THE
ANALYSIS OF THE USE OF PASSIVE VOICE IN
DAILY LIFE BASED ON MOVIE SCRIPT AND NOVEL ENTITLED
“BEAUTIFUL CREATURES”
Moh.Taufik
State University of Malang, Malang, Idonesia
Author Note
Author information: Mph.Taufik,
English Department, State University of Malang; Malang, east Java, Indonesia.
Institutional affiliation
change (if applicable): English Department, State University of Malang
Biodata:
The writer is now studying in
English Department, State University of Malang.
THE
ANALYSIS OF THE USE OF PASSIVE VOICE IN
DAILY LIFE BASED ON MOVIE SCRIPT AND NOVEL ENTITLED
“BEAUTIFUL
CREATURES”
Abstract
Passive voice is often used in daily life spoken English, but is not common
in written English. Many students are confused to use passive voice in their daily
conversation because when they are faced with daily life context, they don’t
really understand how the passive should be formed, or what pasive that they
should use. In the following paper, the writer would explain the use of passive
voice based on movie and novel analysis in order than it would be easier to see
in what context they should use passive voice, and what passive voice they
should use. The movie script and novel
is entitled “Beatiful Creatures”.
Keyword: Movie Analysis, Beautiful creatures, passive voice.
There
is much good content analysis in writings on film today, much anatomy of grammar(arnheim). Grammar
plays an integral part in learning English. It is all considered to be a solid
foundation to develop language skills including reading, listening, speaking
and writing. Among many grammatical points in English, passive voice stands out
as one of the most popular, also the most confusing to the language learners.
In this case, we will learn the use of passive voice in daily life. Some of
English learners are confused when they are faced with the use of passive voice
in daily conversation.What makes them confused is that they do not really understand when or
in what situation they should use passive voice. Such is the case with the passive voice.
Its use is not particularly sensitive to social factors;
i.e., whether one is using the active or passive voice
does not necessarily depend upon with whom one is
conversing. What usually does cause students considerable
difficulty with the passive voice, however, is determining
when to use it. The
fact that the agent
of an action is defocused motivates
the use of the passive. Furthermore, if the agent has
already been established in the linguistic discourse, it
would likely not even be mentioned
in subsequent discourse. Thus,
most passive sentences
are agentless(tesfl/11). The grammatical errors also come in many forms and all
can easily confuse and obscure meaning. Some common errors are with sentence
structures, subject-verb tense, and other basic mechanics and parts of speech.
Even something as simple as saying with alittle break, like a coma in writing,
and completely change the meaning of the sentence.
Methodology
The writer collects the data trhough observation toward the movie and novel then comes up with a theory to account the
data. Then, the writer looks for the theories
which can explain the data collection. The object of this research is the analysis of the use of passive voice in daily life
based on movie script and novel entitled “Beautiful Creatures”. In
this research, the primary
data source is the essential sources derived from movie and movie script of Beautiful Creatures. The secondary sources of data are taken
from many books about grammar. The data are also taken from internet websites. To collect the data, the writer
uses note taking technique, a technique that
prepares
data through writing on
data card, then continuing by classification. The steps are selecting the movie, watching the movie, reading the script, and trying to find theories which support this
study. To analyze data, the writer uses
discourse analysis. The objects are; discourse,
writing, talking, conversation, communicative event, etc. The steps are watching and learning whole movie supported by reading all the movie
script.
The Use of Passive Voice in Daily Life
Passive voice refers to the relationship between the subject and the verb. In an active sentence,
the subject is doing something. In a passive
sentence, the subject does nothing;
it is acted upon. Although there are occasions when the
passive voice is appropriate, it can sound dull and wordy. The passive voice has its specific uses in speaking, but in writing, we will not need the
passive voice a lot because the active voice makes our writing stronger and
livelier. For good writing, this is the kiss of
death. Replace them with active voice. In Methods, passives can go in the
middle of the sentence.(acad)
Using the passive
Usually the passive is used without a by-phrase.
