The active and the passive

voice
 THE ACTIVE/PASSIVE VOICE
1-WHAT IS AN ACTIVE SENTENCE?
An active sentence is one in which the subject is the person
who does the action.Like:
« In Tinghir, most people speak Tamazight. »
2-WHAT IS A PASSIVE
SENTENCE?

A passive sentence is one in which the

subject DOES NOT DO THE ACTION.
But it RECIEVES the action.Like:

« Tamazight is spoken by most people in Tighir. »

 3-Now when do we use the
passive?
We generally prefer a passive sentence when:
 We don’t know the doer of an action:
 ‘’Ten people are killed in an explosion in Kabul’’
Who killed these people? We really don’t know!
 We don’t want to show the doer of the action:
 ‘’Ten Palestinians are killed today’’
Who killed them? Of course we all know!
We know the doer of the action, but it’s not important
to mention/say.Like:
‘’An e-mail is sent to me today’’

I know who has sent me the e-mail.But it’s not that

important to say
 EXAMPLES
ACTIVE SENTENCE
1-People speak Arabic in Morocco.
2-The government is building a new
school.
3-Moha sent me an e-mail.
4-Last week,Taliban was bombing
Kabul
5-A student has broken the window.
THE PASSIVE WITH MODALS
6-Obama will invite Aboumazen to the
White House.
7-You must Obey the rules.
PASSIVE SENTENCE
1-Arabic is spoken in Morocco.
2-A new school is being built.
3- An e-mail was sent to me.
4-Last week,Kabul was being bombed.
5-The window has been broken.
6-Aboumazen will be invited to the
White House.
7-Rules must be obeyed.
 How do we form a passive
then?
LOOK AT THE EXAMPLES ABOVE AND TRY
TO UNDERSTAND THIS CHANGE:
ACTIVE** Subject + verb + object + Ω

PASSIVE** Subject + to be +Agent+ Ω

+
verb past.
part.
DID YOU GET THE RULE?
It means exactly the following:
1*The object of an active sentence becomes the subject
of the passive one.
2*The subject of the active sentence becomes the agent
of the passive one.This means: ’’ by+ the active
subject’’.
3*IMPORTANT!!!
***Add the verb’’to be’’ in the tense/form of the
active verb.
***Put the main verb in the past participle.
 MORE ABOUT THE VERB!!
***REMEMBER THAT YOU SHOULD ADD THE VERB ‘’TO
BE’’ IN the tense/form of the main verb of the active sentence.
LOOK:
**If the main verb is in the present put ‘to be’in the
present.example 1 in the chart.
**If the main verb is in the pat,put ‘to be’ in the past.ex 3 in
the chart.
**If the main verb is in the present or past progressive ,put ‘to
be’ in the progressive form ‘being’.examples 2 and 4 in the
chart above.
WITH MODALS REMEMBER THAT THE MAIN VERB AFTER THE
MODAL IS ALWAYS IN THE INFINITIVE.SO,IN THE PASSIVE
JUST PUT « to be » in THE INFINITIVE ‘ be’
Examples 6/7 with ‘will’ and ‘must ‘ above in the chart.