Learn English – Is ‘She has been taken’ active or passive voice

passive-voiceperfect-constructions

She has been taken

I want to know – Is it passive voice or active voice?

If it is passive, then what is object, subject, verb in this sentence? If it's not a passive voice, then we use 2 two past participle in this sentence.

Best Answer

This construction is present perfect passive.

When you talk about 'subjects' and 'objects' you must be careful that you do not confuse syntactic roles, the functions word or phrases play in a particular sentence, with semantic roles, the functions words or phrases play with respect to the meanings of verbs.

The core syntactic roles are subject, verb, and object. Every full sentence has a subject and and a verb; there will only be an object if the meaning of the verb and the form of the sentence require it.

A transitive verb like take, for instance, typically involves two semantic roles:

  • the Agent, the person who performs the act of taking, and
  • the Patient, the entity which the Agent takes

In an active sentence, the Agent is cast in the syntactic role of subject, the verb is cast in an active construction, and the Patient is cast in the syntactic role of object:

subjectThe kidnappersAGENT   activeverbtook   objectthe little girlPATIENT

In a passive sentence, however, the Patient becomes the subject and the verb is recast in the passive construction. The Agent may be omitted; if present, it is cast in the form of a preposition phrase headed by by:

subjectThe little girlPATIENT   passive verbwas taken   preposition phraseby the kidnappersAGENT

In your sentence

  • The passive subject (the 'Patient' who undergoes the action) is she.

  • The finite verb is the perfect auxiliary HAVE; it is cast in the present-tense form has and requires its complement to be cast in the past-participle form:

    She has past participle ...

  • The next verb is the passive auxiliary BE; it is cast in the past-participle form been as the complement of the perfect auxiliary and requires its complement to be cast in the past-participle form:

    She has been past participle ...

  • The final verb is the lexical verb TAKE; it is cast in the past-participle form taken as the complement of the passive auxiliary:

    She has been taken.

The 'Agent' who performs the action is not expressed in your sentence.

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