Active & Passive Voices

Agent Action Client

Agent: the person or thing that does the action

Steve Jobs invented the iPhone. Action: the verb

S V O
[Past Simple] Client: the person or thing that receives the action
V2

What’s the difference between the active and the passive voices?

Active Voice: 1) Agent + 2) Action + 3) (Client) + …

Passive Voice: 1) Client + 2) Passive Action + 3) (by + Agent) + …

When should we use the passive voice?

1. When we want to change the focus of the sentence from the Agent to the Client.
2. When the Agent is unknown or unimportant.

What happens to the action in the passive voice?

The verb in the active à [BE] + [Verb 3]

copies the of the main

form of the verb in the
active verb active
sentence

The iPhone was invented by Steve Jobs.

S V C

More Examples:

• They speak Arabic in Yemen. [V1]

® Arabic is spoken in Yemen.

• They are selling the new iPhone for $1000. [am/is/are + Gerund]
® The new iPhone is being sold for $1000.

• My neighbors have cleaned the garden of our building. [have/has + V3]

® The garden of our building has been cleaned (by my neighbors).

• Bob will fix my computer tomorrow. [will + Base Form]

® My computer will be fixed (by Bob) tomorrow.

• They will have cleaned our hotel room before we arrive. [will + have + V3]
S V O C
® Our hotel room will have been cleaned before we arrive.
Causative Form with “Have”

Bob cooked dinner last night.

Q: Who cooked dinner last night?

A: Bob did.

Bob had his roommate cook dinner last night. ß This is called “Causative Form.”

Q: Who cooked dinner last night?

A: Bob’s roommate cooked dinner.
Q: Who asked the roommate to cook dinner?
A: Bob asked him.

Notes:

1. The causative form is created with the help of a causative verb. In the previous example,
the causative verb was “had.”
2. In causative forms, there are two clauses:
a. the introduction clause, which contains the causative verb
b. the causative verb’s clause, which can be either active or passive
3. If the causative verb’s clause is active, the pattern will be:
Agent + Base Form + Client + …
Example: Bob had his roommate cook dinner last night.

4. If the causative verb’s clause is passive, the pattern will be:

Client + V3 + (by Agent) + …
Example: Bob had dinner cooked by his roommate last night.
The Formal (Impersonal) Passive [used in the news]

1. Using an ‘It’ clause

o They think (that) the manager will quit soon.
S + V S + V + C

Introductory O (The Object is a Clause)

Clause

We change the introductory clause to the passive with ‘it’:

® It is thought (that) the manager will quit soon. (‘It’ refers to the Object Clause.)

o Some people believe that black cats bring bad luck.

® It is believed that black cats bring bad luck.

2. Using [S2 + V(a): Passive + V(b): Infinitive + …] for the present & future times
o They think (that) the manager will quit soon.
S1 + V(a) S2 + V(b) + C

® The manager is thought to quit soon.

o Some people believe that black cats bring bad luck.

® Black cats are believed to bring bad luck.

3. Using [S2 + V(a): Passive + V(b): to have + V3 + …] for the past time

o They say (that) the manager resigned yesterday.

S1 + V(a) S2 + V(b) + C

® The manager is said to have resigned yesterday.

o People believed that aliens built the pyramids.

® Aliens were believed to have built the pyramids.