Passive Voice

Active Voice It is the most common. It follows the order: Subject, verb, and object. Example: Mr. White teaches math and English.

Passive voice Example: English and math are taught by Mr. White. The passive voice reverses that order. The object replaces the subject. The verb is changed with the auxiliary BE. The doer isn’t important and can be removed. The passive exists in all the tenses. Example: English and math are taught by Mr. White.

Verb Formation simple present Mary helps the boy . The boy is helped by Mary. pres. progressive Mary is helping the dog. The dog is being helped by Mary. present perfect Mary has helped the dog The dog has been helped by Mary. simple past Mary helped the dog. The dog was helped by Mary. past progressive Mary was helping the dog. The dog was being helped by Mary. past perfect Mary had helped the dog. The dog had been helped by Mary. simple future Mary will help the dog. The dog will be helped by Mary.

Formation Be + the past participle. Be can be in any form : am, is, are, was, were, has been, have been, will be, etc.,

Let’s practice Peter gave the speech. Mrs. Brown sings the national anthem. David will lead the discussion. The teacher has helped Joe. The secretary is copying some letters. Bob must mail the letter.

Transitive/Instransitive Verbs Transitive verbs are verbs that can be followed by an object. Intransitive verbs such as happen, sleep, come, seem can’t be used with the passive voice.

By Phrase It is usually used to know who performs the action. No by-phrase is used when you don’t know or don’t care about who performed the action.

Let’s practice They grow coffee in Brazil. They sold all the tickets. Johannes Gutenburg invented the printing press in 1444. My uncle grows these delicious tomatoes.

The End