10C - Passive Voice
When A does B, we have two possible ways of talking about it: Active or Passive.
Present Simple:
Somebody cleans the classroom every day. (Active)
The classroom is cleaned every day. (Passive)
Past Simple:
Somebody cleaned the calssroom yesterday. (Active)
The classroom was cleaned yesterday. (Passive)
The object of an active sentence is the subject of a passive sentence. In an active sentence, the subject is the “doer” of the action, and the object is the “reciever” of the action. In a passive sentence, the subject is the receiver of the action, NOT the doer.
To make it more clear: We use passive in the present when the object of the verb is more important than the subject.
Somebody broke the window.
The window was broken.
In the first sentence, “somebody” is the doer of the breaking, and in the second sentence, “the window” is the reciever of the breaking.
How do we make passive voice sentences?
- Object of the active sentence becomes subject in the passive sentence.
- subject of the active sentence becomes object in the passive sentence. (or is left out)
Note: We can only form a passive sentence from an active sentence when there is an object in the active sentence.
Present Simple:
| Type of sentence | Subject | Verb | Object |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active sentence: | Paul | builds | a house. |
| Passive sentence: | A house | is built | by Paul. |
Past Simple:
| Type of sentence | Subject | Verb | Object |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active sentence: | James | made | a film. |
| Passive sentence: | A film | was made | by James. |
Present Perfect:
| Type of sentence | Subject | Verb | Object |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active sentence: | Peter | has written | a book. |
| Passive sentence: | A book | has been written | by Peter. |
When do we use the passive voice?
The passive voice is more formal than the active, and it is more common in written language. We often use the passive when we don’t know, when it is obvious, or when we don’t want to say who or what is responsible for the action.
A bank was robbed yesterday. (Who robbed the bank? Idk)
The robber was arrested last night. (It’s the same robber, so it’s obvious.)
I was told that you insulted my brother. (If I tell you who told me, they’re going to get in trouble.)
Jurassic Park was filmed by Spielberg in 1993 (I’m talking about the movie, not about Spielberg)
Passive voice + by
we can use by to say who or what is responsible of the action.
The painting was bought by a very rich guy.
Tetris was made by Aleksei Pazintov