I don't know what is premises staff)  Camel wrote:   "the papers should be photocopied". passive Maple Joined on Tue, Jul 11 2006 An ESL student in China Contributing Member 1,110 Verbs

	Inchoateknowledge  +  253065 Sun, 06 Aug 06 03:38 PM Kate was overworked; this is not passive voice since Kate was not acted upon. SV+ predicative adjective The premises staff cleaned the floor. This is an active sentence where the verb is in past tense. SVO The papers should be photocopied.  This is a passive sentence: SV. S = the papers = result (thing affected by the action); therefore, this sentence is passive. Where the subject is the result and not the agent, you see a passive structure. They should photocopy the papers. This is an active sentence. SVO.  S = they = agent, O = the papers = the result (thing affected by the action) Inchoateknowledge Joined on Wed, May 3 2006 Senior Member 2,549 Beep! Beep! :) Verbs, Tenses, Past Tenses, Passive Sentences

	Inchoateknowledge  +  253066 Sun, 06 Aug 06 03:41 PM  Maple wrote:  Camel wrote: "Kate was overworked", Maybe "passive" is the expected answer. But I'd like to take the pp "overworked" as an adj, and "was" as a linking verb.   Camel wrote: "The premises staff cleaned the floor" active  (I don't know what is premises staff)  Camel wrote:   "the papers should be photocopied". passive Hello Maple, my best friend, If you know what premises means then you must know what premises staff is. Inchoateknowledge Verbs

	Maple  +  253081 Sun, 06 Aug 06 04:02 PM Hi! This is the closest meaning I've checked out for premises: office or building with the grounds belonging to it. Maybe that's it. Maple Verbs

	redkiddy  +  253088 Sun, 06 Aug 06 04:30 PM by looking the meaning in the dictionary,  I could say that First sentence is ok both way. Overvorked is an adj, or a verb the meaning of the sentence same. redkiddy Joined on Mon, May 17 2004 TURKLAND Full Member 199 the biggest football team of all times "FENERBAHCE" Verbs