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    Passive Voice

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    Doryanna Frida Indapasha
    Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action rather than the subject performing the action. The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence, and the finite form of the verb changes to "be" plus the past participle. Sometimes a statement in the passive voice can sound more polite by not assigning blame. The document provides examples of transforming sentences between active and passive voice in different tenses.

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    Passive Voice

    Uploaded by

    Doryanna Frida Indapasha
    45 views5 pages
    Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action rather than the subject performing the action. The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence, and the finite form of the verb changes to "be" plus the past participle. Sometimes a statement in the passive voice can sound more polite by not assigning blame. The document provides examples of transforming sentences between active and passive voice in different tenses.

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    Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action rather than the subject performing the action. The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence, and the finite form of the verb changes to "be" plus the past participle. Sometimes a statement in the passive voice can sound more polite by not assigning blame. The document provides examples of transforming sentences between active and passive voice in different tenses.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    45 views5 pages

    Passive Voice

    Uploaded by

    Doryanna Frida Indapasha
    Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action rather than the subject performing the action. The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence, and the finite form of the verb changes to "be" plus the past participle. Sometimes a statement in the passive voice can sound more polite by not assigning blame. The document provides examples of transforming sentences between active and passive voice in different tenses.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 5

    Use of Passive

    Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known, however,
    who or what is performing the action.

    Example: My bike was stolen.

    In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I do not know, however,
    who did it.

    Sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than active voice, as the following example
    shows:

    Example: A mistake was made.

    In this case, I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame anyone (e.g. You
    have made a mistake.).

    Form of Passive
    Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle (3rd column of irregular verbs)

    Example: A letter was written.

    When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:

     the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence
     the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle)
     the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is
    dropped)

    Examples of Passive
    Tense Subject Verb Object
    Active: Rita writes a letter.
    Simple Present
    Passive: A letter is written by Rita.
    Active: Rita wrote a letter.
    Simple Past
    Passive: A letter was written by Rita.
    Active: Rita has written a letter.
    Present Perfect
    Passive: A letter has been written by Rita.
    Active: Rita will write a letter.
    Future I
    Passive: A letter will be written by Rita.
    Active: Rita can write a letter.
    Hilfsverben
    Passive: A letter can be written by Rita.
    Examples of Passive
    Tense Subject Verb Object
    Active: Rita is writing a letter.
    Present
    Passive
    Progressive A letter is being written by Rita.
    :
    Active: Rita was writing a letter.
    Past Progressive Passive
    A letter was being written by Rita.
    :
    Active: Rita had written a letter.
    Past Perfect Passive
    A letter had been written by Rita.
    :
    Active: Rita will have written a letter.
    Future II Passive
    A letter will have been written by Rita.
    :
    Active: Rita would write a letter.
    Conditional I Passive
    A letter would be written by Rita.
    :
    Active: Rita would have written a letter.
    Conditional II Passive
    A letter would have been written by Rita.
    :

    Sources:

    http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/passive

    Grammarway 2 by Jenny Dooley and Virginia Evans, Express Publishing

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