ASSIVE VOICE

P
yes or no QH
 PASSIVE VOICE
PASSIVE VOICE IS A GRAMMATICAL CONSTRUCTION IN
WHICH THE SUBJECT OF A SENTENCE IS THE RECIPIENT OF THE
ACTION RATHER THAN THE DOER OF THE ACTION. IN ENGLISH,
PASSIVE VOICE IS FORMED BY USING A FORM OF THE VERB
"TO BE" (SUCH AS "IS," "AM," "ARE," "WAS," "WERE," ETC.)
FOLLOWED BY THE PAST PARTICIPLE OF THE MAIN VERB.
 WH QUESTIONS
SELECT THE APPROPRIATE TENSE: DECIDE WHETHER YOU
WANT TO FORM THE QUESTION IN THE PRESENT, PAST, OR
FUTURE TENSE. THIS WILL DETERMINE THE AUXILIARY VERB
"TO BE" YOU SHOULD USE.

IDENTIFY THE MAIN VERB AND ITS PAST PARTICIPLE: THE

PAST PARTICIPLE IS THE FORM OF THE VERB USED IN THE
PASSIVE VOICE. FOR EXAMPLE, FOR THE VERB "WRITE", THE
PAST PARTICIPLE IS "WRITTEN".
WRITE THE PASSIVE VOICE QUESTION: USE THE STRUCTURE "TO
BE" + PAST PARTICIPLE + SUBJECT + COMPLEMENT (OPTIONAL).

ADD THE SUBJECT (OPTIONAL): IF YOU WANT TO FOCUS ON WHO

PERFORMS THE ACTION, YOU CAN ADD THE SUBJECT USING THE
PREPOSITION "BY" FOLLOWED BY THE NAME OR PRONOUN.

FOLLOWING THESE STEPS, WE CAN FORMULATE PASSIVE VOICE

QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH CLEARLY AND ACCURATELY.
HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF HOW TO FORMULATE PASSIVE VOICE
QUESTIONS IN DIFFERENT TENSES:
PRESENT:

ACTIVE: THEY MAKE THE CAKE.

PASSIVE QUESTION: IS THE CAKE MADE BY THEM?

PAST:

ACTIVE: HE FIXED THE CAR.

PASSIVE QUESTION: WAS THE CAR FIXED BY HIM?

FUTURE:

ACTIVE: THEY WILL CLEAN THE HOUSE.

PASSIVE QUESTION: WILL THE HOUSE BE CLEANED
REMEMBER THAT THE PASSIVE VOICE IS USED
TO FOCUS ON THE ACTION OR THE OBJECT
AFFECTED BY THE ACTION, AND THE SUBJECT
CAN BE OPTIONAL DEPENDING ON WHETHER IT
IS RELEVANT TO THE QUESTION OR NOT.