Passive Voice

A. Definition

A passive construction occurs when you make the object of an action into the subject of a sentence. That is, whoever or whatever is performing the action is not the grammatical subject of the sentence. Take a look at this passive rephrasing of a familiar joke

B. Example Passive Voice

Tense                 Active                                   Passive
Simple Present   We take a cake                   A cake is taken by us
Simple Past       We took a cake                   A cake was taken by us
Simple Future    We will take a cake             A cake will be taken by us
Present Perfect  We has taken a cake           A cake has been taken by us
Past Perfect      We had taken a cake            A cake had been taken by us
Going to-future  We are going to take a cake in the table A cake is going to taken by us in the table

When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:

 the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence

 the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle)

 the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped)

C. Agent

In a passive clause, we usually use a phrase beginning with by if we want to mention the agent - the person or thing that does the action, or that causes what happens.ExaMples:

 My mother makes sandwich every morning.

Subject + verb1 + s/es + O + C (adv. of time)

 Sandwich is made by my mother every morning.

Subject + to be + V3 + Agent + C (adv. of time)

If you want to change an active sentence which has two objects into its passive forms, there are two ways:

1. Make its indirect object into the subject of the passive sentence.

2. Make its direct object into the subject of the passive sentence.

Example :

Active :

John is giving his girl-friend a bunch of flower.

indirect object direct object

Passive :

The indirect object as the subject

John’s girl-friend is being given a bunch of flower.

Passive :

The direct object as the subject

A bunch of flower is being given to John’s girl-friend.