Editing Passive voice (section)

==Stative and dynamic passive==
{{see also|English passive voice#Stative and adjectival uses}}

In some languages, for example English, there is often a similarity between clauses expressing an action or event in the passive voice and clauses expressing a state. For example, the string of words "The dog is fed" can have the following two different meanings:
# The dog is fed (twice a day).
# The dog is fed (so we can leave now).
The additions in parentheses "force" the same string of words to clearly show only one of their two possible grammatical functions and the related meaning. In the first sentence, the combination of the auxiliary verb "is" and the [[past participle]] "fed" is a regular example of the construction of the passive voice in English. In the second sentence, "is" can however be interpreted as an ordinary [[copula (linguistics)|copula]] and the past participle as an [[adjective]].

Sentences of the second type are called ''false passives'' by some linguists, who feel that such sentences are simply confused with the passive voice due to their outward similarity. Other linguists consider the second type to be a different kind of passive – a ''stative passive'' (rarely called ''statal'', ''static'', or ''resultative passive''), in contrast to the ''dynamic'' or ''eventive'' passive illustrated by the first sentence. Some languages express or can express these different meanings using different constructions.

{{anchor|In German}}The difference between dynamic and stative passives is more evident in languages such as German that use different words or constructions for the two.<ref name="Anagnostopoulou">{{cite book|last= Anagnostopoulou|first= Elena|editor= A. Alexiadou |editor2= M. Rathert |editor3= A. von Stechow|title= Perfect Explorations|year= 2003|publisher= Walter de Gruyter|isbn= 978-3-11-090235-8|pages= 1–36|chapter= Participles and voice}}</ref> In German, the auxiliary verb {{lang|de|sein}} marks static passive ([[German language|German]]: {{lang|de|Zustandspassiv}}, rarely {{lang|de|statisches Passiv}}, in referring to German also called {{lang|de|sein-Passiv}} or {{lang|de|Sein-Passiv}}), while {{lang|de|werden}} marks the dynamic passive ({{lang|de|Vorgangspassiv}} or {{lang|de|Handlungspassiv}}, rarely {{lang|de|dynamisches Passiv}}, in referring to German also called {{lang|de|werden-Passiv}} or {{lang|de|Werden-Passiv}} or simply {{lang|de|Passiv}} or {{lang|de|Passivum}}).<ref>{{cite journal|last= Maienborn |first= Claudia |year= 2008 |title= Das Zustandspassiv. Grammatische Einordnung – Bildungsbeschränkung – Interpretationsspielraum |journal= Zeitschrift für Germanistische Linguistik |language= de |volume= 35 |issue= 1–2 |pages= 1–268 |doi= 10.1515/ZGL.2007.005|s2cid= 145225618 }}</ref>
The English string of words "the lawn is mown" has two possible meanings corresponding to the example "the dog is fed" above. It can be used in the following two different senses:
# dynamic: ''The lawn is mown (once a week).'' 
# stative: ''The lawn is mown (so they're probably not gone.)''
 
German uses two different grammatical constructions for these sentences:
# dynamic: {{lang|de|Der Rasen wird (einmal pro Woche) gemäht.}}
# stative: {{lang|de|Der Rasen ist gemäht (also sind sie wahrscheinlich nicht verreist).}}<ref group="fn">Despite the superficial resemblance of "der Rasen ist gemäht" to the perfect tense construction of some intransitive German verbs in the active voice (e.g. ''er ist gekommen'') and all verbs in the passive (e.g. ''der Rasen ist gemäht worden''), "der Rasen ist [schon] gemäht" and the equivalent English sentence #2 (''the lawn is [already] mown'') are clearly present tense, not perfect tense. The English example could of course be rephrased to mean the same thing in the perfect tense as "the lawn has [already] been mown..." (''der Rasen ist [schon] gemäht worden...''), but it would be incorrect to label either the English original or its German equivalent as "perfect tense".</ref>

Further examples and explanations:
# dynamic: {{lang|de|Der Rasen wird (gerade/oft) gemäht}} ("The lawn is being mown right now" / "The lawn is mown often", literally "The lawn gets mown right now / often", dynamic)
# stative: {{lang|de|Der Rasen ist (schon) gemäht.}} ("The lawn is [already] mown.")

A number of German verbs such as {{wikt-lang|de|bedecken}} ("cover"), {{wikt-lang|de|erfüllen}} ("fill"), and {{wikt-lang|de|trennen}} ("separate"), when used as [[stative verb]]s, usually only form static passives.
:- {{lang|de|Schnee bedeckt die Erde}} ("Snow covers the ground", active)
:- {{lang|de|Die Erde ist mit Schnee bedeckt}} ("The ground is covered with snow", static)
:- rare, poetic: {{lang|de|Die Erde wird durch Schnee bedeckt}} ("The ground is being covered with snow", dynamic)
:- but not: *{{lang|de|Die Straße wird mit Trümmern bedeckt.}} (The English equivalent would be equally incorrect: *"The street is being covered with rubble.") 
:- correct: {{lang|de|Die Straße ist mit Trümmern bedeckt.}} ("The street is covered with rubble.")<ref>{{cite book |title= Die Grammatik der deutschen Gegenwartssprache |trans-title= Grammar of the contemporary German language |publisher= [[Dudenverlag]] |year= 1973 |location= Mannheim |edition= 3rd |editor-first= Paul |editor-last= Grebe |pages= [https://archive.org/details/dudengrammatikde0000unse_h0u1/page/91 91–95] |isbn= 978-3-411-00914-5 |url= https://archive.org/details/dudengrammatikde0000unse_h0u1/page/91 }}</ref>

{{anchor|In English}}In English, the passive voice expressed with the auxiliary verb "get" rather than "be" ("get-passive") expresses a dynamic rather than a static meaning. But when the auxiliary verb "be" is used, the main verb can have either a dynamic or static meaning as shown below (including copies of some examples from above):

:The dog ''gets fed'' twice a day. (dynamic)
:The dog ''is fed'' (twice a day). (dynamic)
:The dog ''is fed'' (so we can leave now). (stative)
:The couple ''got married'' last spring. (dynamic)
:The marriage ''was celebrated'' last spring. (dynamic)
:It ''is agreed'' that laws were invented for the safety of citizens. (stative)

Verbs that typically express static meaning can show dynamic meaning when used in the passive formed with ''get'', for example ''be known'' (static) vs. ''get known'' (dynamic):

:Zoltan ''is known'' for hosting big parties. (static)
:Get your foot in the door, ''get known''. (dynamic)<ref>{{cite book|last= Knabe|first= Norman |title= The Get-Passives as an Emotive Language Device|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=GsKtydQM40kC&pg=PA8|access-date= 13 November 2012|date= January 2009|publisher= GRIN Verlag|isbn= 978-3-640-25174-2}}</ref>