In the treatment of verb phrases, no mention has yet been made of the passive voice. The category of voice has two terms: active and passive. The verb phrases eats and to eat are active, while is eaten and to be eaten are passive: The cat eats fish (We expect) the cat to eat fish Fish is eaten by the cat (We expect) fish to be eaten by the cat It can be seen that the contrast active v. passive is valid for both finite and non-finite verb phrases. In the passive voice the verb be is used as an auxiliary and this is followed by the n-form of the main verb (or the past participle). In the following examples the passive auxiliary is in
italics: is followed am persecuted will be eaten may have been told is being hidden to have been broken The significance of the distinction between active and passive is dealt with in Chapter 5 (see pp. 81–3). Phrasal verbs It is very frequent for a verb to be followed immediately or interruptedly by an element called an adverbial particle. The adverbial particles are minor-class words, many of which can also function as prepositions: up, down, over, to, through, by, etc. Here are some examples of sentences containing a verb followed by an adverbial particle: They have turned down my application They have turned my application down I looked up their address I looked their address up He read over the first chapter He read the first chapter over We separate out the best candidates We separate the best candidates out The expressions turn down, look up, read over, and separate out, are called phrasal verbs. In all of the sentences just cited the phrasal verb has a complement in the form of a noun phrase: e.g. my application, their address, etc. This complement can come after the adverbial particle or between the verb and the adverbial particle. It is also possible to have a phrasal verb without a complement: He is standing by The papers are going through They may turn back Somebody has turned round already There is sometimes a very striking difference between the use of a word like down as a preposition and as an adverbial particle: He ran down the road (preposition) He ran down the dog (adverbial particle) He turned up the hill (preposition)
He turned up the heat (adverbial particle)