Part IV, Number Five
IV.213 Now we come to another complicated task for VERBS: to indicate TRANSITIVITY.[Note 12] Traditional grammar has obtusely called it “voice”, as if it were a matter of VOWELS and CONSONANTS; so the term has got to go, as many contemporaries agree. We can also chuck out the pair of opposite terms “transitive” and “intransitive”; if the former means some “transition” is expressed, then the later means that none is, without telling what is expressed. Nor can I make any useful sense of the further division into “intransitive copulative” and “intransitive complete” -- which I had to learn and gabble back as a schoolboy -- and which seem to mean that the “non-transition” somehow involved something more or else nothing more. This reasoning doesn’t get us far, at any rate; each of the three with the VERB “change” [946-48] certainly expresses a transition that nobody, however tactful, could pretend not to notice, yet the first two [946-47] would be “transitive” (ACTIVE and PASSIVE) and the last [948] “intransitive” (MEDIAL).
[946] Arethusa was the nymph whom Diana changed into a fountain that she might escape from the infatuated river god (Wild Flowers)
[947] Scylla was once a beautiful maiden and was changed by Circe into a snaky monster with six heads. (Bullfinch)
[948] With one terrific yell the cat sprang up and instantly changed into a tall man (Prince Hyacinth)
Our teachers never offered to explain why those terms were used. Luckily, their (invented) sentences tipped me off as to what was involved.
IV.214 My own plan is first to present three main CLASSES of TRANSITIVITY and then, in Part V, expound the “functional” SUB-CLASSES that yield a much sharper picture and open further out into cognitive and social perspectives as well as linguistic ones.
IV.215 All the data in the table for the TENSES and ASPECTS were deliberately chosen in the ACTIVE, yet another term that is not fully felicitous. It invites a vigorous vision of somebody (SUBJECT) “doing” something (VERB) to somebody (OBJECT) -- presumably an “agent” that is intentionally “acting” upon a “target, as in:
[949] A boy of 11 beat off a drunken sex attacker who jumped on his mother in a churchyard. The boy kicked and punched the man after he forced his mother to the ground at St Benedict’s. (Today)
[950] A man in the crowd suggested that if Joyce thought Nazi Germany such a wonderful place, he ought to go there; Joyce then punched the heckler in the face. (Hitler’s Englishman)
But this vision is far too limited for the term, which must also cover more varied data like these:
[951] A cow came flying out of its trailer, sent police scrambling, and left two police cars going up in flames. (San Antonio News)
[952] People used to talk about a time when the volcano also spat flames and rocks into the sky (Indigo)
No corresponding intention, destructive or not, can be sanely attributed to an airborne cow whose trailer came unlatched, much less to a volcano that must yield to heat and pressure from below. “Action” as such hardly seems a fitting term here.
IV.216 All the same, the terms are here to stay. And the ordinary meaning of “active” is decidedly AMELIORATIVE, modifying for example, “co-operation”, “citizenship”, “growing season”, “marketing”, “trading”, and of course “life” (BNC data) -- what people favour.
IV.217 Conversely, the TRANSITIVITY with the term PASSIVE invites a vigorous vision of somebody (the SUBJECT) “getting done” something (PAST PARTICIPLE of the VERB ) to them by somebody (ADVERBIAL AGENT in the PATTERN of a PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE), as in:
[953] A 54-year-old truck driver was killed by a flying cow when he crashed after another driver knocked the cow into his truck on U.S. 160 near Kayenta, Ariz. (uExpress)
[954] When Reg Weston, 78, a retired Press Association journalist, began to boo the Prime Minister, he was kicked, punched and hit with an umbrella by a cohort of silver-haired ladies before his poster “Rich Tories are the real poll tax parasites”, which was stamped on and ripped up. (Telegraph)
Here, the ordinary meaning of “passive” is decidedly PEJORATIVE, modifying, for example, “submission”, “harassment”, “victim”, “pain”, “sufferer”, “rag doll”, but, intriguingly, not “life” (BNC data) -- what people don’t favour.
