The Passive Voice

What is the passive?

English sentences can have both a

subject and an object.

I ate an appleExample:

Who is the subject?

What is the object?

Subject vs. Object

The subject is the person/thing doing

the action……

The object is the thing that something is being done to…

נושא

מושא

Active vs. PassiveSentences in which the subject is doing the action are called

ACTIVE.

Sentences that describe something being done to the subject or another object are

called PASSIVE.

פעיל

סביל

Active Form

We use the active form to say what the

subject does .

For example:

• I speak English every day at work. • I repaired the flat tire on the car.

Passive FormWe use the passive form to say what happens to people and things, to

say what is done to them .

For example:• English is spoken here. • The car is being repaired.

When do we use the passive form?

1) We use the passive form when we don't know who did the action.

For example:• The car was damaged while it was

parked on the street. • The shirts were made in Turkey.

When do we use the passive?

2) We use the passive form when what was done is more important than who did it.

For example:• It was approved by Greg last week. • I was informed by the manager

only two days ago.

Active or Passive?1) I was drinking a glass of water when

he knocked on the door.2) The house had been painted by the

young men last year.3) The students are taught by the

professor.4) The castle had been visited by many

tourists5) Once a week, Tom cleans his room.6) The customer was being helped by the

salesman when the thief came in.

ACTIVE

ACTIVE

PassivePassive

Passive

Passive

How do we change active sentences to passive

ones?The two-step program:

1. Modify the verb• Add the helping verb be in the

correct tense.

• Use V3 as the main verb.

2. Change the subject

•  Turn the object of the active sentence into the subject of the passive one.

• The subject of the active sentence can then either be dropped or mentioned at the end, preceeded by the preposition ”by”

And what the heck does that mean???

Active sentence: I ate the apple.

1. Which tense is this?Past simple was/were + V3

“The formula”

2. Turning the object into the subject

“apple” is now the subject

Passive sentence: The apple was eaten by me.

adding “by”

When we add “by” the pronoun of thesentence changes….(since it is no longer the subject of the sentence!!!)

For example:

I = me The apple was eaten by me.He = him The apple was eaten by him.She = her The apple was eaten by her.We = us The apple was eaten by us.They = them The apple was eaten by

them.

STEPS1. Recognize whether the sentence is

active or passive - - what is the focus on? (subject vs. object)

2. Figure out the tense the sentence is written in…. And use the formula sheet.

3. Make the object the subject - - use “by” (DON’T FORGET TO CHANGE THE PRONOUN!)