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    Construction of The Passive Voice

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    Kevin Hernandez Cruz
    The document discusses the passive voice in English grammar. It explains that the passive voice is less common than the active voice but is sometimes needed. It provides the structure of the passive voice as subject + auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (past participle). Examples are given and it discusses when the passive voice is used, such as to emphasize the object or when the subject is unknown. It also explains how to conjugate verbs in the passive voice in different tenses by changing the auxiliary verb.

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    Construction of The Passive Voice

    Uploaded by

    Kevin Hernandez Cruz
    14 views2 pages
    The document discusses the passive voice in English grammar. It explains that the passive voice is less common than the active voice but is sometimes needed. It provides the structure of the passive voice as subject + auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (past participle). Examples are given and it discusses when the passive voice is used, such as to emphasize the object or when the subject is unknown. It also explains how to conjugate verbs in the passive voice in different tenses by changing the auxiliary verb.

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    Passive Voice

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    The document discusses the passive voice in English grammar. It explains that the passive voice is less common than the active voice but is sometimes needed. It provides the structure of the passive voice as subject + auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (past participle). Examples are given and it discusses when the passive voice is used, such as to emphasize the object or when the subject is unknown. It also explains how to conjugate verbs in the passive voice in different tenses by changing the auxiliary verb.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    14 views2 pages

    Construction of The Passive Voice

    Uploaded by

    Kevin Hernandez Cruz
    The document discusses the passive voice in English grammar. It explains that the passive voice is less common than the active voice but is sometimes needed. It provides the structure of the passive voice as subject + auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (past participle). Examples are given and it discusses when the passive voice is used, such as to emphasize the object or when the subject is unknown. It also explains how to conjugate verbs in the passive voice in different tenses by changing the auxiliary verb.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 2

    Passive Voice

    The passive voice is less usual than the active voice. The active voice is the "normal" voice. But sometimes we
    need the passive voice. In this lesson we look at how to construct the passive voice, when to use it and how to
    conjugate it.

    Construction of the Passive Voice


    The structure of the passive voice is very simple:

    subject + auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (past participle)


    The main verb is always in its past participle form.
    Look at these examples:

    subject

    auxiliary verb (to


    be)

    main verb (past


    participle)

    Water

    is

    drunk

    by everyone.

    100
    people

    are

    employed

    by this company.

    am

    paid

    in euro.

    We

    are

    paid

    in dollars.

    Are

    they

    paid

    in yen?

    not

    Use of the Passive Voice


    We use the passive when:

    we want to make the active object more important


    we do not know the active subject
    subject

    verb

    object

    give importance to active object (President


    Kennedy)

    President Kenn
    edy

    was killed

    by Lee Harvey Oswald


    .

    active subject unknown

    My wallet

    has been stolen


    .

    Note that we always use by to introduce the passive object (Fish are eaten by cats).
    TIP:
    Look at this sentence:
    He was killed with a gun.
    Normally we use by to introduce the passive object. But the gun is not the active
    subject. The gun did not kill him. He was killed by somebody with a gun. In the active
    voice, it would be: Somebody killed him with a gun. The gun is the instrument.

    Somebody is the "agent" or "doer".

    Conjugation for the Passive Voice


    We can form the passive in any tense. In fact, conjugation of verbs in the passive tense is rather easy, as the
    main verb is always in past participle form and the auxiliary verb is always be. To form the required tense, we
    conjugate the auxiliary verb. So, for example:

    present simple: It is made


    present continuous: It is being made
    present perfect: It has been made

    Here are some examples with most of the possible tenses:


    infinitive

    simpl
    e

    to be washed

    present

    It is washed.

    past

    It was washed.

    future

    It will be washed.

    conditional

    It would be
    washed.

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