From: Ven. Pandita
Message: 6736
Date: 2005-03-05
>Dear Ven. Pandita, Nina and friends,
>
>this is interesting. Please correct me where I am wrong. We are dealing heavily with linguistics here, hence unfamiliar terms like absolute voice and inactive object/subject.
>
>In English there are just two voices: passive and active.
>
>[Subject: student]
>The student writes a report. (Active)
>A report is written by the student. (Passive)
>
>In the first sentence, 'student' the subject is active. In the second sentence, 'student' the subject is passive, 'report' the object is active.
>
>The potential participle is also known as gerundive. It denotes something should be done or is fit to be done[1]. Hence, the subject is inactive, and is always in the Instrumental case.
>
>For example:
>
>Future: I shall go. Aha.m gamissaama. - active
>Potential participle: I should go. Mayaa gantabba.m. - inactive
>
>When saying "I should go" in potential participle, it does not mean "I shall go later", but "I have to go or it will be too late". This is absolute voice, the emphasis is on the verb, not the subject,and there is no object.
>
>However, this distinction is not clear in English, hence the confusion.
>