If the subject denotes a person or thing performing an action, then the predicate verb is used in the form active voice. In other words, we know who is performing the action:
- He (who?) helped (what did?) me.
- Workers (who?) are repairing the bridge.
If the subject denotes a person or thing being acted upon by another person or thing, then the predicate verb is used in the form passive voice. That is, for some reason the person performing the action is omitted:
- They helped me (who? - not known).
- The bridge is being repaired.
The passive voice is used:
- When it is obvious or vice versa, it does not matter who performs the action: The food was cooked. (We don't know who prepared the food.) The skirt is being washed. (It doesn't matter who washes the skirt.)
- When the action itself is more important than its performer: The criminal will be arrested. - The criminal will be arrested.
- When the speaker wants to avoid responsibility for what was done or when the event being discussed is unpleasant and we do not want to mention the culprit: Hundreds of people were injured in the bus crash. – Hundreds of people were injured in the bus accident.
- When the emphasis is on the performers of the action: The flowers were sent by the Queen herself. – The flowers were sent by the queen herself.
- To make a statement more polite or formal: My umbrella was ruined. - My umbrella was broken (a more polite phrase for someone who broke it.)
Formation of the passive voice
The passive voice is formed using a verb to be (in the right tense) + 3rd form of the semantic verb(if the semantic verb is correct, the ending -ed is added to it).
Active Present Simple (Present simple tense)
Ann cooks supper. Ann cooks dinner (usually, always)
Supper is cooked by Ann.
Dinner is being prepared by Ann.
Present Continuous
(Present continuous tense)
Ann is cooking supper. Ann is preparing dinner (right now).
Supper is being cooked by Ann.
Dinner is being prepared by Ann (right now).
Present Perfect Simple
(The present perfect tense)
Ann has cooked supper. Ann cooked dinner (the action is related to the present)
Supper has been cooked by Ann.
Dinner was prepared by Ann.
Present Perfect Continuous
(Present perfect continuous tense)
Recently, Ann has been cooking supper. IN Lately Ann was cooking dinner (she's still cooking it)
Does not exist
Past Simple
(Past simple tense)
Ann cooked supper. Ann prepared dinner.
Supper was cooked by Ann. Dinner was prepared by Ann.
Past Continuous (Past continuous tense)
Ann was cooking supper. Ann was cooking dinner (a process that took some time in the past).
Supper was being cooked by Ann.
Dinner was prepared by Ann.
Past Perfect Simple
(Past perfect tense)
Ann had cooked supper. Ann cooked dinner (she did this before another action took place in the past, for example, the guests came after Ann cooked dinner).
Supper had been cooked by Ann.
Dinner was prepared by Ann.
Past Perfect Continuous
(Past perfect continuous tense)
Ann had been cooking supper for two years before she moved to London. Anne cooked dinner for two years until she moved to London.
Not used. Instead of this form, the passive voice uses the form Past Perfect.
Future Simple
(Future simple tense)
Ann will cook supper. Ann will cook dinner.
Supper will be cooked by Ann.
Dinner will be prepared by Ann.
Future Perfect Simple
(Future perfect tense)
Ann will have cooked supper. Anne will cook dinner (dinner will be ready until a certain point in the future).
Supper will have been cooked by Ann.
Dinner will be prepared by Ann.
Future Perfect Continuous
(Future perfect continuous tense)
Ann will have been cooking supper for three hours by the time it is finished. Ann will cook dinner for three hours until dinner is ready.
Does not exist
Future-in-the-Past
(Future tense in past)
I knew David would finish the work at 7:00 pm. I knew David would finish work by 7 pm.
I knew the work would be finished at 7:00 pm.
I knew that the work would be finished by 7 pm.
Future-in-the-Past Perfect
(Future perfect tense in past)
Ann mentioned that they should have taken me to the party. Anne remembered that they were supposed to take me to the party.
Ann mentioned that I should have been taken to the party. Ann remembered that I was supposed to be taken to a party.
Infinitive (Infinitive)
Ann has to cook supper. Ann must cook dinner.
Supper has to be cooked by Ann.
