PASSIVE VOICE

II

TYPES OF PASSIVE
VOICE:
DIRECT OBJECT
INDIRECT OBJECT
IMPERSONAL PASSIVE VOICE
PERSONAL PASSIVE VOICE

DIRECT OBJECT
For this kind of passive voice we need a transitive verb
and a direct object. A direct object is directly affected
by the action. You can find the direct object by asking
the questions: what? or whom?
My mother buys all the weekly supplies.
S
V
O

All the weekly supplies are bought by my

mother.

INDIRECT OBJECT
For this kind of passive voice we only need an
intransitive verb and an indirect object. An indirect
object answers the questions to whom?, for
whom?, for what?.
My brother has given my sister the letter.
S
V
O
O

My sister has been given the letter (by my

mother)

WHAT HAPPENS IF THERE ARE TWO

OBJECTS IN THE SAME SENTENCE?
If you find a sentence with two objects, then you
can do two types of passive voice, depending on
what you want to emphasize:
My brother has bought my sister a new toy.
S
V
In.O
D.O
A new toy has been bought for my sister by
my brother.
S
V
In.O
AGENT
My sister has been bought a new toy by my

*NOTE:
In any of these types of passive voice if the
subject in the active sentence is:
people, somebody or a personal pronoun
(he, she, I, they, etc)
we tend to omit the agent of the sentence, that
is the doer of the action.
Somebody stole her purse in the party.
Her purse was stolen in the party.

IMPERSONAL PASSIVE VOICE

For this passive voice we need to have two sentences
joined by that. The first sentence needs a mental
verb: say, think, believe, understand.
People think (that) she is very pretty
S1
S2
Since this passive voice is impersonal, we need an
impersonal subject: IT, and then, we will conjugate
the first verb into passive voice, that is the mental
verb, without changing anything from the second
sentence:

It is thought that she is very pretty.

EXAMPLES:

Mary believed
It was believed
that I was
that I was
American.
American.
People have
It has been
understood that
understood that
he is silly.
he is silly.
They say that we It is said that we
are
a couple.
are a couple.
Note: We
dont use the agent here.

PERSONAL PASSIVE
ForVOICE
this passive voice we need to have two sentences
joined by that. The first sentence needs a mental
verb: say, think, believe, understand.

People think (that) Mary knows

French
S1

V1

S2

V2

CS

Mary is thought to know French

EXAMPLES:

Mary believed that I

was American.
People have
understood that he
is silly.
They say that we
are a couple.
We think you wont
arrive on time.

I was believed to
be American.
He has been
understood to be
silly.
We are said to be a
couple.
You are thought not
to arrive on time.

Note: We dont use the agent here.