The passive is most frequently used when it is not known or not important to
know exactly who performs the action.
Example: Rice is grown in
India.
From the example above, it is not important to know who exactly grows rice
in India. The rice can be grown by people, farmers, or by someone else.
Usually, when we know the person who performs an action, we use active
instead of passive voice. However, in some occasions, even we know the person
who performs the action, we choose to use the passive with the by-phrase in order to focus attention on
the subject of the sentence.
Example (a) This rug was made by my aunt.
That
rug was made by my mother.
Example (b) Life on the Mississippi was writen by Mark Twain.
The focus of attention of the example (a) is on two rugs, and the focus of
the example (b) is on the book, but the by-phrase
is included in (b) because it contains important information.
The passive voice can also be used with modals and phrasal modals. The
following are the examples of the passive form of modal and phrasal modals.
1.
Passive voice with
modals
The form is “subject
+ modal + be + past participle”
Example:
a)
Tom will be invited
to the picnic.
b)
The window can’t be
opened.
c)
Children should be
taught to respect their elders.
d)
May I be excused
from the class?
e)
This book had
better be returned to the library before Friday.
f)
This letter ought
to be sent before June 1st.
g)
Marry has to be
told about our change in our plans.
h)
Fred is supposed to
be told about the meeting.
2.
Past-passive
The form is “subject
+ modal + have been + past participle”
Example:
a)
The letter should
have been sent last week.
b)
This house must
have been built over 200 years ago.
c)
Eric could not have
been offered the job.
d)
Jill ought to have
been invited to the party.
Non-Progressive Passive
Non-progressive passive is used to describe an existing situation or state.
When it is used, no action is taking place; the action happened earlier, there
is no by-phrase, and the past
participle functions as an adjective. Prepositions other than by can follow non-progressive passive
verb.
Example:
a)
The window was
broken by Ann.
b)
Now the window is
broken.
c)
I am interested in
Chinese art.
There is also idiomatic usage of the passive form. The sentences have no
equivalent active sentences.
Example:
a)
I don’t know where
I am. I am lost.
b)
I can’t find my
purse. It is gone.
c)
I am finished with my work.
d)
I am done with my work.
The passive with Get
Get may be followed by
certain adjectives. Get gives the
idea of change, the idea of becoming, beginning to be, and growing to be. Get may also be followed a past
participle. The past participle functions as an adjective; it describes the
subject. The passive with Get is common in spoken English, but not in formal
writing.
Example:
a)
I stopped working
because I got tired.
b)
They are getting
married next month.
The use of passive voice seen in the movie and novel
The use of passsive voice in the movie and novel of “Beautiful Creatures”
is quite complex. In its novel, passive voice is not commonly used, but in its
movie passive voice is easy to find. It is also possible that some sentences
formed using active voice in the novel are changed to be passive voice in the
movie. The only reason of the change is that passive voice is commonly used in
daily spoken English and rarely in written English. Furthermore, active voice
sounds stronger than passive voice which is why written English commonly uses
active voices rather than passive voice. In other hand, it does not mean that
it is not good to use passive voice in witten English. In some cases, it is
even better to use passive voice that it is impossible to use the active one,
or it is commonly known as idiomatic passive voice. The followings are the
example of the use of passive voice in novel, written Englis, and movie, spoken
English.
Novel
probation.”
She rolled her eyes. “One more ‘infraction’ and they’ll suspend me.”
Movie
Lena :School called, Put
me on probation, until the window
thing gets investigated
00:23:52,982 --> 00:23:58,186
In this context, both novel and movie use passive voice
to describe the situation. The use of the passive voice in that two sentences
is to focus on the subjects which are the
incident and the window thing. It
is also not important to know the one who will investigate them.
Novel
“In
my family, when you turn sixteen, you’re
Claimed. Your fate is chosen for you, and
you
become Light, like Aunt Del
Light,
Black or White . There’s
no gray in my family. We can’t choose, and we can’t
undo it once we’re Claimed.”
Movie
Lena :When a female
caster turns 16, we
face what they call the claiming. My powers will be claimed for
either the light or the dark, depending on my true nature...
