Passive Sentences
There are two voices in English, the active and the
passive. The active tells us what the subject does, for example: The
secretary wrote a letter.
The passive tells us what is done to the subject. For example: The letter was written by the secretary.
The passive tells us what is done to the subject. For example: The letter was written by the secretary.
Sometimes the term Personal Passive is used in English
lessons if the indirect object of an active sentence is to become the subject
of the passive sentence.
Definition the passive voice
A passive construction occurs when you make the object
of an action into the subject of a sentence. That is, whoever or whatever is
performing the action is not the grammatical subject of the sentence.
The Generic Structure/Formula :
·
Active : S + V active + O
·
Passive : O + to
be + V3 + by + S
Active to passive voice
Simple Present
Rumus : Noun + is/am/are + verb III
Active : I write a letter
Passive : A letter is written by me
Present Continuous
Rumus : Noun + is/am/are + being + verb III
Active : He is buying a car
Simple past
Rumus : Noun + was/were + verb III
Active : The judge sentenced the
convicted 5 years imprisonment
Passive : The convicted was sentenced 5 years imprisonment by the
judge
Past Continuous
Rumus : Noun + was/were + being +
verb III
Active : The officer was
investigating the case
Passive : The case was being investigated by the officer
Simple Future
Rumus : Noun + shall/will + be + verb
III
Active : The judges will issue a
verdict against the accused.
Passive : A verdict against the accused will be issued by the
judges
Past Future
Rumus : Noun + should/would + be + verb
III
Active : The investigator would hand in the file
Passive : The file would be handed in by the
investigator
Simple Present Perfect
Rumus : Noun + has/have + been + verb III
Active : They have committed
another crime
Passive : Another crime has been committed by them
Past Perfect
Rumus : Noun + had + been + verb III
Active : We had found your watch
Passive : Your watch had been found by us
Simple Future Perfect
Rumus : Noun + shall/will +have +been + verb III
Active : The witness shall have
shown the evidence
Passive : The evidence will have been shown by the witness
Past Future Perfect
Rumus : Noun + should/would +have + been + verb
III
Active : The major should have
been invited the president
Passive : The president should have been invited by the major
Modals :
Rumus : Noun + must/shall/will/have to/has
to + be +verb III
Active : Sugiarto must report
his attendance to the police once a week
Passive : His attendance must be reported by to the police once a week
EXAMPLE
TENSES
|
ACTIVE
|
PASSIVE
|
||||||||||||||||||
Simple Present
Present Continuous
Present Perfect
Past Tense
Past Continuous
Simple Future
Be going to
Past perfect
Future perfect
|
Mary
Mary
Mary
Mary
Mary
Mary
Mary
Mary
Mary
|
Helps
is helping
has helped
helped
was helping
will help
is going to help
had helped
will have helped
|
John
John
John
John
John
John
John
John
John
|
John
John
John
John
John
John
John
John
John
|
is helped
is being helped
has been helped
was helped
was being helped
will be helped
is going to be helped
had been helped
will have been helped
|
by Mary
by Mary
by Mary
by Mary
by Mary
by Mary
by Mary
by Mary
by Mary
|
||||||||||||||
Use of Passive
Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action.
It is not important or not known, however, who or what is performing the
action.
Example: My bike was stolen.
In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I
don’t know, however, who did it.
Sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than
active voice, as the following example shows:
Example: A mistake was made.
In this case, the focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I don’t
blame anyone.
When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:
§ the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive
sentence
§ the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past
participle)
§ the subject of the active
sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped).
Examples of Passive
Tense
|
Subject
|
Verb
|
Object
|
|
Simple
Present
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
writes
|
a letter.
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
is written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Simple Past
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
wrote
|
a letter.
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
was written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Present Perfect
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
has written
|
a letter.
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
has been written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Future I
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
will write
|
a letter.
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
will be written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Hilfsverben
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
can write
|
a letter.
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
can be written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Tense
|
Subject
|
Verb
|
Object
|
|
Present
Progressive
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
is writing
|
a letter.
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
is being written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Past Progressive
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
was writing
|
a letter.
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
was being written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Past Perfect
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
had written
|
a letter.
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
had been written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Future II
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
will have written
|
a letter.
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
will have been written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Conditional I
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
would write
|
a letter.
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
would be written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Conditional II
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
would have written
|
a letter.
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
would have been written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Passive Sentences with Two Objects
Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that
one of the two objects becomes
Subject
|
Verb
|
Object 1
|
Object 2
|
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
wrote
|
a letter
|
to me.
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
was written
|
to me
|
by Rita.
|
Passive:
|
I
|
was written
|
a letter
|
by Rita.
|
The subject, the other one remains an object. Which object to transform
into a subject depends on what you want to put the focus on.
As you can see in the examples, adding by Rita does not
sound very elegant. That’s why it is usually dropped.
How about the
negative and interrogative?
Take a look at the followings:
- Active
: People don’t use bikes anymore
Passive : Bikes are not used anymore
- Active
: Did the students play the cards in the
class yesterday?
Passive : Were the
cards played in the class yesterday?
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