IV.218 I cannot but fancy that this ordinary disfavour has entrenched the habit of frowning upon the grammatical PASSIVE by generations of English teachers, grammarians, and style manuals (II.9). These two contemporary data samples (one British, one Canadian) can show how little insight has been achieved by the whole history of antagonism:
[955] Never use the passive voice. […] The passive voice is much weaker in the impression it makes. (Student’s Guide to Success)
[956] In most cases, avoid the passive in favor of the more concise active voice. A sentence is more effective when it centers on a subject that is doing something, rather than a subject that is being acted upon. […] The main problem with passive sentences is that they are wordy (University of Victoria Writer’s Guide)WWW
The glibness and vapidity of such advice frankly depress me. Generically, PASSIVES are not “weaker” and barely any “wordier” than corresponding ACTIVES would be. The choice depends mainly on BALANCE. In suitable contexts, the SUBJECT can be made not just the TOPIC -- the point of orientation for what is being said -- but also the FOCUS -- the centre of attention. In [949], the initiative belonged to the courageous “boy”, and in [950] to the rowdy William Joyce (nicknamed “Lord Haw-Haw”) -- who in fact did go to Germany to serve Hitler -- whereas the “attacker” and the “heckler” are handled as recipients of violence which, so these NOUNS suggest, they brought upon themselves. In [953-54], the victims are the TOPICS, but the FOCUS is shared by the hapless “truck driver” and the frail, elderly “journalist”, but also by the perpetrators of the violence, the “flying cow” and the (not dissimilar) “Tory ladies”, who attain some weight and surprise value by coming late in the CLAUSE (cf. xxx).
IV.219 Discourse can indicate quite emphatically why PASSIVES were chosen alongside ACTIVES, as in these two openings of news reports;
[957] Five people were treated for shock after loyalist bombers struck at a Belfast house. Windows were shattered in the blast […] The bomb was planted outside the house shortly before 1 am. (Belfast Telegraph)
[958] At one o’clock in the morning a petrol bomb shattered the window in Kathy Sellers’ front room, and shot flames across the floor and up the curtains. Ms Sellers was not at home. She was under police custody waiting to continue her testimony against the man alleged to be Washington’s most powerful drug lord (Independent)
Whoever says [957] is “weak” needs a goodly “blast” to wake them up. The PASSIVES are used in [957] to assign the TOPIC first to the victims, then to the “windows” that helped cause the “shock”, and finally to the “bomb”. [958], in contrast, assigns the TOPIC right off to the “petrol bomb” before telling the fate of the “window” and the fiery home redecoration.
IV.220 Now let’s examine the contrary choices (I put “?” where I have to guess):
[957a] A hospital? – doctors? – paramedics? treated five people for shock after a Belfast house was struck at by loyalist bombers. The blast shattered windows. […] Bombers? – anarchists? – drunks? planted the bomb outside the house shortly before 1 am.
[958a] At one o’clock in the morning the window in Kathy Sellers’ front room was shattered by a petrol bomb, and flames were shot across the floor and up the curtains.
The choice of TOPICS now render the BALANCE rather awkward: in [957a], FOCUS is deflected away from those “five people” and their “windows”; and in [958a] shifted from the “bomb” onto the “window”, as if the latter merits WEIGHT (cf. § xxx).
IV.221 BALANCE can easily put FOCUS upon the end of a CLAUSE that also merits END WEIGHT (VI.22-25), such as the AGENT of a PASSIVE:
[959] Anderson Cooper is violently blown about by Hurricane Rita as he talks into a camera lens lashed with water, and hangs onto a mailbox as he is hit by a flying pig. (New York Times)
Injury to insult, and in a downright scurrilous manner! No doubt the pig continued its flight in high dudgeon.
IV.222 As a more serious matter, I have noted before that certain PATTERNS of the PASSIVE are much inclined toward PEJORATIVE ATTITUDE, such as AUXILIARY “get” rather than “be”, as in [960]; and, far more consistently, AUXILIARY be + to + BE + PAST PARTICIPLE, as in [961] (cf. II.8).
[960] The Monkey jumped; but he got killed from the sharp bamboo-points on which he landed. (Philippine Folk-Tales)
[961] I am to be hang’d in chains! (Spectator)
Yet I found none of the hand-waving detractors of the PASSIVE, like those quoted in [955-56], pointing out these tendencies -- hard to do, I suppose, without surveying authentic data.
IV.223 Here now is a corresponding table with the system of TENSES and ASPECTS for the PASSIVE. Again, all examples are authentic; I picked the VERB “see”, but sometimes had to substitute another for lack of data.
