Definition of Active and Passive Voice
Active Voice, When a sentence is in active voice, the subject does
(or did or will do) the action expressed in the verb:: Colombus discovered
America in 1942 (Colombus is the subject of the sentence and the subject is
perform something “discovered”)
Passive Voice, A feature of sentences
in which the object or goal of the action
functions as the sentence subject and the main verb phrase includes the
verb to be and the
past participle: America was discovered by Colombus in 1492.
Some of active and passive pattern
Tense
|
Active voice
|
Passive voice
|
Simple
present tense
|
Verb
form: first form of the verb
Examples
They
speak English here.
He
speaks English.
|
Verb
form: is / am / are + past participle form of the verb
Examples
English
is spoken here.
English
is spoken by him.
|
Present
continuous tense
|
Verb
form: is/am/are + -ing form of the verb
Examples
She
is writing a letter.
I
am learning my lessons.
You
are making a cake.
|
Verb
form: is/am/are + being + past participle form of the verb
Examples
A
letter is being written by her.
My
lessons are being learnt by me.
A
cake is being made by you.
|
resent
perfect tense
|
Verb
form: has/have + past participle form of the verb
Examples:
I
have written a novel.
She
has finished the job.
You
have written letters.
|
Verb
form: has/have + been + past participle form of the verb
Examples:
A
novel has been written by me.
The
job has been finished by her.
Letters
have been written by you.
|
Simple
past
|
Verb
form: past tense form of the verb
Examples:
I
wrote a letter.
Ram
broke a glass.
You
missed the chance.
|
Verb
form: was/were + past participle form of the verb
Examples:
A
letter was written by me.
A
glass was broken by Ram.
The
chance was missed by you.
|
Past
continuous tense
|
Verb
form: was/were + -ing form of the verb
Examples
I
was learning my lessons.
She
was writing a report.
They
were making toys.
|
Verb
form: was/were + being + past participle form of the verb
Examples
My
lessons were being learnt by me.
A
report was being written by her.
Toys
were being made by them.
|
Past
perfect tense
|
Verb
form: had + past participle form of the verb
Examples
I
had finished the project.
She
had learned her lessons.
|
Verb
form: had + been + past participle form of the verb
Examples:
The
project had been finished by me.
Her
lessons had been learned by her.
|
Simple
future tense
|
Verb
form: will/shall + first form of the verb
Examples
I
will finish the job.
She
will solve the problem.
|
Verb
form: will/shall + be + past participle form of the verb
Examples:
The
job will be finished by me.
The
problem will be solved by her.
|
Future
perfect
|
Verb
form: will/shall + have + past participle form of the verb
Examples
I
will have finished the job.
She
will have solved the problem.
|
Verb
form: will/shall + have + been + past participle form of the verb
Examples
The
job will have been finished by me.
The
problem will have been solved by her.
|
Forming Passives
With Modals
Affirmative Form
|
Object
+ may, must, can, could, ought to, should + be + verb3
|
Question Form
|
Must,
may, can, should, might + object + be + verb3 (past participle)
|
Something must / can / should... be done by someone at sometime.
Active : Our English teacher may give an exam today.
Passive: An exam may be given by our English teacher today.
Active : Thomas has written many books.
Passive: Many books have been written by Thomas.
Active : Do you have to pay the bill before leaving the restaurant?
Passive: the bill have to be paid before leaving the restaurant?
Active : Juan can give them some information about the job.
Passive: Some information can be given about the job by Juan.
Passive2: They can be given some information about the job by Juan.
Active : You must obey the traffic rules.
Passive: The traffic rules must be obeyed.
What are transitive
verbs?
Transitive
verbs are action verbs that have an object to receive that action. In the first
sentence above, the direct object ball received the action of the verb hit.
Here
are some more examples of transitive verbs:
I baked some cookies.
I rode the bicycle.
I moved the chair.
I stitched a quilt.
All
of the verbs in the above sentences are transitive because an object is
receiving the action of the verb.
But
what about the sentence “The bird sang.” Is the verb in that sentence a
transitive verb? No, in this case the verb sang is an intransitive verb.
What are
intransitive verbs?
Intransitive
verbs are action verbs but unlike transitive verbs, they do not have an
object receiving the action. Notice there are no words after the verb sang.
More
examples of intransitive verbs:
I laughed.
I cried.
The book fell.
The horse galloped.
The sun set.
In
all of the above cases the subject is performing the action of the verb and
nothing is receiving the action.
What
about this sentence?
I walked to the park today.
Exercises :
write passive sentences (use the indications between brackets.)
- the
picture / draw (Simple Present)
- the door /
close (Simple Past)
- the house
/ steal (Present Continuous)
- the bike /
repair (Past Continuous)
- the room/
clean (Present Perfect)
- the
homework / do (Past perfect)
- the window
/ break (Simple future)
- the essay
/ write (Should + Verb)
Rewrite the following sentences as suggested:
- The boy
writes poems.
- The girl
drove the blue car.
- They have
collected enough money.
- They will
open a new restaurant.
- The little
boy can draw pictures.
- The guard
watched the prisoner.
- They will
not play soccer.
- They
believe that he writes good poems.
Rewrite these sentences starting with the words in bold:
- Her friend
gave her a book.
- They
offered him a job.
- The man
showed us the house.
- My friend
gave me a pen.
Source :
http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-exercise-passive.php
http://www.k12reader.com/term/transitive-and-intransitive-verbs/http://www.grammarbank.com/passives-with-modals.html
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson280/grammatically_definitions.html
