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difference between passive and causative?

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 9:12 am
by sftaa
Hi,

Anyone can please explain the difference in passive and causative with one or two examples

Thankd & Regards

Re: difference between passive and causative?

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2012 6:41 am
by Alan
A PASSIVE construction is one in which something IS DONE to something or somebody, e.g.

The windows were broken by these boys.

A CAUSATIVE construction is one in which someone/somethings MAKES or LETS somebody/something do smth., e.g.

She made the children go to bed early.

In order to qualify as a true causative, the dependent infinitive (here 'go') must not be preceded by 'to', irrespective of overall semantic equivalence, hence

She forced the children to go to bed early.

despite meaning the same as that above does not exemplify a causative construction.