145. PASSIVE VERB FORMS

ACTIVE AND 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 (such as Our troops defeated the enemy) appears as the subject of a sentence with passive voice (e.g. The enemy was defeated by our troops).

     The subject of a sentence or clause featuring the passive voice typically 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.

    For example, Caesar was stabbed by Brutus uses the passive voice. The subject denotes the person (Caesar) affected by the action of the verb. The agent is expressed here with the phrase by Brutus, but this can be omitted. The equivalent sentence in active voice is Brutus stabbed Caesar, in which the subject denotes the doer, or agent, Brutus. A sentence featuring the passive voice is sometimes called a passive sentence, and a verb phrase in passive voice is sometimes called a passive verb.

1.      Simple Present Tense

       S + To be (Is, am, are) + Verb III + by + O

       Example :

·         His motor cycle is repaired by me there.

·         His car is cleaned by him steadily.

·         You are helped by her to clean your room.

2.      Simple Past Tense

      S + Was / Were + Verb III + by + O

      Example :

·         You were waited by her for two hours.

·         Some pudding was made by us yesterday.

·         The match was watched by them yesterday.

3.      Simple Future Tense

      S + Shall / Will + be + Verb III + by + O

                  Example :

·         Our friend will be visited  by us in the hospital.

·         The examination will be followed by  them next week.

·         The cake will be eaten by him.

             4.      Present Continous Tense

                   S + is,  am, here + being + Verb III + by + O

                   Example :

·         My work is being finished by me now.

·         Flower is being planted by us in the school yard.

·         Her fishes are being stolen by her friend

             5.      Present Perfect Tense

                   S + have / has + been + Verb III + O

                   Example :

·         The training has been followed by us.

·         My magazine have been sold by them.

·          Your home work has been done by me.

Change the verb to the active voice and rewrite the sentence. Be sure to keep the same tense. In some cases, it will be necessary to supply a subject (see the second example).

1.      The books were taken by John.

         John took the books.

2.      The boxes were mailed today.

         He mailed the boxes today.

3.      The two packages were opened by my secretary.

         My secretary opened the two packages.

4.      Our homework is corrected by our teacher.

         Our teacher corrects our homework.

5.      Two buildings have been constructed by that company.

         That company had constructed two buildings.

6.      That room wasn’t cleaned carefully yesterday.

         He didn’t clean that room carefully yesterday.

7.      The truck is being loaded by the men now.

         The men are loading the truck now.

8.      Was that machine checked by the inspector?

         Did the inspector check that machine?

9.     Will that report be written by the same committee?

        Will the same committee write that report?

10.   Has the news been announced by the president yet?

        Has the president announced the news yet?

11.   The mail is delivered to this office twice a day.

        This office receives the mail twice a day.

12.   All of us were surprised by his frank attitude.

        His frank attitude surprised all of us.

13.   Was the repair work done by the mechanic?

        Did the mechanic do the repair work?

14.   He wasn’t very much respected by the employees.

        The employees didn’t respect him very much.

15.   Are many courses in English given during the summer?

        Are they giving many courses in English during the summer?