Well, of course it can be considered as a passive voice construction. The active voice equivalent is quite easy to find:
- I am surprised.
- Something (or someone) surprises me.
The sentence can be understood in this manner, but that doesn't mean that it can only be understood this way. There's another possibility:
- I am surprised.
- I am a surprised man.
The word "surprised" is a participle. Participles and participial phrases can modify nouns in much the same way as adjectives. Some grammar books simply call them adjectives when they're used this way.
If I am a happy man, I can simply say "I am happy." If I do say that, then "happy" can be understood as a predicate adjective subject complement.
We can understand the "surprised" of your original sentence in the same way.
As it happens, "surprised" is a stative verb -- or, at least, it's a verb that's often used in a stative sense. Both the passive voice interpretation and the subject complement interpretation are available for your original sentence. For a stative verb, the subject complement interpretation is likely to be more useful and, for many, the more obvious interpretation.
it's not a matter of which interpretation is correct. Both are correct. It's only a matter of which interpretation makes more sense in context. If you can see both interpretations easily, then you should be able to easily choose between them as context requires. You may also find that, in many contexts, the overall meaning of the entire passage won't change no matter which interpretation you choose.
You may also want to note that "to be" isn't the only possible copular verb. There's a handful of verbs that work in copular constructions:
- He is surprised.
- He seems surprised.
- He looks surprised.
- He sounds surprised.
You're free to interpret "He is surprised" as a passive voice construction. For every other verb that fits this same pattern (and my examples are far from exhaustive) only the subject complement interpretation is obvious.
Although this question is more fit for ELL but I'll try to explain.
Active
Active voice describes a sentence where the subject performs the action stated by the verb.
For example:
John washed the dishes two hours ago.
Let's break it down:
- Subject: John
- Verb: washed (past)
- Object: the dishes
Therefore in active voice, you always have a subject (John) that is performing an action (Washing the dishes).
Passive
In passive voice sentences, the subject is acted upon by the verb.
Same example in passive voice:
The dishes were washed two hours ago.
Again breaking it down:
- Subject: The dishes
- Verb: were washed (passive past)
So as you see, in the passive voice, washing (verb) is acted upon the dishes (subject). By who? We don't know/care.
Active vs Passive voice? (When do we use them)
Usually, when the action itself is more important than the doer of the action, you use passive form.
Another situation would be, if you don't know who did an action or you don't care who did it, then you use passive.
So for example, When I say "The dishes were washed two hours ago.", I'm not saying who did it. Maybe because I actually don't know who did that, or maybe I don't care. Or maybe it's because it's not important who did it, the important thing is that they are washed.
In other situations, Active is usually preferred.
As stated by @Lynn in this answer, please keep in mind that:
In many styles of writing, active voice is preferred over passive voice for clarity and easier reading. However, in other styles of writing (particularly technical/legalese, which it sounds like you're quoting from), the more stilted sound of passive voice is more common - and perhaps even preferred.
Original Example:
You're (corrected) original line was:
If i run a test on my PC (I am a software tester) and it gets failed fails
Then you asked if you should say
"My test is failing" is a correct active sentence although its tense is not quite right. To fix the tense, you should instead say: "My test has failed." or "My test failed". (because it happened in the past)
For instance:
My test has failed because of a programming bug.
It's still active because as mentioned before, you have a subject (My test) that is doing something (failing).
This is not a correct passive voice. If you want to say it passively, you should instead say: "My test is failed". But it still sounds unusual. In this particular example, I'd use the active voice for clarity. You could definitely say something (passive) like:
If my test is failed, then...
But the active form is more clear and is preferred
If my test fails, then...
Conclusion
Use active for this particular example but as the rule of thumb, if you don't know when to use Active and when to use Passive, ask yourself which one is more significant. If the doer of the action is more important use active or if the action itself is more important, use passive.
Best Answer
Out of context, it would be logical to assume that this is the adjective as a consequence of past events, in that "the city was burned" by someone or something and is now being described as "burned". A present construction in the passive voice would yield "the city is being burned (to the ground)". Another possibility in the passive voice is that "the city is burned every few years", again dependent on the context, which you have not included.