Passive Voice

What is Passive Voice? Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known, however, who or what is performing the action. Example : My bike was stolen. In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I do not know, however, who did it. Sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than active voice, as the following example shows: Example: A mistake was made.

Formation : Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle (3rd column of irregular verbs) Example: A letter was written. When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following: the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle) the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped)

Formation (Examples):

Read the Paragraph :  The president is said to be ill. His private doctor was sent for. The president was ordered to stay in bed for a week at least. He was told not to go abroad. All his appointments have been cancelled. A medical bulletin will be published tonight. After this week’s rest it is expected that the president will resume work

Formation : Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that one of the two objects becomes the subject, the other one remains an object.

Exercise 1: Convert the below active voice sentences to passive voice: a)Professor Villa gave Jorge an A. b)I gave Henry a book. c)I drank milk. d)She gave me a tight slap. e)I had a great weekend with my friends. A great weekend was spent by me with my friends.

Exercise 2: Write passive sentences using the words below: 1) The documents / print The documents are printed. 2) The window/open …………… 3) The shoes / buy …………… 4) The car / wash …………….. 5) The litter / throw away ……………. 6) The letter / send ……………… 7) The book / read / not ……………… 2) The window is opened. 3) The shoes are bought. 4) The car is washed. 5) The litter is thrown away. 6) The letter is sent. 7) The book is not read. 8) The songs are not sung. 9) The food is not eaten. 10) The shop is not closed.

Exercise 3 : Choose the correct passive form : 1)The homework ………… a)was done b)must be done c)will be made 2)The manager…….about the problem a)should be told b) should have been told c) should has been told 3) She …………written to. a)must be b)must c)should be 4) It………..that the President was ill. a)Was said b)will said c)went said