Present: is seen
[962] When the campanile is seen from a distance, it seems to belong to some strange Expressionist church (Independent)WWW
Present Progressive: is being seen
[963] In California, a near-adult Masked Booby is being seen in the vicinity of Mugu Rock (NARBA Bird Sightings)WWW
Present Predecessive: has been seen
[964] The ghost of William Faulkner has been seen writing on the wall in one of the rooms (Haunted Places in Mississippi)WWW
Present Predecessive Progressive: has been being seen
[965] At Ottawa, we walked in to the spot where the Vermilion Flycatcher has been being seen. (Ohio Birds)WWW
Present Successive: is going to be seen
[966] That’s what Bowstreet brings to the table and is going to be seen as a whole new category of software. (infoworld)WWW
Present Successive Progressive: is going to be being played
[967] “Great hockey” is going to be being played somewhere else, not in the NHL. (National Hockey League)WWW
Present Successive Predecessive: is going to have been seen
[968] This overhead describes some of the complexities that have been observed in research studies of the potential health effects of electromagnetic fields. And I know this is going to have been seen before (Carl Blackman)WWW
Past: was seen
[969] At six the next morning the island of Tenerife was seen right ahead (New South Wales)
Past Progressive: was being seen
[970] The revelation of “bribe” has given an entirely new twist to the murder of the Congress councillor which was being seen as a simple love triangle crumbling (India Daily Excelsior)WWW
Past Predecessive: had been seen
[971] In the London Standard, it is said that, upon the morning of Jan. 4, an unknown airship had been seen over Dover (New Lands)WWW
Past Predecessive Progressive: had been being seen
[972] A note on a bulletin board said that the Lucifer (“bill downcurved; male has green crown, purple throat, long tail”) had been being seen on Feeder C, so I sat watching that feeder avidly (Melinda Varian)WWW
Past Successive: was going to be seen
[973] Business suits might have been more appropriate for a show that was going to be seen by a predominantly urban audience. (Fishing Warehouse)WWW
Past Successive Progressive: was going to be being used
[974] And this is one of the characteristics of a person that was going to be being used by God (Calvary Chapel)WWW
Past Successive Predecessive: was going to have been revealed
[975] One of the ideas for “Revelations” that Marvel actually rejected for Spider-Man was that Mary Jane was going to have been revealed as being a hologram all along. (Superhero Hype)WWW
Future: will be seen
[976] But as a consequence of the deflection of light from the star by the sun, the star will be seen at a somewhat greater distance from the centre of the sun than corresponds to its real position. (Albert Einstein)
Future Progressive: will be being seen
[977] These are general auditions, and many people will be being seen (LSU Theatre Auditions)WWW
Future Predecessive: will have been seen
[978] The quest for the historical Jesus has gone on for about three centuries. He will have been seen or interpreted differently by different people. (Have Jesus People Seen)WWW
Future Predecessive Progressive: will have been being brought
[979] There must, be a distinction made between commandment-keeping Christians who were serving God prior to the end, and those “new” Christians who will have been being brought to their senses during the Great Tribulation. (Everlasting Kingdom)WWW
Future Successive: will be going to be mated
[980] Well, Willow has finally come into season and she will be going to be mated in another few days (Nigabee Newsletter)WWW
Future Successive Progressive: will be going to be being + PAST PARTICIPLE
[no authentic data found, even on the Internet, just this weak invention:]
[981] I will be going to be being run (Prodict)WWW
Far more than for ACTIVES, the elaborated PATTERNS of the PASSIVES become steadily more marked and less common. To me some of them sound out of BALANCE.
IV.224 A TRANSITIVITY we might call RECIPROCAL seems ACTIVE in form, but in fact involves more than one (packed into the SUBJECT) doing the same something (VERB) to each other (DIRECT OBJECT). As usual, vigorous visions seem easiest to grasp:
[982] they scratched and bit and fought each other (Other People’s Blood)
[983] The men grappled with one another, kicked one another from behind, slapped one another across the face, and tried to bite one another. (Soaked in Seaweed)
Perhaps just because it looks like the ACTIVE in form, this TRANSITIVITY is not so reliably featured in grammar-books. Besides, its cognitive and social ranges are limited by the functions and intentions of reciprocity.