Dinner must be prepared by Ann.
Modal verbs
(Modal verbs)
Ann can cook supper. Ann can cook dinner.
Supper can be cooked by Ann. Dinner can be prepared by Ann.
Design John used to pay the bills. The bills used to be paid by John.
Design
would always
My grandmother would always make the cakes. The cakes would always be made by my grandmother. to be going to
Phoebe is going to make a beautiful supper tonight. Phoebe is going to cook a wonderful dinner tonight.
A beautiful supper is going to be made by Phoebe tonight.
A wonderful dinner will be prepared by Phoebe this evening.
Turnover to be going to+ perfect infinitive
(have + 3rd form of the verb)
Our team is going to have completed the project before the deadline. Our team is going to complete the project before the end of the appointed time.
The project is going to have been completed before the deadline. The project is scheduled to be completed before the end of the designated period.
- In order to form negation, put a negative particle not after auxiliary verb: Supper was not cooked by Ann. – Dinner was not prepared by Ann. Formation of negative and interrogative forms in the passive voice
- In order to form question in the passive voice, put the auxiliary verb first: Was supper cooked by Ann? – Was dinner prepared by Anne?
Notes:
- Only transitive verbs(verbs that have a direct object) can be in the passive voice. Active: Sarah swims every day. – Sarah swims every day (not a transitive verb, you cannot form the passive voice.)
- Some transitive verbs – ( have, fit, seem, resemble, suit, lack) do not have a passive voice form: This color suits you. - This color suits you. (This color is suited by you.)
- The performer of the action cannot be omitted if he is important: The novel was written by Agatha Christie. – The novel was written by Agatha Christie.
- IN colloquial speech when discussing unexpected events or incidents, the verb to get is used instead of the verb to be: He got hit by a car. - He was hit by a car.
- By + action performer used to denote the one who performed the action. With + tool/material/ingredient used to indicate what was used to perform an action: These photographs were taken by my friend. They were taken with a digital camera. – These photographs were taken by my friend. They were taken using a digital camera.
- If the subject in the active voice is expressed in words they, he, someone/somebody, people, one etc., then the noun denoting the performer can be omitted: People have discovered the truth. = The truth has been discovered. – The truth was revealed by people. = The truth has been revealed.
- For verbs that have two objects - bring, tell, send, show, teach, promise, sell, read, offer, give, lend, You can form two versions of the passive voice: Mark will send Mary a gift (Active). Mark will send Mary a gift. Mary will be sent a gift. - Mary will be sent a gift. (more typical form). A gift will be sent to Mary by Mark. – The gift will be sent by Mark for Mary. (less typical form)
- In questions with question words with who, whom, which by not omitted: Who gave you this letter? — Who were you given this letter by? -Who gave you this letter?
- After verbs hear, see, help and make followed by an infinitive with a particle to. He made me laugh (He made me laugh (made me laugh)). – I was made to laugh (They made me laugh).
In order to master verb forms in the passive voice, you first need to master them in the active voice. We wish you success!
Active Voice
IN active voice the subject denotes the performer of the action, the person or thing performing the described action, and the one to whom the action is directed, the so-called. The "receiver of the action" in a sentence is an object.
Most sentences have an active voice.
Offers active pledge in English language
performer of the action + I form of the verb + recipient of the action
For example:
The professor teaches the students.
The professor teaches to the students.
John washes the dishes.
John is washing the dishes.
Passive Voice
IN passive voice the subject is the person or thing being affected by another person or thing. In other words, the doer and recipient of the action are swapped, although the doer of the action may not be specified.
Offers passive voice in English are formed as follows:
action recipient + be + past participle
For example:
The students are taught.
Students are taught.
The dishes are washed.
The dishes are washed.
The passive voice is used:
1. Mainly in cases where the performer of the action is not mentioned in the sentence; it is either unknown, or the speaker does not consider it necessary to report it.
For example:
Is English spoken in many countries?
Is English spoken in many countries?
That book was written a few years ago.
This book was written several years ago.
