Active or Passive Voice?

What happened? Miss Leung took Brian’s book. DOER Miss Leung took Brian’s book. Brian’s book was taken by Miss Leung. (Subject) DOER (Object)

What happened? Emphasis – more IMPORTANT Miss Leung took Brian’s book. DOER Miss Leung took Brian’s book. Brian’s book was taken by Miss Leung. (Subject) Emphasis – more IMPORTANT RECEIVER DOER (Subject) (Object)

What happened? Miss Leung took Brian’s book. DOER Miss Leung took Brian’s book. Brian’s book was taken by Miss Leung. (Subject) RECEIVER DOER (Subject) (Object)

What happened? Miss Leung took Brian’s book. DOER Miss Leung took Brian’s book. Brian’s book was taken by Miss Leung. (Subject) RECEIVER DOER (Subject)

Passive Voice What are you going to learn? 1. When to Use Passive Voice 2. Structure of Passive Verbs 3. Passive Verbs in Tenses

1. When Do We Use Passive Voice? When the RECEIVER of an action is the EMPHASIS When it is NOT NECESSARY to mention the DOER of an action C. When the DOER of an action is NOT KNOWN

1.A. When the RECEIVER of the action is the EMPHASIS Example: Look! A mermaid is found by the fishermen! What is the main message of the sentence?

As the emphasis is on the mermaid, we start the sentence with ‘A mermaid’ to attract readers’ attention to the receiver of the action.

1.B. When it is NOT NECESSARY to mention the DOER of the action Example: I was born in August. Is it necessary to mention WHO gave birth to you? (Who else would it be if not your mom??!!)

As the doer of the action is understood, we can omit it and start the sentence with the receiver of the action, i.e.‘I’.

1.C. When the DOER is NOT KNOWN Example: Miss Leung’s diamond ring was stolen!! Who stole the ring?

We do not know who stole the diamond ring. So, the doer is not known. Instead of starting the sentence with ‘somebody’, i.e., ‘Somebody stole Miss Leung’s diamond ring’, we can omit the doer of the action and start the sentence with the receiver of the action, i.e., ‘Miss Leung’s diamond ring’.

2. Structure of Passive Verbs Syntactic Structure ACTIVE ----------------------- PASSIVE e.g. eats ----------------------- is eaten i.e. verb ----------------------- be + p.p. Note: “be” is changed according to the tense of the sentence the number (singular/plural) of the subject of the sentence.

3. Passive Verbs in Tenses 3.1 Present Tenses Tenses Active Passive Present - Simple -eats -is eaten - Continuous -is eating -is being eaten - Perfect -has eaten -has been eaten

3.2 Past Tenses Now, try to complete the following table: Tenses Active Passive Past - Simple -ate - Continuous -was eating - Perfect -had eaten

ANSWERS Tenses Active Passive Past - Simple -ate -was eaten - Continuous -was eating -was being eaten - Perfect -had eaten -had been eaten

3.3 Future Tenses Please complete the following table: Tense Active Passive Future - Simple -will eat

ANSWERS Tense Active Passive Future - Simple -will eat -will be eaten

Practice 1. The janitor cleans our classroom every day.  Now, rewrite the sentences below by using passive voice. 1. The janitor cleans our classroom every day. 2. Japan exported millions of cars last year. 3. Mr. Chan will feed his dog on canned food.

ANSWERS 1. Our classroom is cleaned (by the janitor) every day. 2. Millions of cars were exported from Japan last year. 3. Mr. Chan’s dog will be fed on canned food.