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

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

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

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

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? A. When the RECEIVER of an action is the EMPHASIS B. 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: TensesActivePassive Past - Simple -ate - Continuous-was eating - Perfect-had eaten

ANSWERS TensesActivePassive 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: TenseActivePassive Future - Simple -will eat

ANSWERS TenseActivePassive Future - Simple -will eat-will be eaten

Congratulations! You HAVE BEEN TAUGHT: whenwhen to use passive voice howhow to form passive verbs Give yourselves a BIG BIG HAND! (Passive or ACTIVE?)