Professional Documents
Culture Documents
VOICE
ACTIVE VOICE
The subject of a sentence is the
person or thing we talk about.
When the subject does something,
we use ACTIVE VOICE
Subject Active
Active verb
verb (( it
it can
can be
be in
in diff.
diff. tenses)
tenses)
Subject (doer)
(doer)
FORM
The passive is formed with the verb to be (in the
appropriate tense) + past participle (of the main verb)
The terrorist was arrested early this morning.
Toyota cars are made in Japan.
USE
The passive is more common in written than
spoken English. It sounds formal and impersonal,
and for that reason is often used in:
reports of crimes or legal procedures He was
sentenced to two years in prison.
newspaper reports The match was postponed due to a
heavy fog.
scientific writing Three millilitres of water are added to
the mixture.
announcements Flight BA 302 to London is delayed by
two hours.
notices Customers are requested not to smoke.
Page 8
USE
In everyday situations we use it when we do
not know or care who performs the action. In
other words, the passive is used when we are
more interested in what happens to a thing or
a person.
Nevertheless, it is not unusual to mention the
actual doer in a passive sentence. In that
case we put them at the end of the sentence
after the preposition by:
Great expectations was written by Charles Dickens.
Star wars was directed by George Lucas.
WHY SHOULD WE USE PASSIVE
VOICE?
We dont know the subject of the action (doer)
Eg:
The woman bought a new car.
S V CD
WAS/WERE BOUGHT
ACTIVE VOICE PASSIVE VOICE
I DO IT IT IS DONE
I DID IT IT WAS DONE
I WILL DO IT IT WILL BE DONE
I WOULD DO IT IT WOULD BE DONE
I HAVE DONE IT IT HAS BEEN DONE
I HAD DONE IT IT HAD BEEN DONE
I WILL HAVE DONE IT IT WILL HAVE BEEN DONE
I WOULD HAVE DONE IT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN DONE
Coloured jeans
were bought
______ __________ by
the boys.
VERB TO BE
in the
Simple Past
THE PASSIVE VOICE
Simple Present & Simple Past
THE PASSIVE VOICE
The Pronouns also
I... change ... by me.
You... ... by you.
She... Passive Agent
... by her.
He... ... by him.
It... ... by it.
We... ... by us.
You... ... by you.
They... ... by them.
Simple Present or Simple Past?
They visited the fashion show.
The fashion show _____
was __________
visited by
_________.
them
She reads fashion magazines every day.
Fashion magazines _____
are __________
read by
________
her every day..
Change into the Passive Voice...