You perceive, that the nominative boy, in this example, is not represented as the actor, but as the object of the action expressed by the verb is beaten; that is, the boy receives or endures the action performed by his father; therefore boy is a passive nominative. And you observe, too, that the verb is beaten, denotes the action received or endured by the nominative; therefore is beaten is a passive verb.
If I say, John kicked the horse, John is an active nominative, because he performed or produced the action; but if I say, John was kicked by the horse, John is a passive nominative, because he received or endured the action.
The nominative to a neuter verb, is neuter, because it does not produce an action nor receive one; as, John sits in the chair. John is here connected with the neuter verb sits, which expresses simply the state of being of its nominative, therefore John is a neuter nominative.
I will now illustrate the active, passive, and neuter nominatives by a few examples.
I. Of ACTIVE NOMINATIVES; as, "The boy beats the dog; The lady sings; The ball rolls; The man walks."
II. Of PASSIVE NOMINATIVES; as, "The boy is beaten; The lady is loved; The ball is rolled; The man was killed."
III. Of NEUTER NOMINATIVES; as, "The boy remains idle; The lady is beautiful; The ball lies on the ground; The man lives in town." You may now proceed to the conjugation of passive verbs.
Passive Verbs are called regular when they end in ed; as, was loved; was conquered.
All Passive Verbs are formed by adding the perfect participle of an active-transitive verb, to the neuter verb to be.