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I'm reviewing English grammar from the beginning, so I have a very basic question. I want to know what it is called when we use "are + past format" in a sentence. In example:

  • They are normally printed in a company.
  • Mongo trees, which are densely covered with glossy leaves, grow rapidly.

I know this question might seems really stupid to you, but its a real question and it makes some confusion in my mind. In this link we can see almost all verb tenses we have and I didn't find this format in this cheat sheet.

This question is not a duplicate of any other question, it is just my personal confusion regarding passive tenses in a special case.

Michel Gokan Khan
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  • @StoneyB Thanks for the clarification. But in the present perfect, we have two fromats. First is present perfect which consist of BE + have been, and we have present perfect continuous which consists of BE + have been + present participle. My examples are not matching with these 2 formats, so what are they ? – Michel Gokan Khan May 16 '17 at 17:55
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    Sorry, stupid mistake on my part: BE + past participle is passive, not perfect. – StoneyB on hiatus May 16 '17 at 17:56
  • @StoneyB Please send your comment as an answer and I will mark it as accepted. So many thanks. – Michel Gokan Khan May 16 '17 at 17:58
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    The two examples are not the same. Densely covered is not passive. It compares to "The subject is closed." The door is red, and it is red because it is painted red. We are not asking painted red by whom, the telltale sign of the passive. Some wooden doors are unfinished, some are painted red. – Yosef Baskin May 16 '17 at 20:26
  • @YosefBaskin Covered by what? sumelic is in the right here. This is most certainly passive. The example you gave used "closed" as an adjective (not open), not as a passive verb, unlike the sentences in the question. – Khuldraeseth na'Barya May 18 '17 at 01:21

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As @StoneyB mentioned in the comments, it's called a passive format.

Michel Gokan Khan
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