Passive voice

Passive voice

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  Passive voice by Maríadel Mar Haba Bernal
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  When do weuse passive voice? • When we want to change the focus of the sentence: The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. (We are more interested in the painting than the artist in this sentence) • When who or what causes the action is unknown or unimportant or obvious or 'people in general': He was arrested (obvious agent, the police). • My bike has been stolen (unknown agent).
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  • In factualor scientific writing: The chemical is placed in a test tube and the data entered into the computer. • In formal writing instead of using someone/ people/ they (these can be used in speaking or informal writing): The brochure will be finished next month.
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  • In orderto put the new information at the end of the sentence to improve style: Three books are used regularly in the class. The books were written by Dr. Bell. ('Dr. Bell wrote the books' sound clumsy) • When the subject is very long: I was surprised by how well the students did in the test. (More natural than: 'how well the students did in the test surprised me')
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  How to makea passive: To make a passive sentence you need object first and then use the be form (depending on the tense) and then participle. If we want to say who or what action, we use the preposition by: object + be + past participle + by to start with of the verb add a past performs the
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  Example of PresentSimple: Active: Tom cleans the house. Passive: The house is cleaned by Tom. Example of Past Simple: Active: Sam repaired the car. Passive: The car was repaired by Sam.
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  Example of PresentPerfect: Active: Many tourists have visited that castle. Passive: That castle has been visited by many tourists. Example of Past Perfect Continuous: Active: Chef Jones had been preparing the restaurant's fantastic dinners for two years before he moved to Paris. Passive: The restaurant's fantastic dinners had been being prepared by Chef Jones for two years before he moved to Paris.
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  Example of FutureContinuous (Will): Active: At 8:00 PM tonight, John will be washing the dishes. Passive: At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes will be being washed by John. Example of Future Continuous (Going to): Active: At 8:00 PM tonight, John is going to be washing the dishes. Passive: At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes are going to be being washed by John.
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  Example with ModalVerb: Active: The gardener must water the flowers. Passive: The flowers must be watered by the gardener.
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  Changes in thesentence: - object of the "active" sentence becomes subject in the "passive" sentence - subject of the "active" sentence becomes "object" in the "passive" sentence" (or is left out)
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  5 Examples: 1. Active:Anne writes a letter. Passive: A letter is written by Anne. 2. Active: Anne wrote a letter. Passive: A letter was written by Anne.
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  3. Active: Annehas written a letter. Passive: A letter has been written by Anne. 4. Active: Anne will write a letter. Passive: A letter will be written by Anne. 5. Active: Anne has to write a letter. Passive: A letter has to be written by Anne.
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  The End M “I wn n ” T B