Learning English as a second language

1. THE USE OF THE PASSIVE VOICE Author: Yolanda Loja C.

2. In English , all sentences are either in active or passive voice. ACTIVE VOICE Alexander Graha Graham Bell invented the telephone. This sentence is in the active voice because Alexander Graham Bell is responsible for the action. He is the performer of the action. In active voice the subject does the acting .

3. PASSIVE VOICE The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell.. This sentence is in the passive voice because the subject, Alexander G.B, is acted upon and the object becomes the subject. In Passive voice, the subject of an active voice sentence becomes the object.

4. When do we use the passive voice? a) When we want to emphasize the receiver or agent of an action rather than the doer of the action. Ex: Batman’s pet was shot by the hunter.

5. b) When we don’t know the identity of the doer of the action Ex: The car was stolen from the parking lot. c) When the doer or actor of an action is irrelevant Ex: The wedding invitation will be mailed next Monday.

6. d) When we are talking about general truths Ex. Rules are to be torn. In this sentence, we want to emphasize in a general way the fact that rules are always broken .

7. How to form the passive form? The structure of passive voice is very simple: Subject + auxiliary (verb be) + main verb (past participle) + agent Ex: Waterisdrunk by everybody. subj aux verb agent Remember that in active voice the agent is the subject of the sentence. Everybody drinks water. subj verb object

8. How can I determine the tense in a passive voice? In passive voice sentences, the auxiliary “be” identifies the tense. Ex: Jesuscrist is worshiped by Christians. The auxiliary “be” is in the simple present tense; therefore, this passive voice sentence is in the simple present tense.

9. Passive voice tenses: These are examples with most possible tenses. Active sentence: people wash peaches before eating them. Passive voice:

10. Active sentence: Ecuador sells oil to Europe. Passive voice:

11. Active sentence: People have bought many LCD this year. Passive voice :