{"id":79,"date":"2019-04-24T13:59:16","date_gmt":"2019-04-24T13:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/youlearnenglish.com\/zyle\/?p=79"},"modified":"2021-03-23T04:57:11","modified_gmt":"2021-03-23T04:57:11","slug":"passive-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/youlearnenglish.com\/en\/grammar\/passive-voice.htm","title":{"rendered":"Passive voice – English grammar courses"},"content":{"rendered":"

The passive voice refers to a sentence in which the subject receives the action. Its form is: To be + Past participle<\/strong>. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Active voice<\/strong><\/td>\nPassive voice<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tom stole the car.<\/td>\nThe car is stolen by Tom.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Johnny cooked dinner.<\/td>\nThe dinner was cooked by Johnny.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lisa bought a dress.<\/td>\nThe dress was bought by Lisa.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at how the tenses change they are moved from the active voice to the passive:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Tense<\/strong><\/td>\nSubject<\/strong><\/td>\nVerb<\/strong><\/td>\nObject<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Simple Present<\/strong><\/td>\nActive:<\/em><\/td>\nHe<\/td>\nreads<\/td>\na book.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Passive:<\/em><\/td>\nA book<\/td>\nis being read<\/td>\nby him.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Simple Past<\/strong><\/td>\nActive:<\/em><\/td>\nHe<\/td>\nread<\/td>\na book.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Passive:<\/em><\/td>\nA book<\/td>\nwas read<\/td>\nby him.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Present Perfect<\/strong><\/td>\nActive:<\/em><\/td>\nHe<\/td>\nhas read<\/td>\na book.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Passive:<\/em><\/td>\nA book<\/td>\nhas been read<\/td>\nby him.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Future<\/strong><\/td>\nActive:<\/em><\/td>\nHe<\/td>\nwill read<\/td>\na book.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Passive:<\/em><\/td>\nA book<\/td>\nwill be read<\/td>\nby him.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Present Progressive<\/strong><\/td>\nActive:<\/em><\/td>\nHe<\/td>\nis reading<\/td>\na book.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Passive:<\/em><\/td>\nA book<\/td>\nis being read<\/td>\nby him.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Past Progressive<\/strong><\/td>\nActive:<\/em><\/td>\nHe<\/td>\nwas reading<\/td>\na book.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Passive:<\/em><\/td>\nA book<\/td>\nwas being read<\/td>\nby him.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Past Perfect<\/strong><\/td>\nActive:<\/em><\/td>\nHe<\/td>\nhad read<\/td>\na book.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Passive:<\/em><\/td>\nA book<\/td>\nhad been read<\/td>\nby him.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

As you probably have noticed, a clear difference between active and passive voices are that in the active voice, the subject is the one DOING the action. In the passive voice, the subject is BEING acted upon. In writing, it\u2019s generally considered that sentences using the active voice use fewer words and are more engaging to read which is why it\u2019s favored in writing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s do some exercises with what we have learned already. Change this example sentence into the proper tenses in active voice and turn them into the passive voice: She cooks dinner.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tense<\/strong><\/td>\nSubject<\/strong><\/td>\nVerb<\/strong><\/td>\nObject<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Simple Present<\/strong><\/td>\nActive:<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Passive:<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Simple Past<\/strong><\/td>\nActive:<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Passive:<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Present Perfect<\/strong><\/td>\nActive:<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Passive:<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Future<\/strong><\/td>\nActive:<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Passive:<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Present Progressive<\/strong><\/td>\nActive:<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Passive:<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Past Progressive<\/strong><\/td>\nActive:<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Passive:<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Past Perfect<\/strong><\/td>\nActive:<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Passive:<\/em><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The passive voice refers to a sentence in which the subject receives the action. Its form is: To be + Past participle. For example: Active voice Passive voice Tom stole the car. The car is stolen by Tom. Johnny cooked dinner. The dinner was cooked by Johnny. Lisa bought a dress. The dress was bought … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grammar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youlearnenglish.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youlearnenglish.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youlearnenglish.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youlearnenglish.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youlearnenglish.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/youlearnenglish.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81,"href":"https:\/\/youlearnenglish.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79\/revisions\/81"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youlearnenglish.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youlearnenglish.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youlearnenglish.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}