1. SUBJECT - ENGLISH
CLASS - XII
TOPIC - Voice
Words: 3,575
MM1: Show the conversation between Ayushi and his grand pa
Aayushi is shown with a lot many books at her grandpa’s home.
Grandpa : Aayushi, why have you brought so many books?
Aayushi: You always complain that I don’t spend enough time with you. So this time I’ll
stay with you for the entire summer vacations, and I’ll also do my studies.
Grandpa: That’s good!
Aayushi: But, grandpa, why do we have to read so many books? We mug them up and
forget after exams.
Grandpa: The purpose of the books is to give you wisdom, not mugging. Whatever you
read and listen, try to understand and assimilate. Otherwise you will become like that
mathematician who drowned because of his foolishness.
Aayushi: Which mathematician, grandpa?
Grandpa: I’ll tell you that story. You know there is a treasure of wisdom in our great old
stories?
MM2:
As the story goes on the characters and background appear on the screen. A man
with forehead smeared with sandal and turban on the head is shown sitting on a
plank and working with numbers on a big slate. A woman in a simple sari is sitting
on the ground and cutting vegetable. Huts and bullocks can be shown in the
background.
Voice Over:
Once there was a mathematician in an Indian village and he was very proud of his
learning. He thought that he could solve any problem any time mathematically.
One day he was going to visit his in-laws with his wife. After they covered a few miles,
their path was obstructed by a river.
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2. Now the scene is of a flooded river and the mathematician and his wife talking.
While the Voice Over narrates the story, the dialogues of the characters are also
shown in the bubbles.
On other days they could cross it wading into it as it was not very deep. But being it rainy
season, it was flooded.
The wife suggested him,
“Let us return as it is not safe to cross it. At the same time, we do not know how to
swim.”
The mathematician considered his wife foolish as she was not literate. So he used his
knowledge of trigonometry and arithmetic. He easily found out the width and depth of
the river and said,
“Don’t worry. We can easily cross the river. The water is only 4 feet 5 inches deep on an
average and our height is 5 feet 7 inches on an average.”
Saying this he held his wife’s hand and descended into the river. Before they could reach
the middle of the river, the woman raised an alarm.
“Help! Help!”
She freed her hand and waded back to the bank. Being proud and arrogant, the
mathematician proceeded into his watery grave.
MM3:
Again the grandpa-granddaughter duo are shown.
Grandpa: What was his foolishness?
Aayushi: He took the average of the different depths on the side of his bank.
Grandpa: And he also took the average of his and his wife’s heights.
Aayushi: So funny.
Grandpa: Did you note that while you get some wisdom through what your read and
listen, you also learn some language skills?
Aayushi: Let me retell the story and you guide me about the language skills that I learnt.
Anchor 1:
Now, as the story is being retold, listen it carefully to note what changes Aayushi
makes to it unknowingly.
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3. (As Voice Over goes, the story appears gradually line by line.)
Once there was a mathematician in an Indian village and he was very proud of his
learning. He thought that
1 any problem could be solved any time by him mathematically.
2 One day his in-laws were going to be visited by him and his wife.
3 After a few miles were covered, their path was obstructed by a river.
4 On any other day it could be crossed by wading in it as it was not very deep.
5 But being it rainy season, it had been flooded by the rain.
The wife suggested him, “Let us return as it is not safe to cross it. At the same time, we
do not know how to swim.”
The wife was considered foolish by the mathematician as she was not literate.
So his knowledge of trigonometry and arithmetic was used.
The width and depth of the river was easily found out by him and he said,
“Don’t worry. The river can be crossed easily by us. The water is only 4 feet 5 inches
deep on an average and our height is 5 feet 7 inches on an average.”
Saying this, his wife’s hand was held by him and he descended into the river.
Before the middle of the river could be reached by them, an alarm was raised by the
woman.
Her hand was freed and she waded back to the bank.
Being proud and arrogant, the mathematician proceeded into his watery grave.
Anchor 2:
What remark do you think the grandfather would have given after listening to the story
from his granddaughter?
He was obviously a little puzzled because of her over use of the passive voice sentences.
Now show the story narration text again (point 1-5) and bring the correct sentences
Next to each point
1 Any problem could be solved any time by him mathematically.
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4. Instead of
He could solve any problem any time mathematically.
2 One day his in-laws were going to be visited by him and his wife.
Instead of
One day he was going to visit his in-laws with his wife.
3 After a few miles were covered, their path was obstructed by a river.
Instead of
After they covered a few miles, their path was obstructed by a river.
