Passive Voice

I. Introduction In grammar, the voice of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state) and the participants (subject, object, etc.).... the active and the passive

II. Passive Form  to be + past participle  How to form a passive sentence when an active sentence is given: - 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)

III. Steps in Changing Active to Passive  a. move the direct object to the subject of the sentence  b. move the subject to the end of the sentence; add the preposition "by" before it  c. change the verb

IV. Use of Passive Voice  1. When the doer of the action is unknown  2. When the object is more famous or important than the subject  3. When the doer of the action is obvious from the context  4. When the speaker/writer wants to emphasize the receiver of the action instead of the performer.

 Only Jane was injured in the accident; the remainder of the passengers were unhurt.  5. To connect ideas in different clauses more clearly:  The executive committee approved an entirely new policy for dealing with academic suspension and withdrawal. The policy had been written by a subcommittee on student behavior.

 6. When making statements, announcements, and explanations:  a. Something should be done about the traffic jams in this town.  b. Students are asked not to smoke.  c. It's said that it's going to rain tonight.

 7. When the subject of the sentence is too long or complex.  The notion is especially opposed to by those who have invested much in the area.  It is generally considered impolite to ask one’s age, salary, marriage, etc..

 8. 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.).

 9. Passive voice is used when the speaker/writer wants to avoid responsibility for actions taken.  Thus “Cigarette ads were designed to appeal especially to children” places the burden on the ads — as opposed to “We designed the cigarette ads to appeal especially to children,” in which “we” accepts responsibility.

. 10. To make the statement more objective.  Instead of writing “I poured 20 cc of acid into the beaker,” we would write "Twenty cc of acid is/was poured into the beaker."  Engineers use the passive voice a lot, so do scientists, business people, and nearly all academics

v. The Get-passive  The word get is sometimes used instead of be to form the passive.  A. Get indicates a change in status or condition. For example,  They will get married tomorrow. (They changed from “single” to “married”)

 b. "Get" passives often mean the action occurred suddenly or unexpectedly and the "actor" places blame elsewhere.  He got killed in the accident. (Something caused him to die.)  C. The get-passive is fairly informal,usually used in spoken English.

VI. Voice Constraints  Not all the active sentences can be made passive. Three kinds of voice constraint: verb, object, meaning

6.1 Verb constraints  linking and intransitive verbs do not occur in some senses in passive, here is a brief list of such verbs: resemblelack ownwish fit cost hold becomeequalmean

 Some “verb + noun” combination, which have the force of an intransitive verb, can never take the passive:  The medicine soon take effect.  The plant will soon take root.

 Phrases formed by “Verb+particle (prepositioanl or adverb) are normally verbal idioms. They form a close unit and can not be split.  The enginneers went very carefully into the problem. We cannot say: The problem was carefully gone into by the engineers.

6.2 Object Constraints  Transitive verbs with reflexive, reciprocal and possessive objects can not be changed into passive voice.  ＊ himself could be seen, ＊ each other could be seen, ＊ my hand was shaken by the man these are all wrong.

 Transitive verbs can be followed by clausal objects. In this cases, we can not move the object to the subject place.  John thought that she was attractive. We dont say: That she was attractive was thought by John.

 When the object is an infinitive or gerund, the sentence can not be changed into passive.  John hoped to meet her. We don’t say: To meet her was hoped by John.  John enjoyed seeing her. We don’t say:Seeing her was enjoyed by John.

6.3 Meaning constraints  The meaning may differ in active and passive:  John cannot do it. where “it” expresses ability, and  It cannot be done by John, where “it” expresses possibility.

 Every schoolboy knows one joke at least, which means “Every schoolboy knows at least some joke or other.” and “One joke at least is known by every schoolboy,” which means that there is one particular joke that is known to every schoolboy.

vii. Exercises  Nobody can answer this question.  Wrong ： The question can be answered by nobody.  Correct ： The question can not be answered by anybody.

Who wrote the story?  Wrong ： Who was the story written?  Correct ： By whom was the story written?

 They haven't done anything to make the river clean.  Wrong ： Anything hasn't been done to make the river clean.  Correct ： Nothing has been done to make the river clean.