Active & Passive

Active Voice Form

• When we want to say that the subject of a sentence is doing the action, we use the verb of that sentence in its Active form: • e.g. A man is cutting down a tree. ‘A man’ = subject -- doing the action -- cutting Active 05-05-2009 BCK 1

Active & Passive

Passive Voice Form

• When we want to say that the subject of a something to be done to it by somebody else, we use the Passive Voice form: e.g. A tree is being cut down by a man.

‘A tree’ = subject = not doing anything, but 05-05-2009 BCK 2

Active-Passive Voice – example 1

 The boy is carrying the girl.

The boy = subject is carrying = verb Active Voice the girl = object of the verb Who is doing the action of carrying? = ‘The boy’ – subject of the sentence BCK 05-05-2009 3

Active-Passive Voice – example 2

 The girl is being carried by the boy.

Passive Voice The girl = subject is being carried = verb by = preposition the boy = object of the preposition ‘by’ Who is doing the action of carrying? = Not ‘The girl’, the subject, but ‘the boy’, the object 05-05-2009 BCK 4

Active-Passive Voice –

changes 1

 John reads a book every day. Active Voice ‘John’ -- the subject of the Active sentence… A book is read every day by John . Passive Voice ‘by John’ – object of the preposition ‘by’ The subject of the Active sentence becomes the object of the preposition in the Passive sentence!

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Active-Passive Voice – changes 2

 John reads a book every day. Active Voice ‘reads’ – verb of the Active sentence A book is read every day by John. Passive voice The Active form of the verb in Active sentence is changed into the Passive form in Passive sentence.

‘ reads ’ becomes “ is read ”!

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Active-Passive Voice – changes 3

 John reads a book every day. Active Voice ‘a book’ -- object of the verb A book is read every day by John. Passive voice ‘A book’ -- subject of the passive sentence… The object of the verb in the Active sentence becomes the subject of the Passive sentence.

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Active-Passive Voice – note 1

 He cooks food . Active Voice ‘food’ – object of the verb – singular Food is cooked by him. Passive Voice ‘Food’ – subject of the passive sentence – singular, so ‘ is cooked’ - verb

singular

When the subject of a sentence is singular, the verb must also be in singular BCK 8

Active-Passive Voice – note 2

  When the subject of a sentence is Plural, the verb of that sentence must be Plural: He carried some books . Active Voice ‘some books’ -- object of the verb in Active –

Plural

Some books were carried by him. Passive Voice ‘were carried’ – verb – ‘ were ’ plural / ‘ books ’ plural 05-05-2009 BCK 9

Active-Passive Voice

--

note 3

• She has signed ten letters .

Active Voice ‘She’ – subject; ‘ has ’ – part of the verb – ‘ten letters’ – object of the verb in Active - singular plural Ten letters ‘ ‘ have ’ --

have

Ten letters plural been signed by her. Passive Voice ’ – subject – plural ; ‘have been signed’ verb – 05-05-2009 BCK 10

Active-Passive Voice – Tense Change

1  She bakes cakes. Active ‘bakes’ – verb – Simple Present Tense Cakes are baked by her.

Passive Voice ‘are baked’ – verb – Simple Present Tense 05-05-2009 BCK 11

Active-Passive – Tense Change 2

 He is building a sand castle.

‘is building’ – verb – present continues tense – ACTIVE VOICE FORM A sand castle is being built ‘is being built’ – verb – present continues tense PASSIVE VOICE FORM by him.

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Active-Passive -- Tense Change 3

He has drawn a picture.

‘has drawn’ – verb – present perfect tense ACTIVE VOICE A picture has been drawn by him.

‘has been drawn’ – verb – present perfect tense PASSIVE VOICE BCK 13 05-05-2009

Active-Passive – Tense Change 4

According to the traditional grammar rules, the present perfect continues tense is not used in PASSIVE VOICE FORM; however, in the contemporary English, there are occasions where the present perfect continues tense is used in the Passive Voice: e.g. He has been mowing the lawn. Active Voice The lawn has been being mowed Passive Voice by him. 05-05-2009 BCK 14

Active-Passive Voice – Tense Change 5

• She told me a secret.