IV.225 Yet linguistically, we can locate a fair range of TENSES and ASPECTS, thanks to at least one immensely popular use of the PATTERN “see each other”, which is the most elastic designation possible for an emotional relationship between two people. Erotic or not, this usage is far from exotic: the data are so common they almost fill up our table of TENSES and ASPECTS:
[984] My boyfriend of a year and a half over the net and I see each other once a month, but before and after we tend to get frustrated. Is this common among long distance romances? (Internet Romance Advice)WWW
[985] She started her period the very day we saw each other. We made love several times over (Pregnancy Forum)WWW
[986] My love will be here and we will see each other and I will finally be able to hold and kiss the girl I love (greatestjournal)WWW
Progressives
[987] The both of you have established that you are interested in each other and have gotten to know each other more. Now you are seeing each other. The difference between this and dating is that this is not really exclusive. (Third Stage “Seeing”)WWW
[988] Over the summer we grew really close, and we weren’t dating, but we were “seeing each other”. (kidshelp)WWW
[989] Broke up, but now we will be seeing each other 8 hours a day five days a week (Single/Happy Forums)WWW
Predecessives
[990] My lover is polyamorous.[Note 13] We have been seeing each other for about 6 months, and I recently moved in with him. (faqs)WWW
Predecessive Progressive
[991] Ladies...I need help picking an anniversary gift. It’s for my girlfriend. We will have been seeing each other for 1 year on May 29 (DVD Talk Forum)WWW
[992] That night Wade had told him that he and Britney had been seeing each other for months behind his back he had been devastated (Just About Time)WWW
[Seeing, indeed!]
Successives
[993] I went on a date with a guy I met on a legit online dating site. We are just two people who are really interested in each other. We are going to see each other again this weekend (Teen Central)WWW
[994] We parted painfully, but knew we were going to see each other again (Surviving Infidelity)WWW
Mercifully perhaps, I found no instances of “will be going to see each other” or “had been going to see each other”. These, erm, romances as shown above are complicated enough.
IV.226 The TRANSITIVITY with the term REFLEXIVE invites a vision of somebody (the SUBJECT) “doing” something (VERB) to themselves. Here, we should first set apart the similar-looking ACTIVES of somebody (the SUBJECT) “doing” something (VERB) to something (DIRECT OBJECT) for themselves (INDIRECT OBJECT).
[995] Jessamy went down to the kitchen and cooked herself a large breakfast. (Forgotten Fire)
[996] Lindsay Lohan has found herself a new man, wealthy American socialite Richie Akiva. (Female First)WWW
IV.227 Also, we can set aside the uses of the REFLEXIVE form for the AGENT of an actual ACTIVE, which is not common anyway:
[997] As a simultaneous call for “Pickwick” burst from his followers, that illustrious man slowly mounted onto the chair, on which he had been previously seated, and addressed the club himself had founded.
[998] Fearing else some messenger that might her mind discover,
Herself hath taught her love himself to write unto her lover.
(Two Gentlemen Of Verona)
IV.228 The genuine REFLEXIVE may involve participating in an action or event in a rather PASSIVE sense, being more actually brought about or upon the SUBJECT by something or somebody else, who may be named [999] but typically is not [1000].The ATTITUDE may be vaguely AMELIORATIVE , though implying self-interest [999-1000], or PEJORATIVE implying wilful misfortune [1001-02].
[999] General Noriega had himself declared formal head of government by his self-appointed National Assembly (Guardian)
[1000] Eck made his way to Rome and got himself appointed papal nuncio. (Roads That Move)
[1001] Anthony Waugh sawed his way through his neighbour’s stair banister to release Sarah Walters, age three, who had got herself trapped playing on the steps (Northern Echo)
[1002] Robert Mitchum also frisked drunks and got himself arrested on a vagrancy charge. (Hollywood Rogues)
IV.229 Like the RECIPROCAL, the genuine REFLEXIVE has been less featured in traditional grammars than ACTIVE and PASSIVE. For one thing, it less readily invites the vigorous visions like [1003-04] -- and even VERBS like these can be metaphorical [1005-06], especially where a physical performance would demand a remarkably limber anatomy [1006].
