This document discusses the active and passive voice in English grammar. It explains that the active voice is the normal way to structure a sentence, with the subject performing the action on the object. The passive voice reverses this by making the object the subject receiving the action. The passive voice uses a form of the verb "to be" plus the past participle of the main verb. While less common, the passive voice is useful when the object or recipient of the action is more important than the subject, or when the subject is unknown. Examples are provided to illustrate constructing sentences in the passive voice and when it would be appropriate to use.

1. ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE BY MARIA GUADALUPE GARCIA CASTAÑEDA

2. Active Voice, Passive Voice There are two special forms for verbs called voice: Active voice Passive voice The active voice is the "normal" voice. This is the voice that we use most of the time. You are probably already familiar with the active voice. In the active voice, the object receives the action of the verb: activesubjectverbobject > Cats eat fish. The passive voice is less usual. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb: passivesubjectverbobject < Fish are eaten by cats. The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb: subjectverbobjectactive Everybody drinks water. passiveWater is drunk by everybody.

3. Passive Voice The passive voice is less usual than the active voice. The active voice is the "normal" voice. But sometimes we need the passive voice. In this lesson we look at how to construct the passive voice, when to use it and how to conjugate it. Construction of the Passive Voice The structure of the passive voice is very simple: subject + auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (past participle) The main verb is always in its past participle form. Look at these examples: subjectauxiliary verb (to be) main verb (past participle) Water is drunk by everyone. 100 people are employed by this company. I am paid in euro. We are not paid in dollars. Are

4. Use of thePassiveVoice We use thepassivewhen: wewanttomaketheactive object more important we do notknowtheactive subject Subjectverbobject giveimportanceto active object (President Kennedy) PresidentKennedy waskilledbyLee Harvey Oswald. active subjectunknown My wallet has beenstolen.? Note thatwealways use byto introduce thepassiveobject (Fish are eatenbycats).

5. EXAMPLES SUBJECT AUXILIARY VERB( TO BE) MAIN VERB(PAST PARTICIPLE) COMPLEMENT Water is drunk by everyone 100 people are employed by this company I am paid in euro We are not paid in dollars Are they paid in

6. Look at thissentence: He waskilledwith a gun. Normallywe use byto introduce thepassiveobject. Butthegunisnotthe active subject. Thegundidnotkillhim. He waskilledbysomebodywith a gun. In the active voice, itwouldbe: Somebodykilledhimwith a gun. Thegunistheinstrument. Somebodyisthe "agent" or "doer". We can formthepassive in any tense. In fact, conjugation of verbs in thepassive tense israthereasy, as themainverbisalways in pastparticipleform and theauxiliaryverbisalwaysbe. Toformtherequired tense, weconjugatetheauxiliaryverb. So, forexample: present simple: Itismade presentcontinuous: Itisbeingmade presentperfect: Ithas beenmade

7. Here are someexamples: