PASSIVE VOICE:  Part 4

Introduction

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In today's lesson we continue our unit on PASSIVE VOICE.  This is PART 4 of our series.

If you'd like to begin with Part 1 of our series, please click here: What Is Passive Voice?

How Do I Form the Passive Voice?

 

To form the passive voice, you must always do the following two things:

  1. Use the correct form of the be verb.

  2. Use the past participle form of the main verb.

Use a form of the be verb that indicates the desired time reference. To learn how to indicate the desired time reference correctly, see section 11-4 of this chapter.

If the verb is present tense, you must of course make sure that the subject-verb agreement is correct.

Here are some examples:

  • We once demonstrated against how prisoners are treated.

  • Strict penalties are attached to crimes.

  • The teacher checks to see that the homework has been done.

  • If a student comes to school late, he is hit with a stick.

The two sentences below will explain this guideline in detail:

Active Voice Passive Voice
The mountains surround our town.
subject (plural) verb (plural) object (singular)
Our town is surrounded by mountains.
subject (singular) verb (singular) do-er of the action (plural)


In the present tense active voice sentence above (to the left):

  • the subject, mountains, is plural and so -->

  • the main verb, surround, is in 3rd person plural form, surround.

In the present tense passive voice sentence above (to the right):

  • the new subject, our town, is 3rd person singular and so -->

  • the be verb is also 3rd person singular (is)

  • the main verb, surround, is now in the past participle form, surrounded.

  • the do-er of the action, mountains, is included in a prepositional phrase, by mountains.

Next.... Chart of Passive Voice for Each Verb Tense

 

Our next lesson provides you with The Passive Voice Chart for Each Verb Tense.


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