Passive Voice

 PASSIVE VOICE

Definition :

Description

A passive voice construction is a grammatical voice construction that is found in many languages. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the theme or patient of the main verb – that is, the person or thing that undergoes the action or has its state changed.

Passive voice is a grammatical construction (grammatical form) in which the subject sentence does not take action, but instead receives action (as a receiver of action ). The action is followed up by  another agent (as a doer of action ) who can be mentioned or not. In contrast to the active voice , the subject is directly related to the verb  by acting as the actor of the action. Active sentences may be changed to passive, especially active sentences that use a transitive verb (need to be followed by a  direct object ).

 

Passive Voice function

In English lessons, passive voice is a sentence whose function is often underestimated. In fact, there are several functions of the passive voice that are crucial and cannot be replaced by the active voice. If you use active when passive is needed, you gonna embarrass yourself! You can see more about the passive voice function as follows.

To explain sentences where the subject is an inanimate object

The first function of the passive voice is to explain sentences whose subject cannot do a verb. Or in short, if the subject is an inanimate object. What is meant by inanimate objects here is not only physical objects, but also abstract objects, such as thoughts, values, feelings, and the like.

Example:

§  Those buildings were ruined by weather anomaly (passive voice)

§  The weather anomaly ruined those buildings (active voice)

Now try to compare the two examples above, the first sentence uses the passive voice and the second uses the opposite. At first glance, there is no obvious difference between the two sentences of the passive and active voice. In fact, the first sentence is easier to read than the second sentence. Especially if the sentence above is included in a news or report.

To Describe an Event for which the Perpetrator is Unknown

The second function of the passive voice is to explain a sentence whose subject is not known with certainty. Due to this, the object of the final sentence has to be the subject in order for the sentence to be understood.

Example:

§  My wallet was stolen when I strolled on this way (passive)

§  Someone stole my wallet when I strolled on this way (active)

Literally, the two examples above make sense , but the second sentence seems less effective. So since the culprit is unknown, it's better to use the first sentence which uses the passive voice form.

To describe an event whose object is more important than the subject

The third function of the passive voice is to describe events that focus on the object, not on the subject. This means that the object of the sentence is much more important to discuss than the subject.

This type of sentence can be found in scholarly presentations or other focused discussions. So for example, there is a meeting with the aim of reviewing "robots with human intelligence". So the focus of the meeting was a discussion of the object "robots with human intelligence".

Example:

§  The experiment is conducted between June and September 2019 in Komodo Island, Indonesia (passive)

§  We conducted the experiment between June and September 2019 in Komodo Island, Indonesia (active)

The focus of the two examples above is actually the same, namely telling about an experiment. However, if the second sentence is used, it is as if the focus is the activities of the person conducting the experiment, not the experiment. From this alone it is clear that in this condition, the passive voice is more appropriate.

To Describe Two Events in One Sentence

Well, here comes the passive voice function that people rarely talk about! The passive voice can be used in sentences that want to include two or more verbs. One goal: so that the sentence sounds varied. Now as an example, try to compare the two sentences below:

Example:

§  When Faza went to school, some punk kids beat her and confiscate her pocket money

§  When Faza went to school, she was beaten and her pocket money is confiscated by some punk kids

Again, the two sentences above do not have a significant difference. However, for storytelling, generally the sentence form like the second example is preferred.

Passive Voice Formulas :

The passive voice is  formed from the auxiliary verb and past participle (verb-3).

 

auxiliary verb + past participle

 

Auxiliary verbs  used in passive voice can be:

·         primary auxiliary verb  "be" (is, are, am, was, were),

·         a combination of two primary auxiliary verbs  (is / are being, was / were being, has / have been), or

·         combination of  primary auxiliary verb and  modal auxiliary verb  (will be, will have been)

 

The  past participle used is a transitive verb . Past participles are  obtained by adding -ed, -en, -d, -t, -n, or -ne to the  base form, which  are  regular verbs . In the  base form, it is  an  irregular verb , the  past participle  is inconsistent.

