PASSIVE VOICE

In the Active Voice the subject does the action of the verb:

Patty makes dinner every evening.

Architects design houses.

The policeman arrested the thief.

The DIRECT OBJECT (D.O.) receives the action of the verb.

What is a DIRECT OBJECT?

ASK A QUESTION: Who /What + do/did + subject + verb?

Examples:
I bought a book.
Question: what did I buy?
Answer: a book
“a book” is the direct object

We ate hamburgers for dinner last night.

Question: What did we eat?
Answer: hamburgers
“hamburgers” is the direct object

Patty makes dinner every evening. (What does she make?)

Architects design houses. (What do architects design?)

The policeman arrested the thief. (Who did the policeman arrest?)

In the active voice, you give more importance to the SUBJECT.

makes dinner every evening.

design houses.

arrested the thief.

In the PASSIVE VOICE the subject does NOT do the action of the verb:

FORMULA: verb to be + past participle (regular verbs = base + ed)

(irregular verbs = 3rd column)

Verb to be Past participle

Simple present am*
tense: is Past participle
are

Simple past was

tense: were Past participle

Simple future will be Past participle

tense:
Present am, is, are Past participle
progressive being
Past progressive was, were Past participle
being
Present perfect have, has been Past participle

Mechanics:

SUBJECT VERB D.O. COMPLEMENT

Active voice: Patty makes dinner every evening.

SUBJECT VERB AGENT COMPLEMENT

Passive voice: Dinner is made by Patty every evening.

SUBJECT VERB D.O.

Active voice: The policeman arrested the thief

SUBJECT VERB AGENT

Passive voice: The thief was arrested by the policeman

Or: The thief was arrested.

 In the passive voice the subject DOES NOT do the action of the verb.
The subject is the result of the verb, or the “victim”.
The passive voice does not give importance to the subject (we usually don’t know who
does the action).
The passive voice gives more importance to the ACTION OR THE RESULT OF THE
ACTION.
Example: academic writing, your thesis, scientific articles

More examples:

Active voice Passive voice

Bad people abandon many dogs.
People in Bolivia speak Spanish.
Juanito washes my car on Saturdays.
A famous chef will prepare my dinner tonight.
They have built many bridges in this city.
The chef is preparing a delicious meal.
The engineers were building a bridge when the
storm started.

Questions: (take a taxi!)

Active voice question Active voice statement

Passive voice question Passive voice statement

Active voice Passive voice

Do they make cars in Korea?
Did they catch the thief?
Did you do your homework?