ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE

A.     Active Voice, Passive Voice

There are two special forms for verbs called voice:

• Active voice
• Passive voice

1.    The active voice is the "normal" voice. This is the voice that we use most of the time. You are probably already familiar with the active voice. In the active voice, the object receives the action of the verb:

ACTIVE	Subject	Verb	Object
		>
	Cats	Eat	Fish.

2.      The passive voice is less usual. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb:

PASSIVE	Subject	Verb	Object
	<
	Fish	Are eaten	By cats.

3.      The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb:

	Subject	Verb	Object
ACTIVE	Everybody	Drinks	Water.
PASSIVE	Water	Is drunk	By everybody.

B.     Passive Voice

The passive voice is less usual than the active voice. The active voice is the "normal" voice. But sometimes we need the passive voice. In this lesson we look at how to construct the passive voice, when to use it and how to conjugate it.

1.     Construction of the Passive Voice

The structure of the passive voice is very simple:

SUBJECT + AUXILIARY VERB (BE) + MAIN VERB (PAST PARTICIPLE)

The main verb is always in its past participle form.

Look at these examples:

SUBJECT	AUXILIARY VERB (TO BE)		MAIN VERB (PAST PARTICIPLE)
Water	Is		Drunk	By everyone.
100 people	Are		Employed	By this company.
I	Am		Paid	In euro.
We	Are	Not	Paid	In dollars.
Are	They		Paid	In yen?

2.     Use of the Passive Voice

We use the passive when:

§  We want to make the active object more important

§  We do not know the active subject

	Subject	Verb	Object
Give importance to active object (President Kennedy)	President Kennedy	Was killed	By Lee Harvey Oswald.
Active subject unknown	My wallet	Has been stolen.	?

Note that we always use by to introduce the passive object (Fish are eaten by cats).

Look at this sentence:

§  He was killed with a gun.

Normally we use by to introduce the passive object. But the gun is not the active subject. The gun did not kill him. He was killed by somebody with a gun. In the active voice, it would be: Somebody killed him with a gun. The gun is the instrument. Somebody is the "agent" or "doer".

3.     Conjugation for the Passive Voice

We can form the passive in any tense. In fact, conjugation of verbs in the passive tense is rather easy, as the main verb is always in past participle form and the auxiliary verb is always be. To form the required tense, we conjugate the auxiliary verb. So, for example:

§  present simple: It is made

§  present continuous: It is being made

§  present perfect: It has been made

Here are some examples with most of the possible tenses:

INFINITIVE		TO BE WASHED
SIMPLE	Present	It is washed.
	Past	It was washed.
	Future	It will be washed.
	Conditional	It would be washed.
CONTINUOUS	Present	It is being washed.
	Past	It was being washed.
	Future	It will be being washed.
	Conditional	It would be being washed.
PERFECT SIMPLE	Present	It has been washed.
	Past	It had been washed.
	Future	It will have been washed.
	Conditional	It would have been washed.
PERFECT CONTINUOUS	Present	It has been being washed.
	Past	It had been being washed.
	Future	It will have been being washed.
	Conditional	It would have been being washed.

ACTIVE / PASSIVE VERB FORMS

Sentences can be active or passive. Therefore, tenses also have "active forms" and "passive forms." You must learn to recognize the difference to successfully speak English.

Active Form

In active sentences, the thing doing the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing receiving the action is the object. Most sentences are active.

[Thing doing action] + [verb] + [thing receiving action]

Examples:

PASSIVE FORM

In passive sentences, the thing receiving the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing doing the action is optionally included near the end of the sentence. You can use the passive form if you think that the thing receiving the action is more important or should be emphasized. You can also use the passive form if you do not know who is doing the action or if you do not want to mention who is doing the action.

[Thing receiving action] + [be] + [past participle of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action]

Examples:

ACTIVE / PASSIVE OVERVIEW

	ACTIVE	PASSIVE
Simple Present	Once a week, Tom cleans the house.	Once a week, the house is cleaned by Tom.
Present Continuous	Right now, Sarah is writing the letter.	Right now, the letter is being written by Sarah.
Simple Past	Sam repaired the car.	The car was repaired by Sam.
Past Continuous	The salesman was helping the customer when the thief came into the store.	The customer was being helped by the salesman when the thief came into the store.
Present Perfect	Many tourists have visited that castle.	That castle has been visited by many tourists.
Present Perfect Continuous	Recently, John has been doing the work.	Recently, the work has been being done by John.
Past Perfect	George had repaired many cars before he received his mechanic's license.	Many cars had been repaired by George before he received his mechanic's license.
Past Perfect Continuous	Chef Jones had been preparing the restaurant's fantastic dinners for two years before he moved to Paris.	The restaurant's fantastic dinners had been being prepared by Chef Jones for two years before he moved to Paris.
Simple Future will	Someone will finish the work by 5:00 PM.	The work will be finished by 5:00 PM.
Simple Future be going to	Sally is going to make a beautiful dinner tonight.	A beautiful dinner is going to be made by Sally tonight.
Future Continuous will	At 8:00 PM tonight, John will be washing the dishes.	At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes will be being washed by John.
Future Continuous be going to	At 8:00 PM tonight, John is going to be washing the dishes.	At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes are going to be being washed by John.
Future Perfect will	They will have completed the project before the deadline.	The project will have been completed before the deadline.
Future Perfect be going to	They are going to have completed the project before the deadline.	The project is going to have been completed before the deadline.
Future Perfect Continuous will	The famous artist will have been painting the mural for over six months by the time it is finished.	The mural will have been being painted by the famous artist for over six months by the time it is finished.
Future Perfect Continuous be going to	The famous artist is going to have been painting the mural for over six months by the time it is finished.	The mural is going to have been being painted by the famous artist for over six months by the time it is finished.
Used to	Jerry used to pay the bills.	The bills used to be paid by Jerry.
Would Always	My mother would always make the pies.	The pies would always be made by my mother.
Future in the Past Would	I knew John would finish the work by 5:00 PM.	I knew the work would be finished by 5:00 PM.
Future in the Past Was Going to	I thought Sally was going to make a beautiful dinner tonight.	I thought a beautiful dinner was going to be made by Sally tonight.