 

1. Simple Present Tense

Aktif : S + do/does + V1
Pasif : S + to be (am, are, is) + V3 + by + O
example:
Aktif : Students speak English
Pasif : English is spoken by students

2.Present Continuous Tense

Aktif : S + to be (am, are, is) + V1-ing + O
Pasif : S + to be (am, are, is) + being + V3 + by + O
example :
Aktif : Students is speaking English
Pasif : English is being spoken by students

3. Present Perfect Tense

Aktif : S + have/has + V3 + O
Pasif : S + have/has + been + V3 + by + O
example :
Aktif : Students have spoken English
Pasif : English has been spoken by students

4. Present Perfect Continuous Tense

Aktif : S + have/has + been + V1-ing + O
Pasif : S + have/has + been + being + V3 + by + O
example :
Aktif : Students have been speaking English
Pasif : English has been being spoken by students

 5. Simple Past Tense

Aktif : S + V2 + O
Pasif : S + to be (was, were) + V3 + by + O
example :
Aktif : Students spoke English
Pasif : English was spoken by students

6. Past Continuous Tense

Aktif : S + to be (was, were) + V1-ing + O
Pasif : S + to be (was, were) + being + V3 + by + O
example :
Aktif : Students were speaking English
Pasif : English was being spoken by students

7. Past Perfect Tense

Aktif : S + had not + V3 + O
Pasif : S + had + been + V3 + by + O
example :
Aktif : Students had spoken English
Pasif : English had been spoken by students

8. Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Aktif : S + had + been + V1-ing + O
Pasif : S + had + been + being + V3 + by + O
example :
Aktif : Students had been speaking English
Pasif : English had been being spoken by students

9. Simple Future Tense

Aktif : S + will not + V1 + O
Pasif : S + will be + V3 + by + O
example :
Aktif : Students will speak English
Pasif : English will be spoken by students

10. Future Continuous Tense

Aktif : S + will + be + V1-ing + O
Pasif : S + will + be + being + V3 + by + O
example :
Aktif : Students will be speaking English
Pasif : English will be being spoken by students

11. Future Perfect Tense

Aktif : S + will + have + V3 + O
Pasif : S + will + have + been + V3 + by + O
example :
Aktif : Students will have spoken English
Pasif : English will have been spoken by students

12. Future Perfect Continuous Tense

Aktif : S + will + have + been + V1-ing + O
Pasif : S + will + have + been + being + V3 + by + O
example :
Aktif : Students will have been speaking English
Pasif : English will have been being spoken by students

13. Simple Future Past Tense

Aktif : S + would +  V1 + O
Pasif : S + would + be + V3 + by + O
example :
Aktif : Students would speak English
Pasif : English would be spoken by students

14.   Future Past Continuous Tense

Aktif : S + would + be + V1-ing + O
Pasif : S + would + be + being + V3 + by + O
example :
Aktif : Students would be speaking English
Pasif : English would be being spoken by students

15.   Future Past Perfect Tense

Aktif : S + would + have + V3 + O
Pasif : S + would + have + been + V3 + by + O
example :
Aktif : Students would have spoken English
Pasif : English would have been spoken by students

16.   Future Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Aktif : S + would + have + been + V1-ing + O
Pasif : S + would + have + been +being + V3 + by + O
example :
Aktif : Students would have been speaking English
Pasif : English would have been being spoken by students

Changing Active Voice to Passive Voice

 

Active or normal voice can be transformed into a passive voice  (the process is called passivization ) with the following scheme.

 

active voice	passive voice
subject (doer of action) + action verb + object (receiver of action)	subject (receiver of action) + auxiliary verb + past participle (verb) +/- by ... (doer of action)

 

The doer of action (actor action) expressed in by-phrase in the passive voice is usually not mentioned. The term construction of sentences in  passive voice  which the actor does not mention is short passive or agentless passive . The reasons are, among others, because the perpetrators of the action are unknown, unimportant or interesting, to avoid responsibility, or sentences constitute academic writing , especially those related to  science  (science).

 

Passive Voice Formulas for various tenses

 

tense	active voice	passive voice
simple present tense	verb-1	am / is / are + verb-3
present continuous tense	am / is / are + -ing	am / is / are + being + -ing
present perfect tense	have / has + verb-3	have / has + been + verb-3
simple past tense	verb-2	was / were + verb-3
past continuous tense	was / were + -ing	was / were + being + verb-3
past perfect tense	had + verb-3	had + been + verb-3
simple future tense	will + bare infinitive	will + be + verb-3
	am / is / are going to + bare infinitive	am / is / are going to + be + verb-3
future perfect tense	will + have + verb-3	will + have + been + verb-3

Examples of Passive Voice Sentences in Several Tenses

1	I am paid in dollars.  (I get paid in dollars.) Simple present tense
2	My shoes are washed every month.  (All my shoes are washed monthly.) Simple present tense
3	The book was edited by Beatrice Sparks.  (The book is edited by Beatrice Sparks.)  Simple past tense
4	The store will be closed .  (The shop will be closed.) Simple future tense
5	The room is being cleaned now.  (The room is being cleaned now.) Present continuous tense

 

Passive Voice Form

Passive Voice Forms With Tenses

The passive voice or active voice in English consists of two elements, namely the appropriate form of the verb to be + past participle

Examples of sentence forms:

• Singular
• positive sentence: The house was built in 2010
• negative sentence: The house was not built in 2010
• Question: Was the house built in 2010?
• Negative question sentence: Was not the house built in 2010?