00:45:09,857 --> 00:45:22,735
In this context, both novel and movie use passive voice
to describe the situation. . The use of the passive voice in that two sentences
is to focus on the subjects which are you and my
powers. The difference is that in the movie, it uses passive voice with
modal wiil which refers to future
time. It is also not important to know the one who
will claim them.
Novel
I
could see Link still staring as he stood next to the Beater.
“I’m
not… I mean, we’re not—”
“You
really are cute. Now get in. You don’t want us to be late, do you?”
“Late
for what?”
“Family
dinner. The High Holidays. The Gathering. Why do you think they sent me all
the
way out here into Gat-dung to find you?”
“I
don’t know. Lena never invited me.”
Movie
Ridley :Honey, you are
looking at <i>the</i> relative.
Ethan : Uh, oh—this is
my friend Link.
Ethan :Sincere
pleasure, Link.
Link :H-- oh, ep--I--
wa-- hush...
Ridley :Get in.
Ethan :Oh, I-I wasn't invited. I
don't think her uncle
would, uh, like --
Ridley :Trust me,
family's dying to meet you.
00:55:04,986 --> 00:55:20,800
In this context, the movie uses passive voice, but the novel uses active
voice. This difference happens because in the movie it focuses on the subject,
Ethan, or Ethat wants to emphasize that he was not invited. In contrast, the
novel uses active voice with Lena as subject and me, Ethan, as object to make it stronger and give different
asmospher to the reader.
Novel
“We’re
not discussing Lena’s birthday tonight,” Macon
not?”
invited.”
Movie
Ridley :So, cuz, any big
plans for
your birthday?
Lena :Nothing to
concern yourself with. You won't be
invited,
"cuz."
Ridley :Well, Lena,
darlin', you should.
00:59:01,722 --> 00:59:15,367
In this context, both novel and
movie use passive voice to describe the situation. . The use of the passive
voice in that two sentences is to focus on the subject which is you. It is also not important to know the one who
will not invite you, Ridley.
Novel
I
unbolted the lock again. It bolted shut with a snap, before I could take my
hand away
from
it. “Mrs. Lincoln
my
weight, juggling the console. Something fell to the floor in front of me. I
stopped to
pick
it up. Garlic, wrapped in one of Amma’s handkerchiefs. If I had to guess, there
was
one
over every door and every windowsill.
Movie
Ethan :Hi. Just a
minute.
Ethan :This door seems to be stuck. It's
just these old houses. They're such
a nuisance
01:15:20,133 --> 01:15:31,376
In this context, both novel and
movie use passive voice to describe the situation. The passive voice used in
that two sentences is called non-progressive passive voice. The word stuck functions as an adjective
describing the subject door. This
kind of sentence does not have active form.
Conclusion and Suggestion
After analyzing the use of passive voice in the movie script and novel
entitled “Beautiful Creatures”, the writer concludes that Passive voice refers to the relationship between the subject and the verb. In an active sentence,
the subject is doing something. In a passive
sentence, the subject does nothing;
it is acted upon. Passive voice is devided into five pasrts. They are the
passive used with modals, past-passive, non-progressive passive voice, passive
voice with get, and idiomatic passive
voice. The five parts are commonly used in the movie, but in the novel, the
passive that is commonly used is the idiomatic passive voice. The active voice
sentences in the novel are often changed to be passive voice in the movie in
order to make the conversation more natural. In contrast, the novel does not
use many passive voice sentences. Using active voice in written English such as
novel seems stronger than using passive voice. To make the use of passive voice
easier to learn, student should watch movie or read novel for many times, so it
is easier to directly understand in what context the passive voice should be
used.
Refrences
http://e-majalah.com/hidayat1068.htm, 12- 10-
2016, 09:38.
http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/moral-values.faq.htm,
12- 10-
2016, 10:45.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0441773/15Oct2016, 10:21.
http://kamusl.landak.com/cari/movie. 15 – 10 – 2016 15:01:05
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