DEFINING PASSIVE VOICE

Voice used to change the emphasis

In an active sentence, the subject is the person or thing

that performs the action.
Example: Shakespeare wrote Romeo Juliet.
When we turn this into a passive sentence, the object
of the verb becomes the subject.
Example: Romeo Juliet was written by Shakespeare
 STRUCTURE
PASSIVE VOICE
Object + action + place + time +(BY subject)
 I am affected by the situation.
 You were invited to a party.
 My computer has been repaired at home.

ACTIVE VOICE
Subject + action + place + time
 The situation affected me
 They invited you to a party
 Someone has repaired my computer at home
 ACTIVE VS PASSIVE

SIMPLE TENSES ACTIVE SIMPLE TENSES PASSIVE

 Subject + verb + object + place + Object + action + place + time+(BY
time subject)

Ellie caught the bank The bank robbers were

robbers. caught by Ellie
Collectors buy almost Almost everything is
everything. bought by the collectors
They will compare the The exercises will be
exercises compared
 PASSIVE VOICE USAGE
We use the passive voice because :
The subject is very long :
 The robbery was reported by a homeless person
spending the night at the bus station
We don´t know or care who does the action.
 The walls are painted white
The action itself is more important than who did it.
 My car has been stolen
It is obvious who did something
 The robbers will be found and arrested