Course 5: Passive voice
1 Definition of Passive Voice
in a passive voice sentence, the focus is on the action or the recipient of the action rather than who or
what is performing it. The structure typically follows this format:
Passive Structure: Subject + form of "to be" + past participle + (by + agent)
Example:
Active Voice: "The chef cooked the meal."
Passive Voice: "The meal was cooked by the chef."
2 Identifying Passive Voice
To identify passive voice:
Look for a form of "to be" (is, are, was, were, etc.) followed by a past participle.
Check if the subject is receiving the action rather than performing it.
3 When to Use Passive Voice
Emphasis on Action: When the action is more important than who performed it.
Unknown Agent: When the doer of the action is unknown or irrelevant.
Formal Tone: In academic or formal writing, passive voice can create a more objective tone.
Examples of Passive Voice
1. Simple Present
o Active: "The teacher grades the exams."
o Passive: "The exams are graded by the teacher."
2. Past Simple
o Active: "The company launched a new product."
o Passive: "A new product was launched by the company."
3. Future Simple
o Active: "They will announce the results tomorrow."
o Passive: "The results will be announced by them tomorrow."
4. Present Continuous
Active: The students are writing the exam.
Passive: The exam is being written by the students.
5. Past Continuous
Active: The teacher was explaining the lesson.
Passive: The lesson was being explained by the teacher.
6. Present Perfect
Active: They have repaired the road.
Passive: The road has been repaired by them.
7. Past Perfect
Active: She had cleaned the room.
Passive: The room had been cleaned by her.
8. Future Perfect
Active: They will have finished the task.
Passive: The task will have been finished by them.
9. Modal Verbs
Active: He can solve the problem.
Passive: The problem can be solved by him.
My role
When the tense is simple
in passive form we will change only the tense of to be + verb( in the past participle ED )
when the tense is continuous
in passive form we will change only the tense of to be + being + past participle )
When the tense is perfect
in passive we use model have in the tense of the sentence + been + v in pp )
