Passive Voice in English!!! This article will help you understand what the passive voice is and show you some passive voice examples.
Passive Voice
A passive sentence consists of:
- The subject
- The verb to be in the correct tense.
- The past participle of the verb needed.
- Sometimes, the agent and/ or other complements
Form: SUBJECT + VERB + “TO BE” + PAST PARTICIPLE
Passive voice examples:
- Tom painted the entire house.
-> The entire house was painted by Tom.
- The director will give you instructions.
-> Instructions will be given to you by the director.
- I will clean the house every Saturday.
-> The house will be cleaned by me every Saturday.
- Someone killed twenty civilians in the bomb explosion.
-> Twenty civilians were killed in the bomb explosion.
- Many people know Napa Valley for its excellent wines.
-> Napa Valley is known for its excellent wines.
- He was writing a letter.
-> A letter was being written by him.
- Michael is baking a brownie.
-> A brownie is being baked by Michael.
Active vs Passive Voice Examples
Active vs passive voice examples for different tenses in English.
Each tense has its own passive voice which is created by using a form of the auxiliary verb to be + V3 (past participle).
Present Simple
Active: I read an interesting novel.
Passive: An interesting novel is read.
Present Continuous
Active: Mother is cooking lunch in the kitchen.
Passive: Lunch is being cooked in the kitchen.
Past Simple
Active: Leonardo Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa.
Passive: The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci.
Past Continuous
Active: The salesman was helping the customer when the thief came into the store.
Passive: The customer was being helped by the salesman when the thief came into the store.
Present Perfect
Active: Mark has tricked me.
Passive: I have been tricked by Mark
Past Perfect
Active: She had done the drawing of her mother.
Passive: The drawing of her mother had been done by her.
Future Simple
Active: The director will give you instructions.
Passive: Instructions will be given to you by the director.
Future Be Going to
Active: Their children are going to learn English.
Passive: English is going to be learned by their children.
Modals
Active: She must deliver the letters.
Passive: The letters must be delivered.
Verbs that have no object cannot be put into the passive, such as, arrive, come, die, exist, go, happen, have, live, occur sleep, …All of the rules for passive negatives and questions are the same as for the active voice.
Active vs Passive Voice for All Tenses | Infographic
Active and Passive Verb Tenses
Last Updated on October 25, 2023
Mine is a question about verb voices. In french we have 3 voices of verbs (Active, Passive and Pronominal). How many do we have in English?
Thaks for your reply.
John
Mine is a question about verb voices. In french we have 3 voices of verbs (Active, Passive and Pronominal). How many do we have in English?
Thanks for your reply.
John
fuck you
Thank you so much!!