PASSIVE
VOICE
What
is the passive voice ?
A
sentence generally begins with the performer of the action (subject), then the verb,
then the object or person
that the action is performed on. This is called an ‘Active’ sentence.
For
an example :
Subject +Verb +Object
Jonathan cleaned the room
If
we begin the sentence with the object or person that the action is performed
on, we formulate a ‘ Passive’ sentence
For
an example :
Object + Verb + by Subject
The
room was
cleaned by Jonathan
Note :
Not all verb in
English take an object. Therefore, some sentences are complete without an
object.
For examples :
John slept well
John lives far away
this type of sentence can not be changed into the passive voice
When
should we use the passive voice ?
There
are two main cases :
1. We don’t know who the subject
is, or it is not important who the subject
is.
For an example :
Somebody cleaned the floor : The floor
was cleaned
2. When it is obvious to the listener or reader
who the subject is because it is the person who usually does it.
For
an example :
The cleaner
cleaned the floor
: The
floor was cleaned
How to formulate the Passive Voice ?
There are three steps to formulate a passive sentence :
1. Put the object of the verb at the beginning of your sentence
2. Conjugate the verb ‘to be’ in the
same tense as the active sentence
3. Put the main verb in the Past Participle form
For examples :
The
postman delivers the
mail : The mail is delivered
The
decorator is painting my room : My room is being painted Someone stole my wallet : My wallet was stolen
Noone turned on the
light : The light was not turned on
They talked about the
issue : The issue was talked
about
Note 1 :
If you want to mention the subject in
a passive sentence, use ‘ by ’ :
For example :
My
room is being painted by the decorator
Note 2 :
If the active sentence begins with ‘no one’ or
‘nobody’ the passive sentence will be negative :
For example :
Note
3 :
If there is a preposition between the verb and the
object, the preposition will remain after the verb :
For example :
The Passive Voice of different Tenses
Tense Active Passive
Simple Present I do it It is done by me
Simple Past He did it It was done by him
Simple Future I will do it It will be done by me
Present Continuous I am doing it It is being done by me
Past Continuous She was doing it It was being done by
her
Future Continuous I will be doing it It will be being done by me
Present Perfect We have done it It has been done by us
Past Perfect They had done it It had been done by
them
Future Perfect I will have done it It will have been done by me
