What is canonical passive?

The term "canonical passive" isn't a standard grammatical term in the way that "active voice" or "passive voice" are. It seems like you might be thinking of "canonical form" in the context of passive voice.

Canonical form in passive voice typically refers to the most common and straightforward way to express a passive sentence. It follows the structure:

be + past participle + by-phrase (optional)

For example:

* Active: The dog chased the cat.

* Passive: The cat was chased by the dog.

This is the canonical form because it uses the auxiliary verb "be" and the past participle of the main verb. The "by-phrase" is optional, but it explicitly states the agent (the doer of the action).

Let me know if you have any other questions about passive voice or related concepts.