Active Voice ‘told’ – verb – simple past tense A secret was told (to) me by her. Passive Voice ‘was told’ – verb – simple past tense 05-05-2009 BCK 15

Active-Passive Voice – Tense Change 6

 The postman

was delivering

the post. ‘was delivering’ -- verb -- Past Continuous Tense ACTIVE VOICE FORM The post was being delivered by the postman.

‘was being delivered’ -- verb -- Past continuous Tense PASSIVE VOICE FORM 05-05-2009 BCK 16

Active-Passive Voice -- Tense Change 7

She had eaten several peas before she offered him any.

‘had eaten’ – verb – past perfect tense – Active Several peas had been eaten him any.

by her before she offered ‘had been eaten’ – verb – past perfect tense -- Passive 05-05-2009 BCK 17

Active-Passive Voice – Tense Change 8

   According to the traditional grammar rules, the past perfect continuous tense is not used in Passive form; however, in the contemporary English, there are occasions where the past perfect tense is used in the Passive Form, too!

He had been writing letters for half an hour before somebody called him out.

Letters had been being written (by him) for half an hour before somebody called him out.

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Active-Passive Voice – Tense Change 9

They will give the beggar some money. ‘will give’ -- verb -- simple future tense - Active The beggar will be given some money by them.

‘will be given’ -- verb -- simple future tense - Passive 05-05-2009 BCK 19

Active-Passive -- Tense Change10 • • According to the traditional grammar rules, the future continuous tense in the Active is not used in Passive Voice Form.

e.g. They will be playing with fireworks by the time their father reaches home. Active ‘will be playing’ – verb – future continuous -------- NO PASSIVE ------- 05-05-2009 BCK 20

Active-Passive Voice – Tense Change 11

► Sue will have sewn two dresses by 12 O’ clock. ‘will have sewn’ – verb – future perfect tense – Active Two dresses will have been sewn by 12 O’ clock by Sue. ‘will have been sewn’ – verb – future perfect tense - Passive 05-05-2009 BCK 21

Active-Passive Voice – Tense Change 12  According to the traditional grammar rules, the future perfect continuous tense is not used in the Passive Voice Form: e.g. You will have been working on the course material for 2 hours by 6 in the evening.

‘will have been working’ – verb – Future Perfect Continuous Tense – Active

---------- NO CHANGE ----------

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Active-Passive Voice – Tense Change 13 The Modal Auxiliary (helping) Verbs in Passive Voice Form take ‘be’: e.g.

He will give you a book. Active Voice You will

be

given a book by him. Passive e.g.

They can pick a number. Active Voice A number can

be

picked by them. Passive e.g.

We must finish this job. Active Voice This job must

be

finished by us. Passive 05-05-2009 BCK 23

Active-Passive Voice – note 1

 The Subject of the active voice sentence becomes the object of the preposition in the Passive Voice sentence. The preposition is usually ‘by’ when the object is a person, and ‘with’ when the object is a thing, such as a knife, gun, arrow, etc.

 e.g. The hunter shot the deer with an arrow. Active The deer was shot with an arrow by the hunter. Passive ‘an arrow’ -- a thing – preposition ‘with’ ‘a hunter’ -- a person -- preposition ‘by’ 05-05-2009 BCK 24

Active-Passive Voice – note 2

25

 When there are two objects of the verb in the active voice sentence, we can change that active sentence into passive in two way: using the first object in one sentence and the second object in the other.

05-05-2009 BCK

Active-Passive Voice –

(continued)

note 2

26

 e.g. The teacher teaches you a lesson . Active ‘you’ – object of the verb / ‘a lesson’ – object of the verb (A) You are taught a lesson by the teacher. Passive (B) A lesson is taught to you by the teacher. Passive 05-05-2009 BCK

Active-Passive Voice

--

note 3

• In writing the Passive Voice, in most cases, the preposition • e.g. – ‘by’ or ‘with’ – and its object are not used, because they are understood: The cook made me an omelette. Active Voice An omelette was made for me by the cook.

.

Passive Voice 05-05-2009 BCK 27