Active and Passive Voice --- Arman

Defining “Voice”

• “Voice” is a characteristic of verbs which indicates the relation of the verb’s action to its subject.

• The voice of a verb may be either “active” or “passive.”

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Active & PassiveActive & PassiveActive Voice Form

• When we want to say that the subject of a sentence is doing the action, we use the verb of that sentence in its Active form:

• e.g. A man is cutting down a tree. ‘A man’ = subject -- doing the action -- cutting - Active

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Active & PassiveActive & PassivePassive Voice Form

• When we want to say that the subject of a sentence is not doing anything but is allowing something to be done to it by somebody else, we use the Passive Voice form:e.g. A tree is being cut down by a man.‘A tree’ = subject = not doing anything, but allowing ‘a man’ to cut it. Passive

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Active-Passive Voice – Active-Passive Voice – example 1example 1

• Goutham Goutham is carryingis carrying the girl. the girl. Active VoiceActive Voice

goutham= subjectgoutham= subject

is carrying = verbis carrying = verb

the girl = object of the verb the girl = object of the verb

Who is doing the action of carrying? = Who is doing the action of carrying? =

‘‘goutham’ – subject of the sentencegoutham’ – subject of the sentence

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Active-Passive Voice – example 2

• The girl is being carried by Goutham. Passive Voice

The girl = subjectis being carried = verbby = prepositionGoutham= object of the preposition ‘by’Who is doing the action of carrying? = Not ‘The girl’, the subject, but ‘Goutham’, the object

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Active-Passive Voice – changes 1

• Clavin reads a book every day. Active Voice

‘Clavin’ -- the subject of the Active sentence…

A book is read every day by Clavin. Passive Voice

‘by Clavin’ – object of the preposition ‘by’

The subject of the Active sentence becomes the object of the preposition in the Passive sentence!

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Active-Passive Voice – changes 2

• Clavin reads a book every day. Active Voice

‘reads’ – verb of the Active sentence

A book is read every day by Clavin. Passive voice

The Active form of the verb in Active sentence is changed into the Passive form in Passive sentence.

‘reads’ becomes “is read”!

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Active-Passive Voice – note 1

• He cooks food. Active Voice‘food’ – object of the verb – singular

Food is cooked by him. Passive Voice‘Food’ – subject of the passive

sentence – singular, so ‘is cooked’ -- verb singular

When the subject of a sentence is singular, the verb must also be in singular

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• When the subject of a sentence is Plural, the verb of that sentence must be Plural:

• Joshua carried some books. Active Voice

‘some books’ -- object of the verb in Active – Plural

Some books were carried by Joshua. Passive Voice

‘were carried’ – verb – ‘were’ plural / ‘books’ plural

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Active-Passive Voice -- note 3

• Shelvin has signed ten letters. Active Voice‘Shelvin’ – subject; ‘has’ – part of the verb – singular‘ten letters’ – object of the verb in Active -- plural

Ten letters havehave been signed by Shelvin. Passive Voice‘Ten letters’ – subject – plural; ‘have been signed’ verb –‘have’ -- plural

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Active-Passive Voice – Tense Change 1• Shelvin bakes cakes. Active

‘bakes’ – verb –

Simple Present Tense

Cakes are baked by Shelvin.

Passive Voice

‘are baked’ – verb –

Simple Present Tense

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Active-Passive – Tense Change 2

• He is building a sand castle.

‘is building’ – verb –

present continues tense –

ACTIVE VOICE FORM

A sand castle is being built by him.

‘is being built’ – verb –

present continues tense

PASSIVE VOICE FORM

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Active-Passive -- Tense Change 3

• He has drawn a picture.‘has drawn’ – verb –present perfect tenseACTIVE VOICE

A picture has been drawn by him. ‘has been drawn’ – verb –present perfect tensePASSIVE VOICE

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Active-Passive Voice – Tense Change 4

• She She toldtold me a secret. me a secret. Active VoiceActive Voice‘‘told’ – verb – simple past tense told’ – verb – simple past tense

A secret A secret was toldwas told (to) me by her. (to) me by her. Passive VoicePassive Voice

‘‘was told’ – verb – simple past tensewas told’ – verb – simple past tense

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• The postman was delivering the post. ‘was delivering’ -- verb -- Past Continuous TenseACTIVE VOICE FORM

The post was being delivered by the postman.‘was being delivered’ -- verb -- Past continuous TensePASSIVE VOICE FORM

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• According to the traditional grammar rules, the past perfect continuous tense is not used in Passive form; however, in the contemporary English, there are occasions where the past perfect tense is used in the Passive Form, too!

