Passives without an Agent
We have seen that uninformative Agents are silenced in discourse. More exactly, this may happen because the Agent is implied by the nature of the verb, but is unknown because 1; anaphorically predictable 2; predictable by general knowledge 3; universal or general 4; irrelevant at this point in the discourse 5; deliberately silenced in order to avoid giving or taking blame or responsibility 6 or to maintain privacy 7; finally, recoverable as the author of the text. Authorial ‘I’ is preferably not mentioned in formal writing 8:
1 My car has been stolen.
2 When he won his gold medal he gave a huge party. Everyone was invited. [by him]
3 The heart transplant was carried out successfully. [by one or more surgeons]
4 It is hoped that war can be avoided. [Everyone has this hope]
5 Ten thousand soldiers will be needed to operate the emergency service.
6 The documents have been shredded and the fax hasn’t been sent.
7 It was given to me as a present. [speaker doesn’t want to reveal the sender.]
8 This point will be dealt with later.
When the Agent by-phrase is omitted in a passive clause, some other element necessarily receives end-focus. This may be a verb 9, an Adjunct 10, or a Complement 11. For a verb to be focused, it must contain the main New information and the Agent must be dispensable.
9 Is this seat taken?
10 Nothing has been heard of him for months.
11 The letters had been sent unstamped.
