annis wrote:I strongly recommend you read the Conrad article linked to above. These so-called "passives" are frequently middle. It is a side-effect of the pedagogical use of "principal parts" that makes this distinction seem so clear-cut.
Thanks for pushing me to read the Conrad article. It has helped deepen my understanding of
voice.
I would however defend traditional text books. To initially have θην forms presented as simple
passives and then later to discover that this is not the whole story is far less confusing then the approach
he advocates. Had I been using a text book that relabelled middle and passive forms as MP1
and MP2 I would have been tearing my hair out and I suspect that would be the reaction of
most learners learning on their own.
But, given that the writers of text books that I have used have not followed his advice,
I am grateful for the help his article has given me.