Glossary of Linguistic Terms

Voice

Definition: 

Voice is a grammatical category that expresses the semantic functions attributed to the referents of a clause. It indicates whether the subject is an

  • actor
  • patient, or
  • recipient.
Kinds: 
Examples: 

The following sentence is in active voice:

  • Jones built the house.

The following sentence is in passive voice:

  • The house was built by Jones.
See Also: 
Referent
Subject
Source: 
Pei and Gaynor 1954
228–229
Hartmann and Stork 1972
251–252
Nida 1949
168
Elson and Pickett 1988
31
Bybee 1985
20–21
Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik 1985
159
Crystal 1985
329
Mish 1991
1320

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library. Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003.

LinguaLinks Ordering Information

Glossary Hierarchy

  • Grammatical Category
  • Voice
  • Active Voice
  • Antipassive Voice
  • Middle Voice
  • Passive Voice