4 On any other day it could be crossed by wading in it as it was not very deep.
Instead of
On any other day they could cross it by wading in it.
5 But being it rainy season, it had been flooded by the rain.
Instead of
But being it rainy season, it was flooded.
Anchor 3:
In Aayushi’s story, actions and incidents take precedence over the character. However,
the story is about characters. Therefore, the sentences should be the Active Voice keeping
the doer or characters at the beginning of the sentence. Let’s check out the learning
objectives of this module.
Learning Objective
Upon completion of the module, the learner will be able to-
• State the importance of using a correct voice in a particular
situation
• Differentiate between the Transitive and the Intransitive Verb
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5. • Apply the ways of converting Active sentences into Passive
sentences
• Identify correct form of Voice in the given context
Anchor 4:
Let us understand the difference between a sentence in active voice and a sentence in
passive voice.
Who is throwing a ball?
A girl. A girl is throwing a ball.
In these sentences we are talking about the doer of an action. The doers are ‘who’ and ‘a
girl’. Therefore, these sentences are in active voice.
What is being done in the picture?
Being thrown. A ball is being thrown.
In these two sentences we are talking about an action that is ‘being done’ or ‘being
thrown’ and not about any person or doer of it. Therefore, these sentences are in passive
voice.
A sentence in active voice is the one where the doer is active or does something.
A sentence in passive voice is the one where the doer or the person who does an action is
either inactive or absent. Another word for inactive is passive.
The structure of the active and passive sentences goes like this:
ACTIVE
SUBJECT VERB OBJECT
Doer of Action Action/ Work done Target of Action
The girl threws a ball.
I learn my lesson.
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6. You have done your work.
PASSIVE
SUBJECT HELPING III FORM OF BY OBJECT
VERB VERB
Target of Action Doer of Action
Action
A ball was thrown by the girl.
My lesson is learnt by Me.
Your work has been done by you.
In a passive sentence the doer of an action goes in the place of object and the target of the
action takes the place of the subject.
Anchor 5:
Let’s look at another picture.
Who is hitting the ball?
The person is not visible or known so we should talk about this picture in passive voice.
What is being done in the picture?
A ball is being hit.
The obvious doer is a player. But as he is not seen, we should not say
A player or the player is hitting the ball.
It is better to say
A ball is being hit.
Or,
A ball is being hit with a cue by some player. Our sentence is rather complete up to ‘a
cue’ and the rest is obvious and so unnecessary to say.
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7. Therefore,
‘A ball is being hit with a cue’ can describe it well.
We can further say something more about the picture keeping in mind that
The player has not hit the ball yet.
It would be better to say
The ball has not been hit yet.
The player may change his mind and will choose another ball to hit.
So we can say
The ball is being touched with a cue and is being hit. But as it has not been hit yet,
another ball can be chosen and hit.
This is how we continue our talk about the picture.
In this type of expression where the doer is absent or not prominent, we describe the
scene, action or process better in the Passive Voice.
Anchor 6:
Now let’s consider active and passive sentences in different tense forms.
Something that we always or usually or habitually do is simple present tense as in the
following sentences:
Simple Present Tense:
Who delivers the ball in cricket? – Active
A bowler delivers the ball in cricket. – Active
By whom is a ball delivered in cricket? – Passive
A ball is delivered by a bowler in cricket. – Passive
Do you play billiards? Active
Yes, I play billiards or, I do not play billiards. – Active
Who plays billiards? – Active
By whom is billiards played? – Passive
Something that is happening before our eyes, as in the picture, or these days is expressed
in the present continuous tense.
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8. Present Continuous Tense
1 What is the fox doing in the picture? – Active
It is chasing a mouse. – Active
2 What is happening in the picture? – Passive
A mouse is being chased. – Passive
Simple Future Tense
3 What will the fox do if it caught the mouse? – Active
The fox will eat it up. – Passive
4 What will happen if the mouse is caught? – Passive
The mouse will be eaten up. – Passive
As your see here that we don’t need to change the tense of the active sentence while
converting them into passive, we will not discuss Tense in detail here. You only need to
maintain that tense by doing slight necessary changes. What are these changes?
Before we discuss that, try to answer the questions accompanying the pictures following
the tense pattern of the questions.
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9. What is happening in the picture? – Passive
What’s better to say:
1 A girl is singing a song – Active or
2 A song is being sung? – Passive
Answer: No. 2. Why? Because a question in passive should be answered in passive.
By whom is a song being sung? – Passive
1 A girl is singing a song – Active or
2 A song is being sung by a girl? – Passive
Answer: No. 2. Why? Because the question is in passive.
