Page 633 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

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verbs with both active and passive meanings 609 For details of this structure, see 447.
passive structures
Passive versions of these structures are common.
It was painted blue.
He was elected President.
Her attacker was described as a tall man with a beard.
The metal was identified as gold.
He is not regardIJd as being dangerous.
For a long time he was thought fO be a spy.
She was believed to belong to a revolutionary organisation.
Seven people are understood to have been injured in the explosion. It was considered impossible to change the date.
For the structures that are possible after a particular verb, see a good dictionary.
verbs of movement: she ran in etc
When we want to talk about a movement, its direction and its nature, there are several possibilities. We can use three separate words for the three ideas:
She came in running.
We can use a verb which includes the idea of direction, and describe the nature of the movement separately:
She entered running.
Or we can use a verb which makes clear the nature of the movement, and describe the direction separately:
She ran in.
In English, the third of these solutions is the most common.
She danced across the garden.
(More natural than She crossed the garden dancing.)
I jumped down the stairs.
(More natural than 1 came down the stairs jumping.)
They crawled out ofthe cellar. We flew past Mont Blanc.
verbs with both active and passive meanings She opened the door / The door opened
Some verbs are used transitively and intransitively with different kinds of subject. The intransitive use has a meaning rather like a passive (see 412) or reflexive (see 493) verb. Compare:
- She opened the door.
The door opened.
- The wind's moving the curtain.
The curtain's moving.
- Marriage has really changed her.
- Something woke her. Suddenly she woke.
She's changed a lot since she got married. - We're seUing a lot ofcopies ofyour book.
Your book's seUing well.
- I can't start the car. The car won't start.
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