Use of Passive
Passive
voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not
known, however, who or what is performing the action.
Example:
My bike was stolen.
In the
example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I do not know,
however, who did it.
Sometimes a
statement in passive is more polite than active voice, as the following example
shows:
Example:
A mistake was made.
In this
case, I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame anyone
(e.g. You have made a mistake.).
Form of Passive
Example:
A letter was written.
When
rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:
- the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence
- the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle)
- the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped)
Examples of Passive
|
Tense
|
Subject
|
Verb
|
Object
|
|
|
Present Progressive
|
Active:
|
Lina
|
is writing
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
is being written
|
by Lina.
|
|
|
Past Progressive
|
Active:
|
Lina
|
was writing
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
was being written
|
by Lina.
|
|
|
Past Perfect
|
Active:
|
Lina
|
had written
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
had been written
|
by Lina.
|
|
|
Future II
|
Active:
|
Lina
|
will have written
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
will have been written
|
by Lina.
|
|
|
Conditional I
|
Active:
|
Lina
|
would write
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
would be written
|
by Lina.
|
|
|
Conditional II
|
Active:
|
Lina
|
would have written
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
would have been written
|
by Lina.
|
|
Passive Sentences with Two Objects
Rewriting an
active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that one of the two
objects becomes the subject, the other one remains an object. Which object to
transform into a subject depends on what you want to put the focus on.
|
|
Subject
|
Verb
|
Object 1
|
Object 2
|
|
Active:
|
Lina
|
wrote
|
a letter
|
to me.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
was written
|
to me
|
by Lina.
|
|
Passive:
|
I
|
was written
|
a letter
|
by Lina.
|
.
As you can
see in the examples, adding by Lina does not sound very elegant. That’s
why it is usually dropped.
source :
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/passive
