Active voice vs Passive voice chimboy.pptx

Active voice vs Passive voice

VOICE

• Voice refers to the form of a verb that indicates when a grammatical subject performs the action or is the receiver of the action.

ACTIVE VOICE

• When a sentence is written in the active voice, the subject performs the action, so, the spotlight will always be on it.
• The formula is clear and simple at first glance:

subject + verb + object E.G.: The duckling hunted a fish in the pond.

PASSIVE VOICE

• When a sentence is written in the passive voice, the spotlight will always be on the action as not always a real subject is needed and, when it does, it switch places with the subject, and so it becomes the passive object.

• We make the passive by putting the verb 'to be' into whatever tense we need and then adding the past participle. As a piece of advice, reviewing irregular verbs is highly recommended as past participle is going to be used quite often.

PASSIVE VOICE

• The reasons to use the passive voice can be:

• When we want to change the focus of the sentence:

The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. (We are more interested in the painting than the artist in this sentence)

PASSIVE VOICE

• When who or what causes the action is unknown or unimportant or obvious or 'people in general':

• He was arrested. => (obvious agent, the police)
• My bike has been stolen. => (by an unknown agent)
• The road is being repaired. => (unimportant agent)
• The form can be obtained from the post office. => (people in general)

Tip: As much as the performer is unknown, avoid using by + pronown unless it’s necessary.

PASSIVE VOICE

• In factual or scientific writing:
• The chemical is placed in a test tube and the data entered into the computer.

• In formal writing instead of using someone/ people/they (these can be used in speaking or informal writing):

• The brochure will be finished next month.

PASSIVE VOICE

• In order to put the new information at the end of the sentence to improve style:

• Three books are used regularly in the class.
• The books were written by Dr. Bell. ('Dr. Bell wrote the books' sound clumsy)

• When the subject is very long:

• I was surprised by how well the students did in the test. (More natural than: 'how well the students did in the test surprised me')

PASSIVE: TENSES COUNTERPARTS

PASSIVE: TENSES COUNTERPARTS

PASSIVE: TENSES COUNTERPARTS

PASSIVE AND MODAL VERBS

• There are two basic patterns used for passive modals:

As a fast review, modal verbs are:

PASSIVE AND MODAL VERBS

• Pattern 1:

Modal verb + be + past participle: The Duck can be seen in the pond. The work should be done on time. Employees must be paid on the last day of the month.

• Pattern 2:

Modal + have been + past participle: It could have been done by the penguin. It should have been finished yesterday. It might have been lost when they were travelling.

PASSIVE WITH SUBORDINATE CLAUSES

• You can make the passive in a subordinate clause that has a subject and a normal conjugated verb. This is really the same as a normal passive:

• Active: I thought that Mary had kissed John.

• Passive: I thought that John had been kissed by Mary.

• Active: He knew that people had built the church in 1915.

• Passive: He knew that the church had been built in 1915.

• You can also make the passive using a passive gerund or a passive infinitive in the same place as a normal gerund or infinitive.

• The child loves being cuddled.

• She would like to be promoted.

PASSIVE EXTRAS

• The passive voice has a more “british” way where the action can be focused on the indirect object instead of the direct one. It is very similar to the one used in the “to have something done” scheme:
• Indirect Object goes to subject as is the “who” or the “whom” which is affected by the main action. Please look the colour legend so you can see how these elements swap their syntax roles
• Active: Donald gave a present to Pentaro.
• Passive mode 1: A present was given to Pentaro by Donald.
• Passive mode 2: Pentaro was given a present (by Donald).

PASSIVE EXTRAS

• Passive and reported speech:

Sometimes passive voice can be used in reported speech, mainly to hide the original speaker:

• Direct Speech: Duck mom said , “Don’t swim in that pond”.

• Reported speech: Duck mom told me not to swim in that pond.

• Passive reported speech: I was told not to swim in that pond.