1. Passive and Active Voice

12. Active Voice
Shows the subject of the sentence is performing the action (to a receiver of action—the direct object)
The boy ate the potato.
Then he ran around the block for twenty minutes.
After that his mother scolded him.
S + V + DO

13. Passive voice
Shows the subject of the sentence is the recipient of the action
Switches the Subject and DO
The potato was eaten by the boy.
The boy ate the potato
The boy was scolded by his mother.
The mother scolded the boy.
S (DO) + V + DO (S)

14. Passive voice formula
Be verb (am, is, are, was, were, been, being, be)
Past participle of verb (-ed unless irregular)
SOMETIMES prep phrase starting with “by”

15. How to detect passive voice
If you can add “by zombies” after the verb, and it still makes sense, it’s passive voice
The money was spent
The car was hit
The boy was running.
The car was hit by the oncoming truck
The tree was knocked over by the storm

16. Practice: Passive or Active?
The librarian read the book to the students.
The employees are paid every Friday.
I washed my car three weeks ago.
His hair was cut by a professional stylist.
The national anthem is always sung at football games.

17. Uses of Passive Voice
When the real subject or causer of action is not as important and not the emphasis (and not even mentioned)
Everyday children are harmed by bus drivers
When intentionally hiding the real subject or causer of action in a sentence
Politician= Mistakes were made
When intentionally trying to minimize the guilt of the subject
The theft was committed by the young man.

18. Writing a passive voice sentence
All my time ____________ in doing homework.
The game _______________ by only two students.
The universe _________________ by God.
The homework must ________________ in on time.