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: