Topic: Passive voice
Day 1: Active
voice & Passive
voice
1. There are two
kinds of voice in grammar. They are the Active
Voice and the Passive Voice.
a) The Active voice
In
sentences written in the active voice, the subject performs the action expressed
in the verb; the subject acts.
e.g.: We plant many
trees in the school.
John wrote this
book.
He had finished his
homework.
b) The Passive voice
In
sentences written in the passive voice, the subject receives the action
expressed in the verb; the subject is acted upon. The agent performing the
action may appear in a ‘ by …’ phrase or may be omitted.
e.g.: The trees in
the school are planted by us.
This book was
written by John.
His homework had
been finished (by him).
2. The base form of the passive
voice is: Verb “to be” + p.p.
(past participle). The verb “to be”
has to be changed according to the change of persons and tenses.
e.g.: I was expected
to visit my grandmother last Sunday.
A new library will be
built here.
This cat has been given a
name for several years.
3. Changing
passive to active
If you want to change a passive
voice sentence to the active voice, find the agent from the ‘by …’ phrase, or
consider carefully who or what is performing the action expressed in the verb.
Make that agent the subject of the sentence, and change the verb accordingly.
Sometimes you will need to infer the agent from the surrounding sentences which
provide context.
4. Changing
active to passive
If you want to change an active
voice sentence to the passive voice, consider who or what is performing the
action expressed in the verb, and then make that agent the object of a ‘by …’
phrase. Make what is acted upon the subject of the sentence, and change the
verb to a form of be + past
participle. Including an explicit ‘by the …’ phrase is optional.
Active voice sentences can only be changed
to the passive voice if the verb is transitive – ie if there is an
implied or specified object. (See
the topic ‘Parts of Speech’ for more on transitive verbs). So “I walked to the station” cannot be
made passive, but “I rode a horse to the station” can become “A horse was
ridden to the station by me”.
1) A sentence in the active voice that is to
be changed into the passive voice must contain a subject and an object – i.e.
must be transitive.
2) We must add the appropriate part of the verb “to
be” to the verb.
3) The subject becomes the object and the object becomes
the subject.
4) The verb in the Passive Voice must be in the
Past Participle form.
5) The word “by” must be added before the new object.
Here is a chart to show how the verb “to do”
changes when used for the active and passive voices.
|
Tense |
Active voice |
Passive voice |
||||
|
Simple present |
do/does |
am/is/are done |
||||
|
Present continuous |
am/is/are doing |
am/is/are being done |
||||
|
Simple past |
did |
was/were done |
||||
|
Past continuous |
was/were doing |
was/were being done |
||||
|
Present perfect |
have/has done |
have/has been done |
||||
|
Past perfect |
had done |
had been done |
||||
|
Future |
{ |
shall will be going to |
+ do |
{ |
shall will be going to |
+ be done |
|
Future continuous |
will be doing |
will be being done |
||||
|
Present conditional |
would do |
would be done |
||||
|
Past conditional |
would have done |
would have been done |
||||
|
with modal
verbs |
{ |
can must may |
+ do |
{ |
can must may |
+ be done |
