MEETING 2

PASSIVE
In the passive, the object of an active sentence becomes the
subject of an passive sentence.

Example :
active : Marry helped the boy.
passive : the boy was helped by Marry.

“the boy” in the active sentence becomes the subject of passive

sentence. Both of those sentences have the same meaning.
Only transitive verbs (verbs that are followed by an object) are
used in the passive. It is impossible to use verb such as happen,
sleep, come, seem (intransitive verbs) in the passive.

Example:

Active : an accident happened.

Passive : none
 Some examples of active and passive sentences:

1. ACTIVE : They opens the door.

PASSIVE : The door is opened by Them

2. ACTIVE : They are opening the door.

PASSIVE : The door are being opened by them.

3. ACTIVE : They opened the door.

PASSIVE : The door was opened by them.

4. ACTIVE : They were opening the door.
PASSIVE : The door were being opened by them.

5. ACTIVE : They have opened the door.

PASSIVE : The door have been opened by them.

6. ACTIVE : They had opened the door.

PASSIVE : The door had been opened by them.

7. ACTIVE : They will open the door.

PASSIVE : The door will be opened by them
8. ACTIVE : They are going to open the door.
PASSIVE : The door is going to be opened by them.

9. ACTIVE : They will have opened the door.

PASSIVE : The door will have been opened by them.
 The use of passive sentence

1.Passive voice is often used when the agent (the doer of an action;
the subject of an active verb) is obvious, unknown, or
unnecessary:
Examples:
a. Oranges are grown in California.
b.Toyotas are made in Japan.
c.Her purse was stolen.

2. Passive voice is often used when the agent is known, but the
speaker/writer doesn’t want to mention it:
Examples:
a. She was given bad advice.
b. A mistake has been made.
3. Passive voice is often used when the agent is very general
such as people or somebody.
Examples:
English is spoken here.
The door should be locked.

4. Passive voice is often used when the speaker/writer wants to

emphasize a result:
Example:
Several thousand people were killed by the earthquake.
5. Passive voice is often used when the speaker/writer wants to
keep the same subject for two or more verbs but this would
not be possible if both verbs were the same voice (active or
passive).

For example, in a conversation about George, a speaker

would probably use sentence a below rather than sentence b
(both sentences are correct).

a. George had several interviews before he was hired by a

software company.

b. George had several interviews before a software

company hired him.
 Change these active sentences into passive:

1. The tennis club was holding a meeting at 6.30.

2. The doorway was blocked by Sheba, the dog.

3. The telephone call confused Joanne.

4. The police captured the burglar.

5. The teacher helps me

6. Somebody calls the president every day.

7. John is calling the other members.

8. Martha was delivering the documents to the department.

9. The other members have repealed the amendment.

10. The delegates had received the information before the recess.