Friday, May 25, 2018

grammar - How is the passive form used with を?


I encountered this sentence in my textbook:



いつか、日本人政治家の中にも世界で尊敬され、名前を知られるような人物が現れるようになるには、まず日本国民一人一人の意識を変えるべきなのだろう。



In all cases of passive form that I learned so far, I only ever seen it used with が


Referring to the answer from this post:


Why is を used with passive form here?



I understand that を marks the direct object and が marks the indirect object of the verb.


However I have trouble understanding the difference in meaning between the two particles when I replace them in a sentence:



彼の秘密知られる His secret will be known


彼は秘密知られる His secret is known (?)



So can I rephrase 名前を知られるような人物 to 名前が知られるような人物 without a change in meaning? What is the difference?


Unrelated to my main question, does the ような mean "like" in this context? 名前を知られるような人物, "a person like whose name is known"



Answer





彼は秘密を知られる



It's the so-called 持ち主の受身(Possessor Passive?), a kind of 間接受身(Indirect Passive).



[持ち主]が + [所有する物、体の一部など]を + 受身形の動詞



I think it's usually translated as "[Possessor] has [property, body part etc.] done".



彼の秘密知られる His secret is known
は/が秘密知られる He has his secret known (and he's inconvenienced)




These basically have the same meaning, but the latter can imply that the passivized verb causes inconvenience (or convenience, depending on context) to the subject.


A few examples of 持ち主の受身:



太郎が誰かに足を踏まれた。
Lit. Taro had his foot stepped on by someone (so he was annoyed).
太郎が先生に作文を褒められた。
Lit. Taro had his essay praised by a teacher (so he was happy).
太郎が泥棒に財布を盗まれた。
Taro had his wallet stolen by a thief (so he was inconvenienced).







can I rephrase 名前を知られるような人物 to 名前が知られるような人物 without a change in meaning? What is the difference?



They mean the same thing, and I don't see much difference in nuance between the two.



does the ような mean "like" in this context? 名前を知られるような人物, "a person like whose name is known"



「名前を知られる人物」「名前を知られるような人物」 basically mean the same thing. The former sounds more direct, and the latter, a tiny bit more indirect or roundabout to me. And.. it may be just me, but the latter, at least in your specific context, sounds to me like "Someone who will/can be famous (in future)" as opposed to "Someone who is (already) famous".



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