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PASSIVE VOICE

Sara Hervás

Created on March 4, 2021

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Transcript

The passive voice

START

ACTIVE VS PASSIVE

ACTIVE

index

PASSIVE

USE

FORM

STEPS

THE PASSIVE VOICE

VERB FORMS AND STRUCTURE

ACTIVE vs PASSIVE VOICE

We use the terms active voice and passive voice to talk about ways of organising the content of a clause:

Leonardo da Vinci painted la Gioconda. (active) La Gioconda was painted by Leonardo da Vinci. (passive)

INDEX

ACTIVE VOICE: SUBJECT = AGENT

ACTIVE VOICE

The active voice is the typical word order. We put the subject (the topic or the theme) first. The subject is called the agent (person who does the action) of the verb.

INDEX

PASSIVE VOICE

The person or thing that the action was done to, becomes the topic or theme. The agent of the passive verb is the subject of an active verb.

We use by to make clear who the agent is. I was given a lots of present by my friends on my birthday

Someone sent Sam a letter. (Some is the subject nd the agent.) Sam was sent a letter. (Sam is the subject, but not the agent.)

INDEX

When do we use the passive?

When we don't know who performs (or performed) the actionMy bag was taken while I was sunbathingIt isn't important who performs (or performed) the actionMy new phone was delivered yesterday We want to emphasise the subject of the passive verb.Your brother must be invited to the party. (The focus is on your brother)

INDEX

BE + PAST PARTICIPLE

  • PRESENT SIMPLE: is/are + past participle.
      • People post millions of photos everyday (active)
      • Millions of photos are posted online everyday (passive)
  • PAST SIMPLE: was/were + past participle
      • He drew this picture to illustrate a story (active)
      • This picture was drawn to illustrate a story (passive)
  • MODAL PASSIVES: can, could, must, may and might + be + past participle.
      • No one can identify the writer of the poem. (active)
      • The writed of the poem can't be identified (passive)

PASSIVE VERB FORMS

INDEX

STEPS TO TRANSFORM AN ACTIVE INTO THE PASSIVE

Move the OBJECT to become the new subject of the passive sentence: A letter...

STEP 2

What is the verb tense in the active sentece? wrote (past simple)

STEP 3

Identify the SUBJECT, the VERB and the OBJECT of the active sentence. Stephen wrote a letter.

STEP 1

What can we do with the subject of the active sentence? We can omit it if it's not important, or use "BY". A letter was written by Stephen

STEP 6

Add the past participle of the main verb in the active voice. was written

STEP 5

Use the correct form of the verb BE in the same tense. was

STEP 4

INDEX

THANKS!