2. When the performer of the action, although mentioned in the sentence, is not in the center of the speaker’s attention; a noun or pronoun expressing the given performer of the action is introduced by a preposition by. Please note that in the active voice the performer of the action was the subject, while in the passive voice he becomes the object.
For example:
The students are taught by the professor
A professor teaches students.
The dishes are washed by John.
John washes the dishes.
Also, in a passive voice sentence, another object can be used, attached by a preposition with, and describing how the action is performed, for example:
The dishes are washed with a bar of soap.
Dishes are washed with a bar of soap.
In English, the scope of use of verbs in the passive voice is much wider than in Russian. Thus, any verb that takes a direct or indirect object can be used in the passive voice.
For example:
I gave him a book. (I gave him the book.)
A book was given to him. (The book was given to him.) = He was given a book. (He was given a book.)
They showed me a beautiful picture. (They showed me a beautiful picture.)
A beautiful picture was shown to me. ( Beautiful picture was shown to me.) = I was shown a beautiful picture. (I was shown a beautiful picture.)
In English, verbs that take a prepositional object can be used in the passive voice (for example: to attend to, to send for, and etc.). The proposed object is used as the subject of the passive phrase, and the preposition comes immediately after the verb.
For example:
She went after him. – He was gone after.
She followed him. - Let's go get him.
Ways to translate the passive voice into Russian
There are three ways to translate the passive voice into Russian:
1. Using the verb " be" + short form of participle, for example:
Were his books translated into Russian?
Were are his books translated into Russian?
2. Verbs ending in –xia, For example:
Letters are delivered by mailmen.
Letters are delivered postmen.
3. Indefinite personal circulation (this method of transfer is possible in cases where English sentence the performer of the action is not mentioned), for example:
They were taught French last year.
Their taught French last year.
Examples of active and passive voice
The table below shows examples of active and passive voice in all possible tenses. Please note that the passive voice is not used in tenses Present Perfect Continuous, Past Perfect Continuous, Future Perfect Continuous and Future Continuous.
| Active voice | Passive voice | |
| Present Simple | Once a week, Tom cleans the house. | Once a week, the house is cleaned by Tom. |
| Present Continuous | Right now, Sarah is writing the letter. | Right now, the letter is being written by Sarah |
| Past Simple | Sam repaired the car. | The car was repaired by Sam. |
| Past Continuous | The salesman was helping the customer when the thief came into the store. | The customer was being helped by the salesman when the thief came into the store. |
| Present Perfect | Many tourists have visited that castle. | That castle has been visited by many tourists. |
| Present Perfect Continuous | Recently, John has been doing the work. | |
| Past Perfect | George had repaired many cars before he received his mechanic's license. | Many cars had been repaired by George before he received his mechanic's license. |
| Past Perfect Continuous | Chef Jones had been preparing the restaurant's fantastic dinners for two years before he moved to Paris. | |
| Future Simple will |
Someone will finish the work at 5:00 PM. | The work will be finished by 5:00 PM. |
| Future Simple be going to |
Sally is going to make a beautiful dinner tonight. | A beautiful dinner is going to be made by Sally tonight. |
| Future Continuous | At 8:00 PM tonight, John will be washing the dishes. | |
| Future Perfect | They will have completed the project before the deadline. | The project will have been completed before the deadline. |
| Future Perfect Continuous | The famous artist will have been painting the mural for over six months by the time it is finished. | |
| Used To | Jerry used to pay the bills. | The bills used to be paid by Jerry. |
| Would Always | My mother would always make the pies. | The pies would always be made by my mother. |
| Future in the Past | I knew John would finish the work at 5:00 PM. | I knew the work would be finished by 5:00 PM. |
When comparing the English language with the Russian language, one can notice that some grammatical features and structures have much in common and are used in the same situations. Thus, the linguistic structure of English includes some grammatical phenomena and categories, in particular, the division into voices - active and passive (they are also called active and passive voice, respectively). If the situation with the active voice is clear, then for the passive form it is necessary to give some explanations and describe why such a construction is used.
