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THE PASSIVE VOICE

THE PASSIVE VOICE. Slides 1 – 6 taken from learningcenter.fiu.edu. What is Active Voice?. In the Active voice, the subject performs the action. For example: Joseph draws a picture. Joseph is the subject and he is doing something (drawing). What is passive voice?.

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THE PASSIVE VOICE

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  1. THE PASSIVE VOICE Slides 1 – 6 taken from learningcenter.fiu.edu

  2. What is Active Voice? • In the Active voice, the subject performs the action. For example: Joseph draws a picture. • Joseph is the subject and he is doing something (drawing).

  3. What is passive voice? • In passive voice the subject is acted upon. For example: The picture was drawn by Joseph. In this case, the drawing is the subject and it is being acted upon by Joseph.

  4. When to use passive voice • Use passive voice when you do not wish to emphasize the subject of the sentence. Example: • Smoking is prohibited. (passive) • The management prohibits smoking. (active) The passive sentence takes attention away from management, so they do not have to be in the role of the “bad guys.”

  5. Passive Voice (con’d) • Also use passive voice when you wish to emphasize what happened and the person or thing acting is unknown or unimportant. Example • Poisonous gases were found in six factories. The use of passive emphasizes the finding of gases, not who found them. Note:Because passive voice often leads to awkward or wordy constructions, use passive voice sparingly and with good reason.

  6. When to use active voice • Use active voice unless you are required or have very specific reasons for doing otherwise. • Active voice generally leads to more concise writing. • It clarifies who is performing the action. Remember: Staying active is a healthy practice, especially in your writing!

  7. Hands on Let’s use the following words as the base for our sentence: Police / question / suspect • To make the passive use the verb ‘to BE’ in the same tense as the original sentence. • To make the passive, use the 3rd form or past participle of the main verb. • If you need to mention who is doing the action, use ‘by’ to introduce it.

  8. Present simple Police / question / suspect To make the passive use the verb ‘to BE’ in the same tense as the original sentence – here it is the present simple tense ACTIVE VOICE: by the police. The police question the suspect. The suspect PASSIVE VOICE is questioned If you need to mention who is doing the action, use ‘by’ to introduce it. To make the passive, use the 3rd form or past participle of the main verb.

  9. Present continuous Police / question / suspect To make the passive use the verb ‘to BE’ in the same tense as the original sentence – here it is the present continuous ACTIVE VOICE: by the police. The police are questioning the suspect. The suspect PASSIVE VOICE is being questioned If you need to mention who is doing the action, use ‘by’ to introduce it. To make the passive, use the 3rd form or past participle of the main verb.

  10. Past simple Police / question / suspect To make the passive use the verb ‘to BE’ in the same tense as the original sentence – here it is the past simple tense ACTIVE VOICE: by the police. The police questioned the suspect. The suspect PASSIVE VOICE was questioned If you need to mention who is doing the action, use ‘by’ to introduce it. To make the passive, use the 3rd form or past participle of the main verb.

  11. Past continuous Police / question / suspect To make the passive use the verb ‘to BE’ in the same tense as the original sentence – here it is the past continuous ACTIVE VOICE: The suspect by the police. The police were questioning the suspect. PASSIVE VOICE was being questioned

  12. Future Simple Police / question / suspect To make the passive use the verb ‘to BE’ in the same tense as the original sentence – here it is the past continuous ACTIVE VOICE: by the police. The police will question the suspect. The suspect PASSIVE VOICE will be questioned

  13. Future Perfect Police / question / suspect To make the passive use the verb ‘to BE’ in the same tense as the original sentence – here it is the past continuous ACTIVE VOICE: by the police. The police will have questioned the suspect. The suspect PASSIVE VOICE will have been questioned

  14. Present Perfect Police / question / suspect To make the passive use the verb ‘to BE’ in the same tense as the original sentence – here it is the past continuous ACTIVE VOICE: by the police. The police have questioned the suspect. The suspect PASSIVE VOICE has been questioned

  15. Past Perfect Simple Police / question / suspect To make the passive use the verb ‘to BE’ in the same tense as the original sentence – here it is the past continuous ACTIVE VOICE: by the police. The police had questioned the suspect. The suspect PASSIVE VOICE had been questioned

  16. Modals Present (e.g.must, can) Police / question / suspect To make the passive use the verb ‘to BE’ in the same tense as the original sentence – here it is the past continuous ACTIVE VOICE: by the police. The police must question the suspect. The suspect PASSIVE VOICE must be questioned

  17. Modals Past (e.g.must have) Police / question / suspect To make the passive use the verb ‘to BE’ in the same tense as the original sentence – here it is the past continuous ACTIVE VOICE: by the police. The police must have questioned the suspect. The suspect PASSIVE VOICE must have been questioned

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