• He had been writing letters for half an hour before somebody called him out.

• Letters had been being written for half an hour (by him) before somebody called him out.

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They will give the beggar some money. ‘will give’ -- verb -- simple future tense -- Active

The beggar will be given some money by them.‘will be given’ -- verb -- simple future tense -- Passive

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Active-Passive -- Tense Change 8

• According to the traditional grammar rules, the future continuous tense in the Active is not used in Passive Voice Form.

• e.g. They will be playing with fireworks by the time their father reaches home. Active‘will be playing’ – verb – future continuous

-------- NO PASSIVE --------

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• According to the traditional grammar rules, the future perfect continuous tense is not used in the Passive Voice Form:

e.g. You will have been working on the course material for 2 hours by 6 in the evening.

‘will have been working’ – verb –

Future Perfect Continuous Tense – Active

---------- NO CHANGE ----------

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The Modal Auxiliary (helping) Verbs in Passive Voice Form take ‘be’: e.g. He will give you a book. Active VoiceYou will be given a book by him. Passive e.g. They can pick a number. Active VoiceA number can be picked by them. Passivee.g. We must finish this job. Active Voice This job must be finished by us. Passive

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• The Subject of the active voice sentence becomes the object of the preposition in the Passive Voice sentence. The preposition is usually ‘by’ when the object is a person, and ‘with’ when the object is a thing, such as a knife, gun, arrow, etc.

• e.g. The hunter shot the deer with an arrow. Active The deer was shot with an arrow by the hunter. Passive‘an arrow’ -- a thing – preposition ‘with’‘a hunter’ -- a person -- preposition ‘by’

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• When there are two objects of the verb in the active voice sentence, we can change that active sentence into passive in two way: using the first object in one sentence and the second object in the other.

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Active-Passive Voice – Active-Passive Voice – note note 22 (continued)(continued)

• e.g. The teacher teaches e.g. The teacher teaches youyou a lessona lesson. Active. Active‘‘you’ – object of the verb / ‘a lesson’ – object of the verbyou’ – object of the verb / ‘a lesson’ – object of the verb

(A)(A) YouYou are taught a lesson by the teacher. Passive are taught a lesson by the teacher. Passive

(B)(B) A lessonA lesson is taught to you by the teacher. Passive is taught to you by the teacher. Passive

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Active-Passive Voice -- note 3

• In writing the Passive Voice, in most cases, the preposition – ‘by’ or ‘with’ – and its object are not used, because they are understood:

• e.g. The cook made me an omelette. Active VoiceAn omelette was made for meby the cook.

.Passive Voice

Remember this table:Tense (or Modal+base) Active Voice Passive Voice

Simple present taketakes

am takenis taken are taken

Present continuous am takingis takingare taking

am being takenis being takenare being taken

Present perfect have taken has taken

have been takenhas been taken

Simple past took was takenwere taken

Past continuous was takingwere taking

was being takenwere being taken

Past perfect had taken had been taken

Simple future will takeshall take

will be takenshall be taken

can/may/must,etc.+base can takemust take

can be takenmust be taken

Can you remember the past participles of these verbs? Fill in the blank.

find

read

Check

eat

teach

eaten

taught

Check

Check

cutcut

Check

read

made

make

found

sung

sing

seen

see

Check

Check

Check

CheckОУ “Христо Ботев” с.Садина, общ.Попово

Fill in the blank

A lot of coffee in Brazil.

(produce)

A lot of dogs in England Ben.

(call)

Check

is produced

are called

Check

A million drawings in The Lion King.

(use)

Fill in the blank

are used

Simba by his friend, Joshua.

(find)

is found

Check

Check

Complete each sentence in the passive.

People eat millions of bars of chocolate every day!

Millions of bars of chocolate every day!

We plant hundreds of trees every year.

Hundreds of trees every year.

are eaten

are planted

Check

Check


Nowadays people cut down many trees for no reason.

Nowadays many trees for no reason.

A Portuguese person teaches my sister.My sister by a Portuguese person.

are cut down

Check

is taught Check


People read millions of newspapers every day.

Millions of newspapers every day.

Shenin and Joyal publish Arman’s new book.

Arman’s new book by Shenin and Joyal.

are read Check

is published Check

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In these examples, spot the use of the active voice and the passive voice.

The music was played by Sharika.

