Pedagogical Grammar

byMehwish Ali Khan

Voice system Voice is a set of a verb showing relation

of the subject to action as active or passive voice.

A verb is in the active voice when its subject acts—when the subject does something (to its object)

1. Razia studies her lesson carefullyRazia is the subject ,studies is the transitive

verb and her lessons is the object

How to change the active to the passive voice

Change the arrangements of the words.bring the object to the beginning so as to show that it is acted upon.

Change the main verb into its third form.

Use the necessary helping verb(is,was,be,etc) in the passive voice according to the tense.

Subject ObjectVerb

V3be (by subject)

When we changed the sentence:

by Asim.A letter was writtenWe used ‘was’ as one of the forms of verb ‘ be ’. WHY

?

Asim wrote a letter.into:

by Asim.A letter was written

We used ‘was’ as one of the forms of verb ‘ be ’ , and it is the simple past tense.

Asim wrote a letter.

That’s because…..The main verb in the active sentence was in the simple past tense.

An Active SentenceSubject ObjectVerb

A Passive Sentence(by Subject)Object V3be

Asim wrote a letter.

by Asim.A letter was written

To use one of the forms of verb to be, we have to meet two conditions:

be

The same tense of the main verb

What agrees with the new

subject( object)

beThe same

tense of the main verb

The Simple Present

Active Passive

They write / don’t write the science column.

He writes / doesn’t write the science columns.

Do they write the science column?Does he write the science columns?

What do the Dental students write?What does the Pharma student write?

The science column is/ isn’t written by them.

The science columns are/ aren’t written by him.

Is the science column written by them?Are the science columns written by him?

What is written by the Dental students?What is written by the Pharma student?

The Present Progressive

Active Passive

He is fixing the stove.

They aren’t using the main meeting room.

Is the worker painting his condominium?

Are they finalizing their biology project?

Where is he taking the guests?

What are they doing about the new complaints?

The stove is being fixed.

The main meeting room is not being used.

Is his condominium being painted?

Is their biology project being finalized?

Where are the guests being taken?

What is being done about the new complaints?

The Present Perfect

Active Passive

He has broken / hasn’t broken the window.

They have seen / have never seen a UFO in this country before.

Has he (ever) broken the window?

Have they (ever) seen a UFO in this country before?

What has he broken?

What have they seen in this country before?

The window has/hasn’t been broken (by him).

A UFO [has /has never] been seen in this country before.

Has the window (ever) been broken (by him)?

Has a UFO (ever) been seen in this country before?

What has been broken?

What has been seen in this country before?

The Present Perfect Progressive

Active Passive(Rarely used and considered

awkward with this tense)

They have been teaching anatomy and other medical courses in this college since 2007.

Have those kids been torturing that kitten?

What have they been teaching in this college since 2007?

Anatomy and other medical courses have been being taught in this college since 2007.

Has that kitten been being tortured by those kids?

What has been being taught in this college since 2007?

The Simple Past

Active Passive

Jane Austen wrote ‘Sense and Sensibility ‘ in 1811.

No one knew his real name. The police didn’t find their hiding place.

Did they arrange her birthday party?

Where did they send him?

‘Sense and Sensibility ‘ was written by Jane Austen in 1811.

His real name wasn’t known. Their hiding place wasn’t found.

Was her birthday party arranged?

Where was he sent ?

The Past Progressive

Active Passive

He was cleaning the attic when he found his old jacket.

While they were counting the votes, his campaign manager announced his withdrawal.

Were they interviewing him when someone broke into his apartment?

The attic was being cleaned when his old jacket was found.

While the votes were being counted, his withdrawal was announced by his campaign manager.

Was he being interviewed when his apartment was broken into?

Where was it being sent?Where were they sending it?

The Future Simple and other Modal Auxiliary Structures

Active Passive

They will send some warning letters soon.Ahmad is going to write the art column.

They must obey the rules.

Will they send the warning letters soon?Is Ahmad going to write the art column?

Do they have to obey the rules? Can you deliver this envelope tonight?

When will they send the warning letters?What will the Dental students write?

Some warning letters will be sent soon.The art column is going to be written by Ahmad.

The rules must be obeyed.

Will the warning letters be sent soon?Is the art column going to be written by Ahmad?

Do the rules have to be obeyed?Can this envelope be delivered tonight?

When will the warning letters be sent?What will be written by the Dental students?

The Past Perfect

Active Passive

They broke the window after they had hit it with a stone.

Had they completed the housework before they called their friends?

Why had they sent him to Malaysia earlier?

The window was broken after it had been hit with a stone.

Had the housework been completed before their friends were called?

Why had he been sent to Malaysia earlier?

Ali takes the pills.

by Ali.The pills taken are

People speak English in many countries.

English is spoken in many countries.

Someone robbed the bank yesterday.

The bank was robbed yesterday.

Our teacher will collect the projects tomorrow.

The projects will be collected tomorrow.

The tailor has made this suit for me.

This suit has been made for me.

Builders had made this house using mud.

This house had been made using mud .

Jill paints the fence once a year.

The fence is painted once a year.

A silk dress was bought by Sue.

Sue bought a silk dress for her sister’s wedding.

The police arrested them yesterday.

They were arrested yesterday.

John and Paul have taken a lot of pictures

since they arrived on the island.

A lot of pictures have been taken by John and Paul since they arrived

on the island.

We asked her to help with the housework.

She was asked to help with the housework.

Passive Questions: (Simple Present)

DoesDo Subject verb Object ?

AmIsAre

Object Verb 3 (by Subject) ?

Passive Questions: (Simple Past)

Did Subject verb Object ?

WasWere Object Verb 3 (by Subject) ?

Passive Questions: (Simple Future: be going to + stem verb)

AmIs Are

Subject verb Object ?

AmIsAre

Object Verb 3 (by Subject) ?

going to

going to be

Some points to remember 1. when the main interest of the

speaker or writer is on the predicate so the natural tendency is to begin with the predicate.

e.g People speak English all over the world.

We are really concerned with “the speaking of English” not the vague subject “people”.

1. Only a transitive verb can be changed into the passive voice because only a transitive verb can have an object.Thus we can’t change this sentence into the passive voice :

They sleep at noon. 2.If a passive voice sentence does not

have the subject,it cannot be changed into active voice like this;

Cocounut trees are grown here.

we use Passive Voice When the agent is unknown e.g. this book was written 1000 years ago. When what was done is more important

than who did it. e.g. I was born in 1981 To make announcements e.g. A lecture on nutrition will be delivered by

Dr Ali in multipurpose hall. In English language theme is mentioned

first.