Written Communication Nicole – Clyn - Javier The passive voice

Outline of presentation  How to change active to passive  When to use ‘by’  Situations for passive  Different verb tenses  Play with the passive voice

The definition of the passive voice In traditional grammar, verb form (or voice) in which the grammatical subject receives the verb`s action Why use passive voice ?  The doer of the action is unknown, unwanted, or unneeded in the sentence  The writer wishes to emphasize the action of the sentence rather than the doer of the action  The writer wishes to use passive voice for sentence variety.

How to change active to passive Active VoicePassive Voice Example : “ Justin mailed the letter ” Justin mailed the letter The lette r Direct Object Subjec t 1 by Justi n Prepositi onal phrase Subjec t Verb was maile d Verb + be auxili ary 23

When to use ‘by’ When the writer wishes to emphasize the doer of the action rather than the action that is being performed Example : A suspect was questioned for sixteen hours by the police

Situations for passive  To emphasize an object Active : All the Universities in US required 2 recommend letters ( how many letters are required? )  Two recommend letters are required to apply for university When do we use the passive voice?  To emphasize the action with the unknown subject Active : Someone killed that woman last night. ( who killed her? )  That woman was killed last night.

Different verb tenses Simple Present: Present perfect: Past: Past perfect: Future: Future perfect: Present progressive: Past progressive: "to be" + a past participle The car is designed The car has been designed The car was designed The car had been designed The car will be designed The car will have been designed The car is being designed The car was being designed

Play with passive voice Simple Present Active The company ships the computers to many foreign countries Passive Computers are shipped to many foreign countries

Play with passive voice Present Progressive Active The chef is preparing the food Passive The food is being prepared by the chef

Play with passive voice Simple Past Active The delivery man delivered the package yesterday Passive The package was delivered yesterday by the delivery man

Play with passive voice Past Progressive Active The producer was making an announcement Passive An announcement was being made by the producer

Play with passive voice Future Active Our representative will pick up the computer Passive The computer will be picked up by our representative

Play with passive voice Present Perfect Active Someone has made the arrangements for us Passive The arrangements have been made for us

Play with passive voice Past Perfect Active They had given us visas for three months Passive We had been given visas for three months

Play with passive voice Future Perfect Active By next month we will have finished this job Passive By next month this job will have been finished

Play with passive voice Modals Active You can use the computer Passive The computer can be used

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