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Materials for learners of English

  Active and  Passive Voice in English - a Presentation

Active Voice

             Most of the students             do                 some homework.

                     Subject                      Verb                       Object

 

 

 

 

             Subject                       Verb                           Object

                    Some homework                is done           by most of the students.

Passive Voice

When we turn an active sentence into the passive, subject and object are swapped so that the original object becomes the new subject, the doer becomes a prepositional object and the verb is turned into the passive form.

 The original subject sometimes disappears in the passive when the doer is unknown , obvious or unimportant:

 A mechanic repaired my car yesterday.   ®   My car was repaired yesterday.

   

“Recipe” for the passive form:

The verb to be in the right tense + the past participle (the third principal form)

 

Tense	Active	Passive
Future	They will do their homework.	Their homework will be done.
Present	They do their homework.	Their homework is done.
Present Perfect	They have done their homework	Their homework has been done.
Past	They did their homework.	Their homework was done.
Past Perfect	They had done their homework.	Their homework had been done.
Conditional	They would do their homework.	Their homework would be done.
Past Conditional	They would have done their homework.	Their homework would have been done.

 

Questions in the passive
 

1.                  Questions with question words

When did they fetch the luggage?               ®        When was the luggage fetched?     

When will they give the next show?            ®        When will the next show be given?

 

2.                 Questions without question words

 

Do they answer letters promptly?               ®        Are letters answered promptly?

Did people applaud the speaker?                ®        Was the speaker applauded?
Do all the students write essays?                ®        Are essays written by all the students?    

 

There is no news here – just remember that in a question the auxiliary comes before the subject and that the rest of the verb follows.

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Negatives

Nobody listened to the speaker                   ®     The speaker was not listened to (by anyone).

Our company didn’t make any profit last year.

                                                                       ®        No profit was made by our company last year.

  Small adjustments are sometimes needed when you turn active into passive, with negative subjects and objects for example.

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Some special features of the passive voice in English

 

The passive in English is very much like the passive in German and other Western European languages, yet there are some features that are different and may cause difficulty to learners.

 

1.    Passive with prepositions

 

We dealt with this question at our last meeting.  ®  This question was dealt with at our last meeting.

 

An original prepositional object can also become the subject of a sentence when the verb is turned into the passive. The preposition still follows the verb in that case.

Do likewise with the following sentences:

1.      We have sent for the doctor.                                 ®        The doctor has been sent for.

2.      Some people will object to these proposals.          ®        These proposals will be objected to.

3.      We have thought of this solution before.                 ®        This solution has been thought of before.

4.      Somebody called for this parcel his morning.          ®        This parcel was called for this morning.

5.      Nobody listened to the news.                                ®        The news was not listened to.
 

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2.    Indirect or personal passive

  This feature, while unknown in most Western European languages, is so familiar to English speakers that it is often not even found in grammars that have not been written for learners.

Desmond told Jane this news.

 

This news was told (to) Jane by Desmond.

  This is correct and what many learners might expect. It is, however, not what English speakers would normally say.

Desmond told Jane this news.      

 

Jane was told this news by Desmond.

 

This is the more natural word order, in that the person who received the news goes to the beginning of the sentence.
This can be compared to a German passive where the dative or personal object goes to the head of the sentence:
Jane wurden die Nachrichten von Desmond übermittelt.

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  But this is very different from other European languages.
See what happens when the personal object in the active sentence is a pronoun:

Desmond  told her this news.

She was told this news by Desmond

The pronoun at the head of the sentence appears in the nominative case,
and must therefore be regarded as the subject of the sentence.

The other original object, which might be expected as the new logical subject, follows.