short passive

short passive (passiv uten uttrykt agens): a passive construction with the agent expression left out. E.g. My car was stolen last week; the proposal was voted down; that letter was never written. Short passives are more frequent than long ones, and are used when the agent is irrelevant or unknown, or when mentioning the agent is unnecessary for other reasons, e.g. that it is obvious or very general. Compare long passive.