Date post: | 22-May-2015 |
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The Passive VoiceBy Antonio Mateo Chamorro
Active vs. passive voice
In active voice, the subject is the doer of the action, while in passive voice, the subject is the receiver of the action.
The passive voice: Uses (I)
1. The person or thing acted on is more important than the actor
e.g. Paco was not given a convincing explanation at the
diamond mine (by the soldier).
2. The actor is unknown or irrelevant
e.g. The cave paintings of Lascaux were made in the Upper Old Stone Age.
3. You want to be vague about who is responsible
e.g. Mistakes were made.
The passive voice: Uses (II)
4. You are talking about a general truth
e.g. Rules are made to be broken.
5. You want to emphasize the person or thing acted on
e.g. Insulin was first discovered in 1921 by researchers at the University of Toronto.
6. You are writing in a scientific genre that traditionally relies on passive voice.
e.g. The sodium hydroxide was dissolved in water. This solution was then titrated with hydrochloric acid.
The passive voice: General Form
Subject + To be + Past Participle + Objects and Complements + Agent
Example:
The video was posted on Facebook by Alex
Passive voice: Present simple
Is/are + Past Participle
eat/s is/are eaten (Active) (Pasive)
Example:
I eat an apple. An apple is eaten by me.
Passive voice: Past simple
Was/were + Past Participle
repaired was/were repaired (Active) (Pasive)
Example:
Sam repaired The car was repaired
the car. by Sam.
Passive voice: Present perfect
has/have been + Past Participle
has/have has/have been
visited visited (Active) (Pasive)
Example:
Many tourists have That castle has been
visited that castle. visited by many tourists.
Passive voice: Past perfect simple
had been + Past Participle
had repaired had been repaired
(Active) (Pasive)
Example:
George had repaired Many cars had been repaired
many cars before he by George before he received
received his mechanic’s his mechanic’s license.
license.
Passive voice: Simple Future (will)
will be + Past Participle
will finish will be finished
(Active) (Pasive)
Example:
Someone will finish The work will be
the work by 5:00 PM. finished by 5:00 PM.
Passive voice: Present simple (must/can/should)
must/can/should be + Past Participle
must/can/should must/can/should be
memorize memorized
(Active) (Pasive)
Example:
Students should memorize English verbs should be
English verbs. memorized by students.
Passive voice: Past simple (may/could/should)
may/could/should have been + Past Participle
may/could/should may/could/should have learned have been learned
(Active) (Pasive)
Example:
The students should have The verbs should have been
learned the verbs. learned by the students.
Active to passive transformation
We read the newspaper every day
VERB
ACTIVE:
The newspaper is readed every day by them PASSIVE:
1) In the passive voice we use the object of the active voice sentence as subject.
OBJECTSUBJECT
AGENT
2) We conjugate the verb “to be” in the right manner.
4) To say at the end of the sentence who has done the deed, you have to add the preposition “by” + “subject agent”. When you have a personal pronoun as subject, you must change it to an object pronoun.
COMPLEMENT
3) We add the past participle of the active voice.
Examples (I)
Beautiful giraffes roam the savannah.
ACTIVE:
The savannah is roamed by beautiful giraffes.
PASSIVE:
Examples (II)
Sue changed the flat tire.
ACTIVE:
The flat tire was changed by Sue.
PASSIVE:
Examples (III)
We are going to watch a movie tonight.
ACTIVE:
A movie is going to be watched by us tonight.
PASSIVE:
Examples (IV)
I will clean the house every Saturday.
ACTIVE:
The house will be cleaned by me every Saturday.
PASSIVE:
Examples (V)
They shouldn’t allow the children to dothese things.
ACTIVE:
The children shouldn’t be allowed to dothese things.
PASSIVE: