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What kind of verb phrase is it when “is” in the present tense is immediately followed by another verb that’s itself in the past tense?

English Language & Usage Asked on June 2, 2021

Please con­sider this ex­am­ple of three sen­tences in se­quence:

  1. The build­ing is de­stroyed.
  2. The rub­ble is then re­moved.
  3. The rub­ble is bro­ken into smaller pieces.

What kind of verb phrase is it when I fol­low is with yet an­other
in­flected verb, and why do we call it that?

I think it’s still present tense but I can’t fig­ure out how is
can be used with a past-tense verb. I know that is is the verb,
and thus it is present tense, but what would de­stroyed be? An
ad­jec­tive?

Also, based on the first two sen­tences’ pat­tern,
shouldn’t the third sen­tence use broke not bro­ken so that
it is also in the past tense just like de­stroyed and re­moved
had been?

  1. The rub­ble is broke into smaller pieces.

One Answer

John Lawler in a comment wrote:

These three sentences, in context with one another, are examples of the Passive construction, which uses a form of be followed by the past participle (not the past form) of the verb. Someone destroys the building. Then someone removes the rubble. Someone ships the rubble to a landfill. All these sentences are active, but they can be transformed into the passive sentences above.

Answered by tchrist on June 2, 2021

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