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Understanding Passive Voice in English

This document discusses the passive voice in English grammar. It provides an example of an active sentence with the subject ("I") performing the action of the verb ("drank") on the object ("two cups of coffee"). It then shows how this can be rewritten in the passive voice by changing the structure to put the object ("two cups of coffee") first followed by the verb "were drunk". Finally, it lists some common reasons for using the passive voice, such as when the subject performing the action is unknown, unimportant, or people in general.

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Manuel Muñiz
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64 views10 pages

Understanding Passive Voice in English

This document discusses the passive voice in English grammar. It provides an example of an active sentence with the subject ("I") performing the action of the verb ("drank") on the object ("two cups of coffee"). It then shows how this can be rewritten in the passive voice by changing the structure to put the object ("two cups of coffee") first followed by the verb "were drunk". Finally, it lists some common reasons for using the passive voice, such as when the subject performing the action is unknown, unimportant, or people in general.

Uploaded by

Manuel Muñiz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Passive

Grammar
Let’s look at this sentence:
• I drank two cups of coffee.

• This is an active sentence and it has the subject first (the person or
thing that does the verb), followed by the verb, and finally the object
(the person or thing that the action happens to).
• So, in this example, the subject is 'I', the verb is 'drank' and the object
is 'two cups of coffee'.
But, we don't always need to make
sentences this way
• We might want to put the object first, or perhaps we don't want to say
who did something. This can happen for lots of reasons (see the
explanation further down the page).
• In this case, we can use a passive, which puts the object
first:

Two cups of coffee were drunk


(we can add 'by me' if we want, but it isn't necessary).
How to make the Passive in
English
• We make the passive by putting the verb 'to be' into
whatever tense we need and then adding the past
participle.

• For regular verbs, we make the past participle by adding


'ed' to the infinitive. So ‘play’ becomes ‘played
When should we use the
passive?
1) When we want to change the focus of the sentence:

The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci.

(We are more interested in the painting than the artist in


this sentence)
2) When who or what causes the action is unknown or
unimportant or obvious or 'people in general

• He was arrested (obvious agent, the police).

• My bike has been stolen (unknown agent).

• The road is being repaired (unimportant agent).

• The form can be obtained from the post office (people in general).
3) In factual or scientific writing:

The chemical is placed in a test tube and the data entered


into the computer.
4) In formal writing instead of using someone/ people/
they (these can be used in speaking or informal writing

The brochure will be finished next month.

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