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Active & Passive Voice

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22 views3 pages

Active & Passive Voice

Uploaded by

bernardboman
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© © All Rights Reserved
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VOICE

There are two special forms for verbs called voice:


i. Active voice
ii. Passive voice

I. ACTIVE VOICE
The active voice is the "normal" voice. This is the voice that we use most of the time, a
feature of sentences in which the subject performs the action of the verb and the direct
object is the goal or the recipient i.e. receives the action e.g.

The professor teaches the students. Boys prepare our food


S V O S V O
Other examples in active voice include:
Students learn Communication Skills every week.
He wrote the letter
Rose is calling the doctor now
Theo was kicking the ball hardly
Our soldiers have defeated all the enemies.
We had opened the door.

II. PASSIVE VOICE


In passive sentences, the thing receiving the action is the subject of the sentence, and the
thing doing the action is optionally included near the end of the sentence, preceded by
the word ‘by’. For example:

The students are taught by the professor. Our food is prepared by boys.
S V O S V O

Other examples in passive voice include:


Communication Skills is learned by students every week.
The letter was written by him.
The doctor is being called now by Rose.
The ball was being kicked by Theo hardly.
All the enemies have been defeated by our soldiers.
The door had been opened by us.

When do we use the passive?

We use the passive in both speech and writing, but it is more common
in writing (e.g. in textbooks and reports, such as those describing
activities in industry, science and technology, and also for official rules.
For example:
The liquid is heated to boiling point.
This device is being made by DIT industries.
The thief has been arrested.
But we mention the agent only if it is important for the meaning of the
sentence. Sometimes we do not mention it.
i. We do not mention the agent if it does not add any new
information. For instance:
His wallet and phone were stolen.
A man was arrested last night.
We do not need to say that the money was stolen 'by a thief or
that the man was arrested 'by the police'.

ii. We do not mention the agent if it is not important, as in:


The streets are cleaned every day.
Oil has been discovered at the North Pole.
The one who discovered the oil is less important than the fact
that it is there.

iii. It is sometimes difficult to say who the agent is, as in:


This kind of skirt is considered very fashionable these days.
A number of attempts have been made to find the thieves.

ACTIVE/PASSIVE VOICE RULES CHART

The object of the verb takes the position of Subject. The Subject of the verb in the active
voice becomes the object and is usually preceeded by the preposition ‘by’. The tense of
the verb in the passive voice remains the same as in the active voice. In the passive voice,
third form of the verb is used.

TENSE RULES
Simple Present is/am/are + V(ppt)
Present Continuous is/am/are + being + V(ppt)
Present Perfect has/been + been + V(ppt)
Simple Past Was/were + V(ppt)
Past Continuous Was/were + being + V(ppt)
Past Perfect Had + been + V(ppt)
Simple Future Will/shall + be + V(ppt)
Future Continuous Will/shall + be + being + V(ppt)
Future Perfect Will/shall + have + been + V(ppt)

Other changes include:


Modal Verb: will, shall, Modal Verb + be + V(ppt)
would, can, should, could,
may, might, must, ought to
I, we, he, she, they Me, us, him, her, them

Take care of singular and plural nature of nouns or pronouns. Verb/helping verb requires
to be adjusted accordingly.
Interrogative sentences beginning with ‘wh’ words like what, why, when etc. the question
word is retained in the beginning of the sentence. An interrogative sentence in the active
voice remains an interrogative in the passive form.
An imperative sentence is a sentence showing order, or request. So, accordingly, in the
passive voice, we say:
You are requested/ordered/advised + infinite with ‘to’.

Sentences involving order/advice are preferably changed into passive by using the
word‘let’ or ‘should’. For example:

Please close the door. You are requested to close the door.
Save your soul. Your soul should be saved.
Let your soul be saved.
Do it. Let it be done
It should be done.

Preposition attached with the verbs in the active form continue to be attached with them
even in the passive form. For example:
Please listen to him. You are requested to listen to him.
He turned down my proposal. My proposal was turned down by him.

In the case of a verb having two objects in Active Voice, either of them can be retained in
the passive, as in:
Harry gave me an apple. I was given an apple by Harry.
An apple was given to me by Harry.

Intransitive verbs (verbs that do not take object, like, go) do not have passive forms. For
example:
I go to school.
Go is intransitive verb. Sono passive form. What is done, cannot be undone. What people
do, they cannot undo.

Quasi Passive Verbs:


The rose smells sweet. The rose is sweet when smelt.
Quinine tastes bitter. Quinine is bitter when tasted.
Lemons taste sour. Lemons are sour when tasted.

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