ACTIVE TO PASSIVE VOICE Maldives Business School

OBJECTIVES
- Understand the 2 main rules for converting sentences into passive voice
- Understand all tenses while converting sentences into passive voice
- Understand the use of ‘auxiliary verb’ in passive voice
2 RULES
There are two basic rules for converting from active into passive voices, that apply to
all tenses.
1. The places of the subject and the object in a sentence are interchanged for
converting active voice into passive voice.
2. Only 3rd form of the verb (e.g., written) is used as the main verb in passive voice.
WHAT IS AUXILIARY VERB?
An auxiliary verb (or a helping verb as it's also called) is used with a main verb to
help express the main verb's tense, mood, or voice.
The main auxiliary verbs are to be, to have, and to do. They appear in the following
forms:
To Be: am, is, are, was, were, being, been, will be
To Have: has, have, had, having, will have
To Do: does, do, did, will do

Note: The use of auxiliary verb differs for each tense.

PRESENT INDEFINITE TENSE
PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE
PRESENT PERFECT TENSE
PAST INDEFINITE TENSE
PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE
PAST PERFECT TENSE
FUTURE INDEFINITE TENSE
FUTURE PERFECT TENSE
EXERCISE!