What is Passive Voice
If we define the active voice, then we can say that most sentences belong here, since the passive is used less often. - this is a situation where the subject of a sentence is an independent performer of an action. Unlike the active, the passive voice in English is a grammatical construction associated primarily with the verb form and showing that the action is not performed by the subject itself; the subject undergoes the action rather than performs it. To put it simply, active and passive voice in English differ in that in the first the performer does something himself, and in the second he does not.
To clearly demonstrate how this looks in the language, it is worth giving examples of sentences that compare these two types of voice:
- · He buys meet at the market every Saturday – Every Saturday he buys meat at the market(the subject, i.e. “he”, is the independent performer of the action)
- · Meat is bought at the market every Sunday – Meat is bought at the market every Saturday(the subject, i.e. “meat,” cannot be an independent performer; the action is performed not by him, but on him)
How is Passive Voice formed?
Comparing Active and Passive Voice, you can notice the difference in the forms of the same time. The formation of the passive voice is impossible without the presence of two important grammatical factors:
1. Auxiliary verb to be, used in the form of the required tense – am, is, are, was, were, been, will be.
2. The form of the semantic verb in Passive Voice must necessarily be in , or, more simply put, be the third, if you do not refer to the table regular verbs(if the verb is regular, the ending will be simply –ed).
This order is typical for almost all types of tense forms.
Note: upon education, any Continuous forms the presence of the verb to be is also required, but here the form of the verb will be being, since otherwise it will not be possible to show the duration.
- Finally his name was called and he stepped forward - In the end, his name was called and he stepped forward
- She saw that the test had been changed and felt fear - She saw that the test was changed and felt fear
- He felt with satisfaction that he was being stared at - He noted with satisfaction that they were looking at him
Questions in Passive Voice
Questions in the passive voice are formed quite standardly. Here the rules are the same as in the active voice, where interrogative sentences are: the initial position in the sentence will be taken by the auxiliary verb of the required tense (if it is not there, then to be is brought forward in the appropriate form). Next should come the subject, followed by the rest of the passive form and other minor members of the sentence. Interrogative sentences in passive voice they look like this:
- Have you already been asked to come? – Have you already been asked to come?
- Was he invited to the party yesterday? – Was he invited to a party yesterday?
Negative sentences in the passive voice
The Passive Voice with negation is also simple in its formation: the standard particle not is added to the auxiliary verb (the verb to be, if the main verb is missing), and this rule is valid for all forms of the passive:
- He will not be allowed to use this car without my permission - He will not be allowed to use this car without my permission
- The juice hasn’t been drunk yet, there is some more left - The juice hasn’t been drunk yet, there is a little left
Verbs for Passive Voice
Despite its apparent simplicity, the passive voice in English cannot be used with all verbs. As a rule, verbs in transitive or, as they are also called, causative form are awarded such a privilege.
The transitivity of an English verb is explained simply: if a word expressing an action can be given an addition, direct or indirect, then it is called transitive. Examples of such verbs are bring, eat, open, come, call and many others. If this cannot be done, then the verb is called intransitive and usually does not appear in Passive Voice (sit, fly, jump, live, etc.).
Note: in some cases the passive is formed even with intransitive verbs, but in this case it is usually accompanied by a preposition:
- At last an agreement was come at - In the end, they came to an agreement
- When a boy, he was often laughed at, but later everything changed - When he was a boy, he was often laughed at, but later everything changed
- When he was called for, he didn’t want to answer - When he was called, he didn’t want to answer
Modal Verbs and Passive Voice
The passive voice is formed even easier than with all the others. Since modal verbs can also have a passive form, then a special case There are also uses with them, but it does not pose any complexity, because here after the modal it is enough to add be and put the main verb following it in the Participle II form. On practice modal verbs in this form are used quite often, and for such use of Passive Voice examples could be as follows:
- The work must be done immediately - The work must be done immediately
- This text can not be translated without your help – This text cannot be translated without your help
Features of some temporary forms in Passive Voice
As mentioned above, the tense system provides for passive constructions in English, which are used freely and much more often than in Russian. However, it is worth noting that not all tenses can be in the passive form, and this is important to consider when using this grammatical structure in speech and writing. For this purpose, Passive Voice has a table that shows the basic Passive formulas and indicates those cases when their use is impossible.