[1003] When she was just a puppy, she ran smack into the coffee table, knocked herself out. (Chazhound)WWW
[1004] Lana slapped herself in the forehead. “Oh, that’s smart, Lana”, she muttered to herself. “Just run right off with no clue as to where you’re be going.” (aniworlds)WWW
[1005] Heidi really knocked herself out [expended maximum effort] to get the printing and embossing just right; her own special mix of inks (Lilliput Motor Company)WWW
[1006] we shirked the last thirty yards to the summit cairn and I kicked [reproached] myself all the way back to the hotel for being an arrant coward; next day we succeeded and I patted [congratulated] myself on the back. (Wainwright in Scotland)
IV.230 A more formidable issue is the subtle range of INTENTIONS, a topic that is rarely explicated in ordinary “grammars” but comes up fairly often in mine. The most straightforward REFLEXIVES are the almost thoughtless actions people routinely perform on themselves, where the REFLEXIVE PRO-NOUN could sometimes indeed be omitted [1007-08]. Next are the deliberate, less usual actions, where the PRO-NOUN must be used [1009-10]. A contrast appears in unintentional, perhaps harmful and self-inflicted actions [1011-12]. In the most subtle usages, somebody or something does not act so much as arrive at some awareness, perception, or feeling regarding themselves or their own situation, typically without intending it at all [1013-14].
[1007] Alice washed herself in cold water, standing in the bath. (Good Terrorist)
[1008] They brought him hastily out of the dungeon; Joseph shaved himself and put on fresh raiment, and then he came in unto Pharaoh (Legends of the Jews)
[1009] Mr Robert Cole, a CND vice-chairman, was jailed for refusing to pay a £150 fine imposed after he chained himself to a container of nuclear waste. (Guardian)
[1010] The author disguised herself as an eighty-year old and reports considerable discrimination in shops and on public transport, which disappeared when she returned in her normal persona. (Age Concern)BNC
[1011] Climbing into his jeans, Peter nearly tripped himself in his pants legs as he turned to face her. (Undo)
[1012] In vain did the buffalo butt the stone wall. They hurt themselves, broke their horns and mashed their snouts, but could not even scar the wall. (Myths and Legends of the Sioux)
[1013] Michael felt himself a backward boy. This was because of his elder brother Frank, whose academic career was already starred. (Michael Ramsey)
[1014] Mrs Thatcher found herself similarly isolated in a one to 11 minority when the other heads of government endorsed a Declaration of Social Rights. (Guardian)
This last subtle usage is so common that “find oneself” also fills out much of our table of TENSES and ASPECTS:
[1015] When three students steal a quantity of uranium, Spiderman finds himself called upon to sort out a sinister web of international arms dealing. (Alton Herald)
[1016] His poor mother lacked her husband’s capacity for discipline, and found herself at the mercy of her headstrong son. (Mozart)
[1017] Controversial NSW magistrate Pat O’Shane will find herself on the other side of the bench on Friday when she faces court over an alleged assault. (the age)WWW
Progressive
[1018] Scrappy forward Eduardo Najera is finding himself in a similar role to which he found himself over four seasons with the Dallas Mavericks (San Jose Mercury)
[1019] Things had started to go down hill, he was finding himself sinking lower and lower; he was finding himself being tempted by old habits (greatestjournal)WWW
[1020] his courage always failed him and soon, he will be finding himself sitting alone on the steps of his block cursing at himself for being a coward. (luv storiez)WWW
[1021] Marine Corporal Joel David Klimkewicz has found himself sitting in a jail cell over new-found religious faith, willing to place his life on the line for his country but not willing to take up a gun to do it (Seriously Though)WWW
[1022] And then, much to her surprise, she had found herself dating him (Wilderness)WWW
[1023] If Janet Jackson stages a repeat on David Letterman, she will have found herself outstripped by singer Courtney Love, who repeatedly flashed [exposed herself to] the talk-show host Wednesday night (with her back to the camera) (ShowBIZ Data)WWW
Not surprisingly, I could locate no authentic examples of “will have been finding her/himself” or “will have been going to find her/himself”.
IV.231 The RECIPROCAL and REFLEXIVE may have been conventionally lumped together with ACTIVES, since the English PATTERN of SUBJECT – VERB – OBJECT is strongly absorbent or intrusive. But if we take the concept of TRANSITIVITY as seriously as it merits, those two are definitely “transitions” of their own kinds, and their distinct status becomes clear if, say, we compare them to PASSIVES:
[1024] You will help us to explain how pedestrians, cyclists and drivers can make sure they are seen by each other (Newham Junior Road Safety Officers)WWW
[1025] He struggled to find that which he longed for and was betrayed by himself. What a price he paid for his education! (redpac)WWW
These data are rare even on the Net, and the VERBS can carry much the ordinary senses that would also go with the matching ACTIVES (“they see each other”; “he betrayed himself”).
