INGLÉS TÉCNICO II Tecnicatura Universitaria en Granja y Producción Avícola

Trad. Prof. Ramírez M. Sofía

FCyT - UADER

PASSIVE VOICE

(Simple Present)

Verbs that cannot be used in the passive form are

usually the intransitive verbs. There are also some others that
even though they are transitive, they cannot be made passive, such
as: belong, have, lack… All these verbs are used as normal verbs.
There are not any clear rules about this topic, therefore it is
necessary to learn by experience which verbs cannot be used in the
passive form.

The most commonly used intransitive verbs are: arrive, go, lie…

For example:

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INGLÉS TÉCNICO II Tecnicatura Universitaria en Granja y Producción Avícola
Trad. Prof. Ramírez M. Sofía
FCyT - UADER

— “John has low blood pressure.”

— “My dog lies on the floor all day.”

List of Intransitive Verbs (never passive)

¹Usually intransitive except for: cry "cry me a river" (behave like a drama queen); cough
"cough up the money" (pay, even if you don't want to); had "He had me at 'hello'" (captivated)
"I was had". (tricked); revolt "Their behavior revolted me." (disgusted); smile "She smiled an
approval." (conveyed); vomit "the volcano vomited flames" (emitted), "He vomited his dinner."
(ejected stomach contents)

²awake (trans. and intrans.) – I awoke / I awoke her.

³happen (intrans.) – *An idea happened. But: We happened upon an idea. We came across
an idea. ("unexpectedly discovered/occurred") It happens that we saw him this morning. ("by
chance").

Object Pronouns in the Passive Voice

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INGLÉS TÉCNICO II Tecnicatura Universitaria en Granja y Producción Avícola
Trad. Prof. Ramírez M. Sofía
FCyT - UADER

Active VS Passive
Active voice means that a sentence has a subject that acts upon
its verb. Passive voice means that a subject is a recipient of a verb’s
action. You may have learned that the passive voice is weak and
incorrect, but it isn’t that simple. When used correctly and in moderation,
the passive voice is fine.

ACTIVE VOICE
When the subject of a sentence performs the verb’s action, we say that
the sentence is in the active voice. Sentences in the active voice have a
strong, direct, and clear tone. Here are some short and straightforward
examples of active voice.

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INGLÉS TÉCNICO II Tecnicatura Universitaria en Granja y Producción Avícola
Trad. Prof. Ramírez M. Sofía
FCyT - UADER

ACTIVE VOICE EXAMPLES

Monkeys adore bananas.
Bananas are adored by monkeys

He adores her
She is adored by him

The cashier counted the money.

The dog chased the squirrel.

All three sentences have a basic active voice construction: subject, verb,
and object. The subject monkey performs the action described by adore.
The subject the cashier performs the action described by counted. The
subject the dog performs the action described by chased. The subjects
are doing, doing, doing—they take action in their sentences. The active
voice reminds us of the popular Nike slogan, “Just Do It.”

PASSIVE VOICE

A sentence is in the passive voice, on the other hand, when the subject is
acted on by the verb. The passive voice is always constructed with a
conjugated form of to be plus the verb’s past participle. Doing this usually
generates a preposition as well. That sounds much more complicated
than it is—passive voice is actually quite easy to detect. For these
examples of passive voice, we will transform the three active sentences
above to illustrate the difference.

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INGLÉS TÉCNICO II Tecnicatura Universitaria en Granja y Producción Avícola
Trad. Prof. Ramírez M. Sofía
FCyT - UADER

PASSIVE VOICE EXAMPLES

Bananas are adored by monkeys.

The money was counted by the cashier.

The squirrel was chased by the dog.

Let’s take a closer look at the first pair of sentences, “Monkeys adore
bananas” and “Bananas are adored by monkeys.” The active sentence
consists of monkeys (subject) + adore (verb) + bananas (object). The
passive sentence consists of bananas (object) + are adored (a form of to
be plus the past participle adored) + by (preposition) + monkeys (subject).
Making the sentence passive flipped the structure and necessitated the
preposition by. In fact, all three of the transformed sentences above
required the addition of by.

When to use active and passive voice

Using the active voice conveys a strong, clear tone and the passive voice
is subtler and weaker. Here’s some good advice: don’t use the passive
voice just because you think it sounds a bit fancier than the active voice.

That said, there are times the passive voice is useful and called for. Take
“The squirrel is chased by the dog,” for example. That sentence
construction would be helpful if the squirrel were the focus of your writing
and not the dog.

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INGLÉS TÉCNICO II Tecnicatura Universitaria en Granja y Producción Avícola
Trad. Prof. Ramírez M. Sofía
FCyT - UADER

A good rule of thumb is to try to put the majority of your sentences in the
active voice, unless you truly can’t write your sentence in any other way.
1) READ THE SENTENCES. WRITE (A) FOR ACTIVE AND (P) FOR PASSIVE.

a. __________Michael prepares the salad

b. __________ The salad is prepared by Michael

c. __________ The package is advertised by the travel agent

d. __________ The travel agent advertises the package

2) THE SENTENCES WITH THE CORRECT FORM OF THE VERB

a. English ________________________ (speak) as a second language by a lot of people.

b. Yes, English _________________________ (understand) all over the world.

c. In Switzerland four language ________________________ (speak) but not English.

d. A lot of T-shirts _____________________________ (make) of cotton.

e. The cotton _____________________________ (grow) in America.

f. It _______________________________ (pick) by machines.

g. The cotton _____________________________ (take) to a factory.

h. The clothes ____________________________ (sell) in the USA and all over the world.

i. Cotton T-shirts ______________________________ (buy) by people who like comfortable clothes

3) READ THE TEXT AND UNDERLINE ALL THE VERBS IN SIMPLE PRESENT
PASSIVE VOICE.

Books are made on big machines. First, the writer puts words and pictures on a
computer. These are sent to a publisher, a company that makes and sells
books. There the text is carefully checked. This text is passed on to a printer
who puts the words on paper. This is done by different methods. Which

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 INGLÉS TÉCNICO II Tecnicatura Universitaria en Granja y Producción Avícola
Trad. Prof. Ramírez M. Sofía
FCyT - UADER

method is used? That depends. Some books are printed like newspapers on
huge rolls of paper. The printer makes these books quite cheaply, but in large
numbers. The pages of the book are cut by machine and are sorted into the
correct order. Then the cover is put on. Now the publishers sell the book to
bookshops and readers.
4) REWRITE THE SENTENCES IN PRESENT SIMPLE PASSIVE VOICE.

1. People drink water.

2. My mother always cuts the grass.

3. The teacher shows my marks.

4. Tim loves dogs.

5. Kate keeps postcards.

6. We save money.

7. Bill usually buys bread.

8. Children ask questions.

9. Doctors help people.

10. My grandmother makes the best pies.

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INGLÉS TÉCNICO II Tecnicatura Universitaria en Granja y Producción Avícola
Trad. Prof. Ramírez M. Sofía
FCyT - UADER