[Lingtyp] BE + PAST PARTICIPLE in modern English

[Hannu Tommola]

  Dear Sergey,

why, I think we know at least that passive  
and resultative constructions are built with 'be' + the past particple,
​- passive ('a house is built by wisdom’) & indefinite personal ('...,  
it is given to you’)
​- resultative (‘he is gone', ‘the glass is broken’, ‘it is already done’)
​Best,
​Hannu

Quoting Sergey Lyosov <sergelyosov at inbox.ru>:

> Dear colleagues,
>
>      what do we know about the periphrasis “BE + PAST PARTICIPLE” in  
> modern English? It looks like not all verbs are compatible with it,  
> and the aspectual meaning of the construction depends on the  
> Aktionsart/lexical semantics of the verb. Consider 'a house is  
> built by wisdom’, ‘he is gone, ‘the glass is broken’, ‘it is already  
> done’, "you do not buy it, it is given to you’ (as a stewardess on a  
> Pan Am flight told me back in 1990).  
>
>      What do people say/read about it?
>
>       
>
>      Thank you very much,
>
>       
>
>      Sergey


 
  Hannu Tommola
Professor emer. of Russian Language (Translation Theory and Practice)
School of Language, Translation and Literary Studies
FIN-33014 University of Tampere, Finland
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