Passive Voice

Passive Voice Let’s look at this sentence: I drank two cups of coffee. This is an active sentence and it has the subject first (the person or thing that does the verb), followed by the verb, and finally the object (the person or thing that the action happens to). So, in this example, the subject is 'I', the verb is 'drank' and the object is 'two cups of coffee'. But, we don't always need to make sentences this way. We might want to put the object first, or perhaps we don't want to say who did something. In this case, we can use a passive, which puts the object first: Two cups of coffee were drunk (we can add 'by me' if we want, but it isn't necessary).

Passive Voice How to make the Passive in English? We make the passive by putting the verb 'to be' into whatever tense we need and then adding the past participle. For regular verbs, we make the past participle by adding 'ed' to the infinitive. So ‘play’ becomes ‘played’. Examples: I make the cake. – The cake is made. I made the cake. – The cake was made. I had made the cake. – The cake had been made.

Passive Voice Verbs with two objects Some verbs that have two objects can make two different active sentences, and so two different passive sentences too. For example, the verb ‘give’ is like this: Active: He gave me the book / He gave the book to me. You can choose either of the two objects to be the subject of the passive sentence. Passive: I was given the book (by him)/ The book was given to me (by him). Other verbs like this are: ask, offer, teach, tell, lend, promise, sell, throw.

Passive Voice When should we use the passive? 1. When we want to change the focus of the sentence: The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. (We are more interested in the painting than the artist in this sentence) 2. When who or what causes the action is unknown or unimportant or obvious or 'people in general': He was arrested (obvious agent, the police). My bike has been stolen (unknown agent). The road is being repaired (unimportant agent). The form can be obtained from the post office (people in general).

Passive Voice When should we use the passive? 3. In factual or scientific writing: The chemical is placed in a test tube and the data entered into the computer. 4. In formal writing instead of using someone/ people/ they (these can be used in speaking or informal writing): The brochure will be finished next month.

Passive Voice Change these sentences from active to passive: 1. People speak Portuguese in Brazil. 2. The Government is planning a new road near my house. 3. My grandfather built this house in 1943 4. Picasso was painting Guernica at that time. 5. The cleaner has cleaned the office. 6. He had written three books before 1867. 7. John will tell you later. 8. By this time tomorrow we will have signed the deal. 9. Somebody should do the work. 10. Everybody loves Mr. Brown.

Passive Voice Answers: 1. Portuguese is spoken in Brazil. 2. A new road is being planned near my house. 3. This house was built (by my grandfather) in 1943. 4. Guernica was being painted (by Picasso) at that time. 5. The office has been cleaned. 6. Three books had been written before 1867. 7. You will be told (by John) later. 8. By this time tomorrow the deal will have been signed. 9. The work should be done. 11. Mr Brown is loved (by everybody).

Passive Voice Useful links: https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/ https://www.ego4u.com/ https://www.english-grammar.at/ https://www.englishgrammar.org/exercises/ https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar