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Active and Passive Voice

This document discusses the active and passive voice in English grammar. There are two voices - active and passive. The active voice is the normal voice where the subject performs the action (e.g. "I ate an apple"). The passive voice is formed using some form of "be" plus the past participle of the main verb, and the subject receives the action (e.g. "The apple was eaten by me"). The passive voice is useful when the agent (who or what performed the action) is unknown or unimportant. Various examples are provided to illustrate the formation and use of the passive voice in different tenses.

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Rizky Hasibuan
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64 views13 pages

Active and Passive Voice

This document discusses the active and passive voice in English grammar. There are two voices - active and passive. The active voice is the normal voice where the subject performs the action (e.g. "I ate an apple"). The passive voice is formed using some form of "be" plus the past participle of the main verb, and the subject receives the action (e.g. "The apple was eaten by me"). The passive voice is useful when the agent (who or what performed the action) is unknown or unimportant. Various examples are provided to illustrate the formation and use of the passive voice in different tenses.

Uploaded by

Rizky Hasibuan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ACTIVE AND PASSIVE

VOICE
There are two special forms
for verbs called voice:

1. Active voice
2. Passive voice
ACTIVE VOICE
The active voice is the "normal" voice. This is the
voice that we use most of the time. You are probably
already familiar with the active voice. In the active
voice, the object receives the action of the verb:
Construction of the
Passive Voice

The structure of the passive voice is very


simple:
subject + auxiliary verb (be) +
main verb (past participle)
The main verb is past participle
form.
However, when it is necessary to identify the
subject, a prepositional phrase with ‘by’ used.
1. They write down the rules on a piece of paper. (active, present
tense).
The rules are written down on a piece of paper (passive)
2. The father made the rules of conduct (active, past tense).
The rules of conduct were made (by father). (passive).
3. They have broken the law. (active, present perfect)
The law has been broken (by them). (passive)
4. He had reported the accident to the police. (active, past perfect)
The accident had been reported to the police (by him). (passive)
5. He will hire a good lawyer. (active, future tense)
A good lawyer will be hired (by him). (passive)
6. She should type the report. (active, modal auxiliary)
the report should be typed (by her). (passive)
Study this examples:
1. This house was built in 1895 (passive
sentence)
Compare:
(active) Somebody built this house in 1895
(passive) This house was built in 1895

We often prefer the passive when it is not so important


who or what did the action. In this example, it is not so
important who built the house.
In passive sentence, if you want to say who did or what
caused the action, use by:
1. This house was built by my grandmother (my
grandmother built it)
2. Have you ever been bitten by a dog? (has a dog ever
bitten you?)
In passive sentences we use the correct form of be
(is/are/was/were/has been, etc) + past participle:
(be) done (be) cleaned (be) damaged
(be) built(be) seen
For irregular past participles use done/seen/written, etc
The passive infinitive is be done/ be cleaned/ be built
etc. We use the infinitive after modal verbs (will, can,
must, etc) and a number of other verbs (for example:
have to, be going to, want to). Compare:
(active) We can solve this problem.
(passive) This problem can be solved
Another examples:
1. The new hotel will be opened next year
2. George might be sent to America by his company in
August
3. This room is going to be painted next week.
4. Go away! I want to be left alone
There is a past infinitive form: have been done/ have
been cleaned/ have been built etc.
(active): somebody should have cleaned the windows
yesterday (present perfect)
(passive): the windows should have been cleaned
yesterday (present perfect)

EXERCISE
There are the passive forms of view tenses:
1. Present simple am/is+done/cleaned etc
Active: Somebody cleans this room every day
Passive : This room is cleaned every day

2. Past simple was/were+done/cleaned etc


Active: Somebody cleaned this room yesterday
Passive : This room was cleaned yesterday

3. Present continuous am/is/are being+done/cleaned etc


Active : Somebody is cleaning the room at the moment
Passive : The room is being cleaned at the moment
4. Past continuous was/were being+done/cleaned etc
Active : Somebody was cleaning the room when I arrived

Passive : the room was being cleaned when I arrived

5. Present perfect have/has been+done/cleaned etc


Active : the room look nice. Somebody has cleaned it
Passive : the room look nice. it has been cleaned

6. Past perfect had been+done/cleaned etc


Active : the room looked much better. Somebody had
cleaned it
Passive : the room looked much better. it had been cleaned
7. Present future – will write (active)
will + be + past participle / will be written (passive)
8. Past future – would write (active)
would + be + past participle / would be written
(passive)
9. Modal auxiliaries: can, must, may, should, would,
might, etc. – might write (active)
modal auxiliaries + be + past participle / can be
written, must be written, may be written, should be
written, would be written, might be written, etc.
THANK YOU

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