Who plays an instrument in your class? – Active
Boy X or girl Y plays an instrument in my class. – Active
How is that instrument played by him or her? – Passive
The instrument is played very well by him or her. – Passive
It is quite clear here that you have to follow the pattern of the question, and answer them.
Anchor 7:
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10. Let us now talk about how to convert active sentences into passive sentences.
(The following picture and sentences appear on the screen)
Active:
What are the people doing?
They are watching a rooster fight.
What are the roosters doing?
The roosters are fighting.
Can you convert these active sentences into passive? Try. They can be converted into
passive as:
Passive:
What is being done by the people?
A rooster fight is being watched by them.
What is being done by the roosters?
We cannot, however, change the last sentence into passive as for making passive we need
an object in the active sentence. It is present in the first three but absent in the last one.
Ask the questions for them:
The people are doing WHAT? WHAT is the object here.
They are watching WHAT? The answer is a rooster fight. A ROOSTER FIGHT is the
object.
The roosters are doing WHAT? WHAT is the object here.
The roosters are fighting what? We can’t answer this question as they are fighting
nothing but just fighting.
As we cannot answer
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11. We are sleeping or standing or resting what?
If there is no object with an action or verb, then such verbs are called INTRANSITIVE.
That is the action does not transit or move from the doer to the done.
The sentences with an intransitive verb cannot be changed into a passive sentence.
Action, however, moves from the doer of the verb to the target of the verb in case of
TRANSITIVE verbs as in
The cat killed a mouse. Or
He kicked the ball.
The result of the action is on ‘a mouse’ and ‘the ball’.
Ask questions and answer them in active and passive voices for the following pictures.
Answers:
What is the taxi driver doing? – Active
He is reading a newspaper. – Active
What is being done by the taxi driver? – Passive
A newspaper is being read by the taxi driver. – Passive
A LETTER
Answers:
Who is writing the letter? – Active
Someone is writing the letter. (Because the person is not visible or known) – Active
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12. By whom is the letter being written? – Passive
The letter is being written by someone. – Passive
In such cases where the doer is unknown or obvious we omit the agent like ‘by someone’.
We should say
The letter is being written or
A letter is being written
In
The man has been arrested by the police, the mention of ‘by the police’ is unnecessary.
Anchor 8:
We never change the tense of a passive sentence but we add a correct form of ‘be’ before
the main verb.
The forms of ‘be’ for the
i) Present Tense Verbs such as take/ takes, do/ does, give/ gives – is, am, are
ii) Past Tense Verbs such as took, did, gave – was, were
iii) A continuous verb such as taking, doing, giving in all tense forms – being
iv) Perfect Tense Verb forms such as have, has and had – been
v) Modals such as can, will, may, should, must – be
In this exercise two sentences of each kind are given. The first one is done. Do the second
one on the same pattern.
1 Mrs. Bhatia teaches English grammar.
English grammar is taught by Mrs. Bhatia.
2 Khushwant Singh writes novels.
Answer: Novels are written by Khushwant Singh.
3 The artist created beautiful pictures.
Beautiful pictures were created by the artist.
4 The principal called us.
____________________________________
Answer: We were called by the principal.
5 She has been singing the same song for last two hours.
The same song has been being sung by her for last two hours.
6 They are writing their papers.
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13. ____________________________________
Answer: Their papers are being written by them.
7 The government has implemented the new laws.
The new laws have been implemented by the government.
8 You have taken my pen.
____________________________________
Answer: My pen has been taken by you.
9 Every citizen must respect his nation.
The nation must be respected by its every citizen.
10 You can do whatever you want to do.
_____________________________________
Answer: Whatever you want to do can be done by you.
When you have to convert active sentences into passive sentences, take the following
steps:
1. First, identify the object by asking a question with WHAT or WHO after the verb.
2. Then begin the sentence with the identified object.
3. Add a proper form of ‘be’ – before the ‘ing’ verbs being, after have, has or had been
and after can, may, will etc be and use the verb in the third form.
4. If no helping verb is already there, then add is/ am/ are for the present verb form and
was/ were for the past verb form and convert the verb into its third form.
In nutshell, the structure of a passive sentence is
Subject + Helping Verb + III Form of Verb + by + object
Imperative sentences can be turned into passive either by beginning with ‘let’ or by ‘you
should’, ‘they should’ etc:
Open the shelf.
Let the shelf be opened.
You should open the shelf.
Let us write a letter.
Let a letter be written.
We should write a letter.
Active sentences with double objects can be turned into passive by taking either of the
objects at the beginning. However, it’s more convenient to take the first object at the
beginning:
She taught us English grammar.