• Plural
• positive sentence: These houses were built in 2010
• negative sentence: These houses were not built in 2010
• Interview: Were these houses built in 2010?
• Negative question sentence: Were not these houses built in 2010?

Example sentences using the word Clean

·        Present Tense: "The school is cleaned everyday"

·        Present Continuous Tense: "The school is being cleaned at the moment"

·        Past Tense: “The school was cleaned two days ago”

·        Past Continuous Tense: "The school was being cleaned last month"

·        Present Perfect Tense: "The school has been cleaned since they left"

·        Past Perfect Tense: “The school had been cleaned before they arrived”

·        Future Continuous Tense: "The school will be being cleaned if we had the ceremony"

·        Future Tense: "The school will be cleaned tomorrow"

Forms of passive voice with infinitives

The passive infinitive is  used after a modal verb (modal verb) and other verbs are generally followed by an infinitive .

Example sentence: "Raisa wants to be invited to the party"

Form the passive voice with the gerund

The gerund is used after a preposition or preposition, and verbs are usually followed by a gerund .

Example: "Most Artists hate being interviewed "

Form of passive voive with to be born

The to be born  form is the passive form that is usually used in the past tense form . However, in some cases it can also be used in the present and future tense forms .

Example: "My sister was born in 2016".

Passive Voice Sentences and Examples

1.   Passive voice is used when the doer of action  is unknown.

 

Examples of Active and Passive Voice Sentences

Active	Passive
Someone knocked on your door last night. (Someone knocked on your door last night.)	Your door was knocked on last night.  (Knocked on your door last night.)
Somebody has used the computer without permission.  (Someone has used the computer without permission.)	The computer has been used without permission.  (The computer has been used without permission.)

 

2.   Passive voice is used when the doer of action is not important to mention (for example, because the actor of the action is clear / predictable or refers to people in general).

 

Examples of Active and Passive Voice Sentences

Active	Passive
You can view the final results on the internet.  (You can see the final results on the internet.)	The final results can be viewed on the web.  (The final result can be viewed on the internet.)
People rarely do  this intentionally.  (People rarely do this on purpose.)	This is  rarely  done intentionally.  (This is rarely done on purpose.)
The teacher instructed the students to solve the math problem.  (The teacher orders the students to solve math problems.)	The students were instructed to solve the math problem.  (Students are ordered to solve math problems.)

 

3.   Passive voice is used to emphasize objects .

 

Examples of Active and Passive Voice Sentences

Active	Passive
Sunmark Press published The Enzyme Factor at the first time in 2005.  (Sunmark Press published  The Enzyme Factor for the first time in 2005.)	The Enzyme Factor was published at the first time in 2005 by Sunmark Press.  (The Enzyme Factor was first published in 2005.)
I have to collect more than 20,000 dollars to buy the car.  (I had to raise over $ 20,000 to buy that car.)	More than 20,000 dollars have to be collected to buy the car.  (Over $ 20,000 had to be raised to buy the car.)

 

4.   The passive voice is used as a variation on writing (for example, the actor in the action has been mentioned in the previous sentence).

 

Examples of Active and Passive Voice Sentences

Active	Passive
The investigators knew that she had returned to Indonesia. They arrested her yesterday.  (Investigators know he has returned to Indonesia. They detained him yesterday.)	The investigators knew that she had returned to Indonesia. She  was arrestedyesterday.  (Investigators know that he has returned to Indonesia. He was detained yesterday.)

 

Exceptions to Transitive Verbs

Not all transitive verbs , verbs that have a direct object , can be passive. Some verbs like  have , become , lack , look like , and  mean  sound unnatural when they are passive.

 

Examples of Unsaidable Verb Sentences

I have a great new idea.  (I have a great idea.)		cannot be passive to be A great new idea is had by me .
It contains only natural ingredients.  (It only contains natural ingredients.)		Cannot be passive ingredients are contained by it .

 for more details, please watch the video about passive voice below

watch my video on youtube!

https://youtu.be/DEiBUOqR6n4