Passive voice

1. 05-05-2009 BCK 1
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

2. 05-05-2009 BCK 2
Active & Passive
Passive Voice Form
• When we want to say that the subject of a
sentence is not doing anything but is allowing
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
allowing ‘a man’ to cut it. Passive

3. 05-05-2009 BCK 3
Active-Passive Voice – example 1
 The boy is carrying the girl. Active Voice
The boy = subject
is carrying = verb
the girl = object of the verb
Who is doing the action of carrying? =
‘The boy’ – subject of the sentence

4. 05-05-2009 BCK 4
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

5. 05-05-2009 BCK 5
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!

6. 05-05-2009 BCK 6
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”!

7. 05-05-2009 BCK 7
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.

8. 05-05-2009 BCK 8
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

9. 05-05-2009 BCK 9
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

10. 05-05-2009 BCK 10
Active-Passive Voice -- note 3
• She has signed ten letters. Active Voice
‘She’ – subject; ‘has’ – part of the verb – singular
‘ten letters’ – object of the verb in Active -- plural
Ten letters have been signed by her. Passive Voice
‘Ten letters’ – subject – plural; ‘have been signed’ verb –
‘have’ -- plural

11. 05-05-2009 BCK 11
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

12. 05-05-2009 BCK 12
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 by him.
‘is being built’ – verb –
present continues tense
PASSIVE VOICE FORM

13. 05-05-2009 BCK 13
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

14. 05-05-2009 BCK 14
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 by him.
Passive Voice

15. 05-05-2009 BCK 15
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

16. 05-05-2009 BCK 16
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

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

18. 05-05-2009 BCK 18
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 for half an hour
(by him) before somebody called him out.

19. 05-05-2009 BCK 19
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

20. 05-05-2009 BCK 20
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 --------

21. 05-05-2009 BCK 21
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

22. 05-05-2009 BCK 22
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 ----------

23. 05-05-2009 BCK 23
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

24. 05-05-2009 BCK 24
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’

25. 05-05-2009 BCK
25
Active-Passive Voice – note 2
 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.

26. 05-05-2009 BCK
26
Active-Passive Voice – note 2
(continued)
 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

27. 05-05-2009 BCK 27
Active-Passive Voice -- note 3
• In writing the Passive Voice, in most cases, the
preposition – ‘by’ or ‘with’ – and its object are not used,
because they are understood:
• e.g. The cook made me an omelette. Active Voice
An omelette was made for me
by the cook.
.
Passive Voice