IV.231 In “grammar” classrooms, the term “intransitive” probably just means: neither “active nor passive”, which is not awesomely informative (cf. IV.213). I shall use instead the “functional” term MEDIAL TRANSITIVITY,[Note 14] where somebody or something participates by being the “medium”: living or dying, laughing or crying, coughing or sneezing, walking or running, growing old or staying young, being ugly or beautiful, being the boss or the janitor, and much else.
IV.232 As before, the most vigorous examples are easiest to envision. These are human bodily behaviours which other people could actually observe, viz.:
[1026] A woman driver desperate for a loo ran to a public toilet in Newmarket, Suffolk, only to find it shut -- and her car stolen when she returned. (Mirror)
[1027] During the first few nights he had found sleep almost impossible. The other men swore, sneezed, belched, hawked and spat. (Truth of Stone)
The five senses figure quite naturally too, often with implied ATTITUDES:
[1028] He looked ugly, ferocious and greedy. (Modigliani)
[1029] Her voice sounded harsh and croaky. (Only Two Can Share)
[1030] He smelled vibrantly clean and male Calypso’s Island)
[1031] My mother used to make custard and it tasted horrible, tasted eggy (conversation)BNC
[1032] Her cheeks, her stomach, her arms and her lower legs felt heavy, then light (Nudists)
IV.233 But, as will see in Part V, the MEDIAL has a great load and range of other “grammatical work” to manage. For example, it is needed to make CLAUSES for ATTRIBUTIONS and EVALUATIONS, such as we have seen for MODIFIERS, but with more FOCUS:
[1033] The dwelling was a tall, boxlike two-story house (Over Prairie Trails)
[1034] Margaret Thatcher is a war criminal who had her gov’t collude to kill and maim Irish Catholics (Kathy C in Irish Political News)
IV.234 Among the oddest from a purely linguistic standpoint, albeit socially indispensable, are the “weather” MEDIALS with a meaningless dummy “it” for SUBJECT and the whole process packed into the VERB: SIMPLE TENSES may indicate usual weather [1035-36], PROGRESSIVES the current weather, and SUCCESIVES the expected weather [1037-38]. More elaborate PATTERNS like [1039-42] adapt to their contexts.
[1035] In the windy sub-tropical climate of this part of New Zealand, it rains a great deal (Artist’s and Illustrator’s Magazine)
[1036] The Western sheep and cattle rangers sowed exotic grasses for their animals, built up the herds during the good years when it rained (Global Ecology)
[1037] It is raining in Tromsø. The sky is the colour of lead shot, with the Arctic Ocean dark and morose below it. I lean against the window of the bus and watch the raindrops spatter down (Arctic Odyssey)
[1038] It had been raining all day on Sleightholme Moor, and by the time I got to the inn I looked like a pink sponge in a cagoule.[Note 15] (Walking the Dales)
[1039] if the weather in the Alps goes balls up, it will have been raining in England for three weeks by then (boldering)WWW
[1040] “The clouds are black. I think it is going to rain tonight”, said Gregory. (African Farm)
[1041] An old farmers’ trick to know if it was going to rain was to look at the herd (NASIOC)
[1042] Chances are it will have rained on jackets, poured on one-piece oversuits, and winter gloves will have been given a chilly work out. (Crowtree Leathers)WWW
I do not find authentic occurrences of “will be going to rain” or “will be going to have rained”, no matter how predictable that soggy visitation may be in parts of Britain. The plausible reason is that FUTURE and SUCCESSIVE put together seem redundant (cf. IV.210) .
IV.235 The IMPERATIVE, though traditionally handled (and without particular respect) in school grammars as a CLASS of “sentence” -- “clause “ would be more accurate (cf. VI.20f) -- certainly qualifies as a mode of TRANSITIVITY: telling somebody directly to do or be something or else not to. Besides, its basic form stands out in requiring no SUBJECT. As would make sense, it prefers ACTIVES like [1043-44] far above PASSIVES like [1045-46], whilst MEDIALS like [1047-48] range in between.
[1043] Bring a thief, a drunkard, any outcast off the streets, but I beseech you not to bring Strickland here. (Moon and Sixpence)
[1044] “Don’t bring that girl in my house”, his mum said at first. Then she invited me to dinner (Falling for Love)