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Active Voice and Passive Voice

The document discusses the differences between active and passive voice in English grammar. In active voice, the subject performs the action, while in passive voice, the object receives the action. Some common reasons for using passive voice are to emphasize the recipient of the action, not specify who is performing the action, or when there is no actor. The document provides examples of active and passive constructions in different tenses and commonly used verbs in passive voice constructions.

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276 views2 pages

Active Voice and Passive Voice

The document discusses the differences between active and passive voice in English grammar. In active voice, the subject performs the action, while in passive voice, the object receives the action. Some common reasons for using passive voice are to emphasize the recipient of the action, not specify who is performing the action, or when there is no actor. The document provides examples of active and passive constructions in different tenses and commonly used verbs in passive voice constructions.

Uploaded by

jefe
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Active Voice and Passive Voice

In English, verbs are said to be either active or passive.

ACTIVE VOICE:

Most sentences in English are in the active voice. In the active voice the subject does the action to
an object.

For example:

John washes the dishes.

The professor teaches the students.

Subject - verb object -


Doing the action recieving the action.

PASSIVE VOICE:
In the passive voice, the object (the thing recieving the action) of the active voice becomes the
subject of the passive voice. In the passive voice the subject recieves the action of the verb.

The dishes are washed by John.


The students are taught by the professor.
Subject passive verb doing action
Recieving the action

We use the passive voice for several reasons:


- Use the passive voice if you think that the thing recieving the action is more important or
should be emphasized.
o She was robbed last Thursday.
o The Titanic was built in 1912.
- Use the passive voice if you do not know who is doing the action or do not want to
mention who is doing the action.
o My house was broken into on Saturday.
o His bike was stolen last week.
- Use the passive voice if there is no doer or the action.
o He was killed in an Earthquake.
o The house was destroyed by a fire.
To form the passive voice:

Thing recieving the action + be + past participle of verb (+ by + thing doing the action) ...

*it is optional to include by + the thing doing the verb.


We can use both the active and passive voice in all tenses. The verb to be changes depending on
the tense. Here are some examples:
Simple Present:
- Active: Once a week, Tom cleans the house.
- Passive: Once a week, the house is cleaned by Tom.
Present Continuous:
- Active: Right now, Sasha is writing a letter.
- Passive: Right now, a letter is being written by Sasha.
Simple Past:
- Active: Gill repaired the car.
- Passive: The car was repaired by Gill.
Past Continuous:
- Active: The salesman was helping the customer when the thief came into the store.
- Passive: The customer was being helped (by the salesman) when the theif came into the
store.
Present Perfect:
- Active: Many people have visited the castle.
- Passive: The castle has been visited by many people.
Used to:
- Active: John used to pay the bills.
- Passive: The bills used to be paid by John.
Future:
- Active: Sally is going to cook a great dinner tonight.
- Passive: A great dinner is going to be cooked by Sally tonight.

Verbs that are frequently used in the passive voice in English.


To bear: to give birth to
- Active: His mother bore him in China.
- Passive: He was born in China.
To use: to do something with an object, person, method, etc. In order to accomplish a task
- Active: People are going to use computers to do everything in the future.
- Passive: Computers are going to be used to do everything in the future.
To celebrate: to do something special or enjoyable for an important event, occassion, holiday, etc.
- Active: People in Quito celebrate Fiestas de Quito for centuries, to remember the
foundation of Quito.
- Passive: Fiestas de Quito is celebrated to remember the foundation of Quito.
To locate: to find the place or position of (something or someone)
- People locate Ecuador in South America
- Ecuador is located in South America.

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