The sun was hidden by the clouds.

Delighted fans streamed onto the pitch.

Marie wrote the letter to the headteacher.

Danny was praised by the headteacher.

passive

passive

passive

active

active

Exercise 1: Choose Active or Passive

Put “A” for Active, “P” for Passive:1. The boy banged on the table. [ ]

2. A girl was bitten by a dog. [ ]

3. Mrs Wong washes her car every Sunday. [ ]

4. The library was broken into last night. [ ]

5. I lost my dictionary. [ ]

6. The floor is swept by the maid. [ ]

Choose Active or Passive (Answers)

Put “A” for Active, “P” for Passive:1. The boy banged on the table. [ ]

2. A girl was bitten by a dog. [ ]

3. The floor is swept by the maid. [ ]

4. The library was broken into last night. [ ]

5. I lost my dictionary. [ ]

6. Mrs Wong washes her car every Sunday. [ ]

A

P

P

P

A

A

Exercise 2: Multiple Choice

1. The fire ___________ out by the firemen.is put

A. puts

B. is put

C. put

2. Shelvin ______________ a sandwich.

A. make

B. are made

C. is made

D. made

made

3. A present ____________ to me by the English teacher.

A. gave

B. was given

c. given

was given

Exercise 3: Fill in the blanks

There is a dog which 1)_______(call)

Bubbles”. It 2) ___________ (own)

by Michael Johnson. It 3)_________

(keep) in his home. It 4)___________

(feed) every day by Michael Johnson

himself. It 5) __________(dress) in

funny clothes. It 6)_________(say)

that “Bubbles” is Johnson’s only

friend.

is called

is ownedis kept

is fed

is dressed

is said

Exercise 4: Change active to passive

1) The policemen catch the thief.

Ans:

2) The girl puts on a beautiful dress.

Ans:

The thief is caught by the policemen.

A beautiful dress is put on by the girl.

Exercise 5: Change passive to active

1) The dishes are washed by Amy.

Ans:

2) The car is repaired by Arman and Clavin.

Ans:

Amy washes the dishes.

Clavin and Arman repair the car.

Exercise 6: Multiple Choice

1. A song ____________ by Goutham.

A) sangB) was sungC) sung

was sung

2. These houses _________ by the workmen.

A) builtB) was builtC) were built

were built

3. Mr. Pitbul __________ in 2005 .

A) dieB) diedC) was died

died

Exercise 7: Fill in the blanks

Two men were seen breaking into a

house in my street last night. The police

1) __________ (call) and they arrived very

quickly. One man 2) ___________ (catch)

immediately. The other escaped, but he

3) _________ (find) very soon. Both men

4) __________ (take) to the police station

and 5) _____________ (question)separate-

ly by a police officer. The two men 6)

___________ (charge) with burglary.

were called

was caught

was found

were taken

were questioned

were charged

Exercise 8: Change active to passive

1) I drew a picture yesterday.

Ans:

2) Lisa bought some books two days ago.

Ans:

A picture was drawn by me yesterday.

Some books were bought by Lisa two days ago.

Exercise 9: Change passive to active

1) The problems were solved by Jack.

Ans:

2) The house was painted by the painter.

Ans:

Jack solved the problems.

The painter painted the house.

Revision Exercise: Multiple Choice

1. His secretary _____________ that report last Friday.

A) writesB) is writtenC) wroteD) was written

wrote

2. Joshua’s watch _________ by a thief yesterday.

A) stealsB) is stolenC) stoleD) was stolen

was stolen

3. Mary always _________ care of her baby sister.

A) takesB) is takenC) tookD) was taken

takes

4. The furniture _________ by the maid every day.

A) dustsB) is dustedC) dustedD) was dusted

is dusted

Revision Exercise: Fill in the blanks Fred owns (own) a fast food shop in Central.

Food, drinks and snacks ___________________

(prepare) by his workers early every morning.

This morning, when Fred ______(enter) the kitchen of his fast food shop, he saw that everybody was very busy. It seemed that two jobs ____________ (do)

at the same time by every worker in the kitchen.

He _____ (be) very happy. Sandwiches _____________ (toast) while tea _____________ (make). Potato chips ________ (fry) while apple pies __________ (bake).

Many people _______ (like) to buy fish and

chips at Fred’s fast food shop. Besides, more

than 300 chicken wings _________ (sell) every day.

are prepared

entered

were done

was were toastedwere made

were fried were baked

like

were sold

Active and Passive Voice --- Arman

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