In your beginning stage of Japanese learning, I believed you had put a lot of time on the transformation between different formats of verbs such as “て形” “ます形” “受身形” etc. And I believe you would simply use the transformed verbs in a sentence without a second thought. Unfortunately, some transformed verbs cannot be directly used even the grammar is correct. Today I will introduce a common mistake made by most students about “受身形”.
You might have seen sentences constructed by 受身形 verbs as follow.
1. 源氏物語は紫式部によって書かれた。
2. この雑誌は多くの人に読まれている。
3. 入学式が学校によって行われた。
4. 窓ガラスは隣の太郎に割られた。
However, if you have ever said something like No. 5, you must be careful.
5. 日経新聞は隣の太郎に読まれた。
You may ask why No. 4 is correct but No. 5 is wrong. The key is about the emotion of the speaker. Most passive form verbs are used to state a fact which means the subjects are usually unspecified and broad. The special case like No. 4 is also correct not only because it stated the fact, more importantly, but you could read the feeling about the speaker. It sounds like the speaker is blaming or informing “隣の太郎”.
In contrast, it is difficult to feel anything from No. 5. Therefore, remember NOT to compose a passive verb and a specific subject in a sentence together unless you could express your emotion from it.
I hope you like it. See you next time!