1. Grammar Lesson:Passive Voice Presented by Thomas Mazzolla
Wilkes Universityfor ESL 502
2. Passive VoiceThe topic of this lesson is the Passive Voice.
First lets examine what we mean byvoice.In grammar, it doesnt mean
the soundproduced by the human vocal cords. 3. Definition of Voice
in GrammarVoice shows the form of a verb indicating whether
thesubject is doing the action orreceiving the action. 4. Active
Voice In Active Voice, the subject does the action of the
verb:Subject + Verb + Object =Doer of action + verb + receiver of
actionExamples:Chris bought the eggs.Manuel read the book. 5.
Passive Voice In Passive Voice, the subject and direct object
change places, and thesubject receives the action:Subject + Verb by
Object. =Receiver of action + verb by doer of actionExamples:The
eggs were bought by Chris.The book was read by Manuel. 6. Changing
a verb from active to passive voice requiresadding a form of the
verb to be as an auxiliary and changing the main verb to its past
participle form:ActivePassiveSimple PresentI see her.She is seen by
me.Simple Past I saw her.She was seen by me.Simple Future I will
see her. She will be seen by me.Present Progressive I am seeing
her.She is being seen by me.Past ProgressiveI was seeing her. She
was being seen by me.Future ProgressiveI will be seeing her. She
will be seen by me.Present Perfect I have seen her.She has been
seen by me.Past PerfectI had seen her. She had been seen by
me.Future PerfectI will have seen her. She will have been seen
byme. 7. Lets focus on the simple formsof the passive voiceActive:
I saw her.Passive: She is seen by me.Notice the passive doer of the
action is after theverb following by if the doer of the action
isstated. The doer of the action can be omittedfrom the
sentence.Active: I cooked the rice.Passive: The rice was cooked by
me. 8. Remember that verbs can be either transitive (need an object
of theaction) or intransitive (need no object).Examples:He throws
the ball.Throws is a transitive verb.He sleeps.Sleeps is an
intransitive verb. 9. Remember that only transitive verbscan become
passive.A simple test to determine if a verb is transitiveor
intransitive is to try to make it passive.Examples:The ball is
thrown. Throw is transitive.He sleeps. Cannot make passive. Sleep
is intransitive. 10. Passive Voice TipToo many sentences in passive
voice make awritten passage wordy and dull.Use passive voice only
where it is needed so itwill not lose its effect. 11. ExerciseAre
these sentences Active or Passive?1. The teacher was told that his
student is absent. Answer: Passive 12. ExerciseAre these sentences
Active or Passive?2. Hamid took the book to the library. Answer:
Active 13. ExerciseAre these sentences Active or Passive?3. The
book was dropped by Liz. Answer: Passive 14. ExerciseAre these
sentences Active or Passive?4. A great time was had by everyone.
Answer: Passive 15. ExerciseAre these sentences Active or
Passive?5. Mr. Han drove his truck to the dump. Answer: Active 16.
ExerciseAre these sentences Active or Passive?6. The burglar was
caught by the police. Answer: Passive 17. ExerciseAre these
sentences Active or Passive?7. My mother was seen by the doctor at
the hospital. Answer: Passive 18. ExerciseAre these sentences
Active or Passive?8. Our mayor and the senator were given applause
for their comments last night. Answer: Passive 19. ExerciseAre
these sentences Active or Passive?9. The football player in the red
shirt runs toward the goal quickly.Answer:Active 20. ExerciseAre
these sentences Active or Passive?10. The goal line was approached
by the football player.Answer:Passive 21. Application: Look at the
picture andmake up sentences about it using the passive voice. 22.
Some examples of sentencesbased on the picture The board is being
written on by the boy and girl. The kitten is being given by the
boy. The fish tank is being cleaned. The classroom door is being
opened by the boy. The student is being sneezed on. The apple is
being given. The toy is being played with by the children. The girl
is being hugged. 23. SourcesCliffs Study Solver. (2003). English
Grammar.New York, NY: Wiley Publishing,
Inc.http://www.eslflow.com/picturelessonsandteachingideas.html
