PASSIVE VOICE

PASSIVE VOICE

USAGE

Passive Voice is used when the focus is on the action. The performer of the action is not important/ not known. Nevertheless, if we want to ad the perfomer of the action, we can easily do so by adding “by + person” at the end of the passive sentence.

FORMATION

PERSON    +       form of TO BE   + PAST PARTICIPLE

PRESENT TENSE	I	am	given	a book.
PAST TENSE	You	were	given
PRESENT PERFECT	She We	has been have been	given given
PAST PERFECT	He	had been	given
FUTURE TENSE	We	will be	given

ACTIVE	PASSIVE
subject object	object (by) subject

PRESENT TENSE:

               

Active:                 The teacher corrects the home-exercises of the pupils.

                Passive:               The home-exercises of the pupils are corrected by the teacher.

I give him another chance                          à He is given another chance.

PAST TENSE:

               

Active:                 Peter broke Paul’s computer.

                Passive:               Paul’s computer was broken by Peter.

You wrote great songs.                                               à Great songs were written by you.

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE:

               

Active:                 She has left her glasses at the restaurant

Passive:               Her glasses have been left at the restaurant by her.

They have reduced the prices.                 à The prices have been reduced by them.

PAST PERFECT TENSE:

Active:                 I had completely forgotten her.

                Passive:               She had been completely forgotten.

You had taken away my umbrella.          à My umbrella had been taken away by you.

FUTURE – WILL:

               

Active:                 She will forgive me.

                                Passive:               I will be forgiven by her.

We will produce the car.             à The car will be produced by us.

PASSIVE VOICE – EXERCISES: Put these sentence into the passive!

1) Penguin readers published this book in 1990.

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2) Susan informs Mary about the test results.

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3) They could not do the exercises on their own.

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4) The Smiths are going to invite the Taylors on Christmas Eve.

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5) The Burglars have stolen the paintings by Picasso.

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6) We will not treat the dogs badly.

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7) Susan brushes her teeth before having breakfast.

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8) Rachel sews skirts for her children.

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9) Tim mowed the lawn for his dad.

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10) Mothers hopefully will not do the home-exercises for their children.

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11) They had founded a company on their own.

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12) Unfortunately, she has disappointed her boyfriend.

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13) My uncle bought a house in Scotland.

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14) Zoe always does her home-exercise immediately after school.

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15) Paula had studied the map of London carefully.

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KEY:

1) This book was published by Penguin Readers in 1990.

2) Mary is informed about the test results (by Susan).

3) The exercises couldn’t be done by them on their own.

4) The Taylors are going to be invited (by the Smiths) on Christmas Eve.

5) The paintings by Picasso have been stolen (by the burglars).

6) The dogs will not be treated badly (by us).

7) Susan’s teeth are brushed before having breakfast.

8) Skirts are sewed by Rachel for her children.

9) The lawn was mowed by Tim for his dad.

10) The home-exercises hopefully will not be done for the children by their mothers.

11) A company had been founded by them on their own.

12) The boy has been disappointed by his girlfriend, unfortunately.

13) A house in Scotland was bought by my uncle.

14) The home-exercises are always immediately done after school by Zoe. (Zoe’s home-exercises)

15) The map of London had been carefully studied by Paula.