Passive Voice

PASSIVE VOICE

The passive voice is a grammatical construction (specifically, a "voice"). The noun or noun phrase that would be the object of an active sentence appears as the subject of a sentence with passive voice. The subject of a sentence or clause featuring the passive voice denotes the recipient of the action (the patient) rather than the performer (the agent). The passive voice in English is formed periphrastically: the usual form uses the auxiliary verb be (or get) together with the past participle of the main verb.

The structure is:

Subject + auxiliary verb (to be) + main verb (past participle)

Main verb is always in past participle

Examples:

The thief was bitten by the dog

The car was being fixed by the mechanic.

I understand that..

Passive voice is a voice that indicates that the subject is the patient or recipient of the action denoted by the verb. We use it so frequently, even when we don’t know that we are using it. So it is important to know the structure of it and when we can use it or avoid it.

It also help us to give more importance to the active object.

EXAMPLES

Present:

* Cristian paints a house. – A house is painted by Cristian.

* Daniela sings a song. – A song is sung by Daniela.

* Karla drives a car. – A car is driven by Karla.

* Victor eats a donut. – A donut is eaten by Victor.

* Briseida writes a poem. – A poem is written by Briseida.

Past:

* Alberto sold a car. – A car was sold by Alberto.

* Alex sent a message. A message was sent by Alex.

* Luis bought a shirt. – A shirt was bought by Luis.

* Denisse taught kids. – Kids was taught by Denisse.

* Angel took a picture. – A picture was taken by Angel.

Future:

* My mom will buy cookies. – Cookies will be bought by my mom.

* The mechanic will fix the car. – The car will be fixed by the mechanic.

* The students will learn math. – Math will be learned by the students.

* The monkey will eat bananas. – Bananas will...