We were taught English grammar by her.
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14. English grammar was taught to us by her.
You gave me a nice present on my birthday.
I was given a nice present by her on my birthday.
A nice present was given to me on my birthday.
They have written us many letters.
We have been written many letters by them.
Many letters have been written to us by them.
Anchor 9:
By now you have understood
1 why a correct choice of voice is important while speaking and writing,
2 the difference between the transitive and intransitive verbs and
3 how to convert active sentences into passive
Let us have a look how sometimes passive sentences are preferable over the active
sentences in writing and speaking.
Newspaper Headlines are either written in the simple present active form or the passive
form without helping verbs.
Look at the newspaper headlines here given in the passive form.
They can be turned into a complete passive sentence by adding ‘was/ were’ or ‘has/ have
been’ before the verb.
Make complete sentences out of the given headlines. Add an agent at the end also like
‘by someone’. Then convert the sentence into active form. Follow the example.
(Answers should appear at least after two seconds)
NEWSPAPER HEADLINES
1 MAHATMA GANDHI ASSASSINATED AT DELHI
Example: Mahatma Gandhi has been assassinated at Delhi by Nathu Ram Godse.
Nathu Ram Godse has assassinated Mahatma Gandhi at Dilhi.
2 LOHIA FINALLY REMEMBERED ON HIS DEATH ANNIVERSARY
Answer: Lohia has finally been remembered on his death anniversary by his followers.
His followers have finally remembered Lohia on his death anniversary.
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15. 3 SERVICE TAX TARGET FIXED AT RS 1,650 CRORES
Answer: Service tax target has been fixed at Rs 1,650 crores by the government.
The government has fixed service tax target at Rs 1,650 crores.
4 TANTRIK ARRESTED IN DELHI, SENT TO JUDICIAL CUSTODY
Answer: A tantrik has been arrested in Delhi and sent to judicial custody by the police.
The police have arrested a tantrik in Delhi and sent him to judicial custody.
Notices and posters also use passive forms as they are impersonal in nature, that is, we
are interested in the act rather than the person who does it:
FIVE SKILLED WORKERS ARE REQUIRED
SOUTH INDIAN LANGUAGES SPOKEN AND UNDERSTOOD HERE
ALL SORTS OF CURRENCY NOTES ARE EXCHANGED HERE
FOOD IS COOKED FROM PURE DESI GHEE
CUSTOMERS ARE THANKED FOR BEING COOPERATIVE
For Processes again we don’t want to say who is doing them but how they are done. It
would be better if the process of making tea or washing clothes or filling up a form is
converted into the passive voice.
Try to complete the process of preparing tea.
PROCESS OF PREPARING TEA
Korean tea kettle over hot coal
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16. 1. The traditional method of making a cup of tea is to place loose tea leaves in a tea pot
and pour hot water over the leaves.
Answer: According to the traditional method of making a cup of tea, tea leaves are/
should be placed in a tea pot and hot water is/ should be poured over the leaves.
2. After a couple of minutes you should or one is required to remove the leaves by
straining the tea while serving.
After a couple of minutes the leaves ________________________________________ by
straining the tea.
Answer: should be removed; or, are required to be removed.
3. We allow most green teas to steep for about three minutes, although some types of tea
require as much as ten.
Most green teas should _________________________ for about ten minutes, although
as much as ten minutes _____________________________________________.
Answer: be steeped, are required by some types of tea.
4. We often prepare stronger teas, such as Assam, with more leaves and drink it with
milk.
Stronger teas, such as Assam, ____________________________with more leaves, and
_____________________ with milk.
Answer: are often prepared, drunk.
6. We prepare, however, more delicate high grown teas such as Darjeeling with a little
less leaves.
However, more delicate high grown teas such as Darjeeling ____________________
with a little less leaves.
Answer: are prepared.
We have learnt so far
Summary
• The importance of using a correct voice in a particular situation
• The difference between the Transitive and the Intransitive Verb
• Converting Active sentences into Passive sentences
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17. • Choosing a correct form of Voice in the given context
A final word before we conclude.
Passive voice sentences are a very efficient and handy tool useful for English speaking
such as conversation, speeches, debate, discussions or presentations. Why? Because
speaking is sudden and spontaneous; and unintentionally we may start a sentence with the
doer of an action or the target of the action. In either case we are supposed to complete
the sentence immediately. Otherwise a flaw in speech will not only break our confidence
but also its coherence and intelligibility for the listener.
We hope that you enjoyed learning Active and Passive Voice and that you would be more
confident while using them in your speech and writing. Thank you!
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