Time table in Passive Voice:
| Indefinite | Continuous | Perfect | Perfect Continuous | |
| Past | was/were + V(3) | was/were + being + V(3) | had + been + V(3) | – |
| Present | am/is/are + | am/is/are + being + V(3) | have/has + been + V(3) | – |
| Future | will be + V(3) | – | will have + been + V(3) | – |
There is a completely logical explanation for this: tenses of the category Perfect Continuous, and also the passive voice is not formed in English, since their structure contradicts the norms for the formation of the passive, because they are already supplemented by the verb to be in its original or third form. This means that it will no longer be possible to supplement the construction with anything, since the grammar prohibits this.
Prepositions for Passive Voice
Unlike Active Voice, Passive Voice is often used with prepositions, and this is typical not only for intransitive verbs. Sometimes there is a need to show who or with the help of which the action was performed. There are two standard prepositions here: by (expresses the performer, or agent) and with (expresses the instrument, which is called instrument).
Note: the statement that by is used only with animate nouns, and with with inanimate nouns is erroneous, and several situations with examples can confirm this:
- When he went for a walk to the mountains he was hit by a stone - When he went for a walk to the mountains, he was hit by a stone(the stone was not used as a tool or tool, everything happened by accident)
- The police note that the murder victim was struck with a stone – The police note that the murder victim was hit with a stone(the stone was used as a tool, using it purposefully)
Following the instructions described above will make it easy to distinguish between active and passive voice in English and will not cause inconvenience in forming the desired form.
Time passive voice (Passive Voice) are formed using to be(in the appropriate tense form) and past participles: is locked/is being locked etc. Past Participle regular verbs are formed by adding the ending to the infinitive –ed: to invite – invite ed. When added to a verb –ed sometimes there are changes in its spelling: to stop – stopp ed. Past Participle of irregular verbs must be remembered: to tell – told – told. More about .
Table of all tenses in the passive voice
| Present The present | Past Past | Future Future | Future in the Past The future is in the past | |
| Simple (indefinite) Uncertain | The ball is taken every day. | The ball was taken yesterday. | The ball will be taken tomorrow. | The ball would be taken the next day. |
| Continuous (Progressive) Long-term | The ball is being taken now. | The ball was being taken at 7 o’clock yesterday. | not used | not used |
| Perfect Perfect | The ball has already been taken. | The ball had been taken by 7 o'clock yesterday. | The ball will have been taken by 7 o'clock tomorrow. | The ball would have been taken by 7 o'clock the next week. |
| Perfect Continuous Perfect continuous | not used | not used | not used | not used |
When forming the interrogative form of the passive voice, the auxiliary verb is placed before the subject: Is the ball taken? Would the ball be taken?
When forming a negative form of the passive voice, a particle not placed after the auxiliary verb: The ball is not taken. The ball would not be taken.
Compare the sentences in the active and passive voices and notice that the object of the predicate verb in the active voice (the room) becomes the subject in the passive voice.
Examples:Active Voice:
Someone cleans the room every day.
Someone cleans the room every day.
Passive Voice:
The room is cleaned every day.
The room is cleaned every day.
Using the passive voice
1. The passive voice is used when the speaker’s focus is on the person/object that is being acted upon.
Examples: He has been stolen my key. - He stole my keys.
2. The passive voice is used if the person/thing who performed the action is unknown.
Examples: The shirts have just been ironed. – The shirts have just been ironed (it is unknown who exactly ironed the shirts).
3. The passive voice is used if the character/object is not of interest.
Examples: She has been invited to the restaurant. - She was invited to the restaurant. (we are not interested in who exactly invited her to the restaurant, but she herself is interested)
4. Times in the passive voice are used according to the same rules as the corresponding times in the active voice. For example, when talking about an action that is currently in development, the form is used.
Examples: The room is being cleaned at that moment. - The room is being washed at this moment.
5. If the passive phrase indicates face by, and if indicated tool/instrument/means/substance, performing an action, then the preposition is used with.
