त्वरित लिंक्स
English Language
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In advanced English syntax and voice diathesis, the conversion of active constructions into passive ones involves complex constraints regarding ditransitive verbs, agent omission, complementation, and middle voice verbs. Consider the following four advanced propositions regarding active and passive voice conversion: I. When converting a ditransitive clause with two objects (e.g., 'The committee awarded the scholar a prestigious fellowship') into the passive voice, either the direct object or the indirect object may serve as the new subject, though promoting the indirect object as subject is stylistically preferred in standard English. II. Intransitive verbs that express inherent states, bodily postures, or unforced occurrences (such as 'occur', 'happen', 'disappear', 'resemble', or 'belong') possess inherent middle-voice or stative characteristics that completely prohibit them from undergoing passive voice transformation, as they lack an accusative direct object to undergo the structural promotion. III. When an active clause contains a reflexive pronoun as its direct object (e.g., 'He blamed himself for the administrative failure'), the construction can freely undergo standard passive conversion, yielding the grammatical passive form *'Himself was blamed for the administrative failure by him'*. IV. In clauses involving complex transitive complementation where an object is followed by an object complement (e.g., 'The board elected Dr. Henderson chairperson'), the object complement becomes the new subject when the clause is passivized, leaving the original object in the predicate. Identify the option that correctly evaluates the grammatical, syntactic, and structural validity of propositions I, II, III, and IV according to standard English passive voice and valency theory.
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Detailed Explanation
Proposition I is valid because ditransitive verbs taking both a direct and an indirect object can form two distinct passive structures (e.g., 'The scholar was awarded a prestigious fellowship' or 'A prestigious fellowship was awarded to the scholar'), with indirect object promotion being highly frequent and idiomatic. Proposition II is valid because intransitive and stative verbs lack a direct object argument required for object-to-subject promotion in passive diathesis. Proposition III is invalid because clauses with coreferential reflexive pronouns cannot be passivized (*'Himself was blamed...') as reflexives depend on local clause-bound antecedents. Proposition IV is invalid because during passivization of complex transitive patterns, the direct object becomes the subject ('Dr. Henderson was elected chairperson'), whereas the object complement functions as a subject complement in the passive clause, not the new subject. For further reading, consult the English passive voice guide.
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