FROM PASSIVE TO ACTIVE

Having studied the steps involved in turning an Active sentence into a Passive one, you will have no difficulty in recognizing the use of the Passive construction in the examples that follow.

In 1666, London was destroyed by what has been known as the Great Fire

“Not in history has a modern imperial city been so completely destroyed,” said Jack London. San Francisco was destroyed by earthquake and fire in 1906.

Over 1000 buildings were destroyed by the—Great Fire of Pittsburgh, in 1845.

In 1834, the Palace of Westminster, home to the Houses of Lords and Commons, was burnt down.

This canvas was painted by J.M.W.Turner

Find the culprit!

London was destroyed by the Great Fire.

An imperial city has been completely destroyed.

San Francisco was destroyed by earthquake and fire.

Over a thousand buildings were destroyed by fire in Pittsburgh.

The Palace of Westminster was burnt down.

The culprit responsible for all the destruction?

FIRE

and also, to a lesser extent,

EARTHQUAKE

And the victims of all this destruction?

London San Francisco Pittsburgh The Palace of Westminster

In short, the structure of the passive voice is very simple:subject + auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (past participle)The main verb is always in its past participle form.

The Palace of Westminster was burnt down.

An imperial city has been completely destroyed.

London and Pittsburgh were destroyed by fire.

San Francisco was destroyed by fire and earthquake.

That was easy!

Now, let us NOT rewrite history, but rewrite the sentences we have been studying by turning them into the Active form.

London was destroyed by the great fire. (PASSIVE)

A great fire destroyed London.(ACTIVE)

An imperial city has been completely destroyed.(PASSIVE)

Something has completely destroyed an imperial city.(ACTIVE)

So, what did we do just now?

We used the Passive because: - we wanted to make the active object more important- we did not know the active subject

As in the following examples:

Subject Verb Object

give importance to active object (Angola)

Angola was discovered by the Portuguese

Active subject unknown

My wallet has been stolen.