Passive Voice (Unit 15)

[sunny]

Using the active voice, you concentrate on the person or thing carrying out the action.
Examples:
Jenny closes the door.
Kevin hits Tom.

Using the passive voice, you concentrate on the person or thing affected by the action.
Examples:
The door is closed by Jenny.
Tom is hit by Kevin.

As you can see, an important part of the passive is the past participle.

When employing regular verbs, you just have to add ‘–ed’ to the infinitive.
Examples:
to close – closed, to call – called, to cook – cooked

When employing irregular verbs, you take the past participle – usually the third form listed.
Examples:
to write – written, to take – taken, to bring – brought

Another element is the verb ‘to be’ in the right tense.

So: passive voice = person or thing affected + to be + past participle (+ by performer)

Let’s take the sentence “Mike writes a letter.”

Simple Present Passive
A letter is written by Mike.

Simple Past
Active: Mike wrote a letter.
Passive: A letter was written by Mike.

Present Perfect
Active: Mike has written a letter.
Passive: A letter has been written by Mike.

Future I
Active: Mike will write a letter.
Passive: A letter will be written by Mike.

If there are any questions, go ahead and ask them!

In Unit 16 you will learn all about the Present Perfect tense.

[soliboy]

More forms:

Past perfect
Active: Mike had written a letter
Passive: A letter had been written by Mike

Future perfect
Active: Mike will have written a letter
Passive: A letter will have been written by Mike

Simple present continuous
Active: Mike is writing a letter.
Passive: A letter is being written by Mike

Simple past continuous
Active: Mike was writing a letter
Passive: A letter was being written by Mike

Present perfect continuous
Active: Mike has been writing a letter
Passive: A letter has been being written by Mike

Past perfect continuous
Active: Mike had been writing a letter
Passive: A letter had been being written by Mike

Future continuous
Active: Mike will be writing a letter
Passive: A letter will be being written by Mike

Future perfect continuous
Active: Mike will have been writing a letter
Passive: A letter will have been being written by Mike
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[Alan]

Hi,

Thanks for your contribution. Just a word of warning: you won't find that the Present Perfect,the Past perfect and the Future Perfect continuous passive forms are really used in practice. The future perfect would be: will have been written and of course don't forget the present perfect: has been written.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Head expressions for you

[soliboy]

[Alan]

Hi Soli,

Sorry, I don't understand your question about 'mention'.

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story In short

[soliboy]

Hi Alan,

Because the future perfect and the present perfect tense have mentioned above. You re-write again so I don't know what's your mean ?

Thank,
Soli
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You can do anything if you mind !

[Alan]

Hi Soli,

I mentioned those two examples because in your first note you have written:

[soliboy]

Hi Alan,
Thank a lot.
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You can do anything if you mind !

[lyzelmae]

Hi,
I really find hard time of understanding these passive and active, in simple present passive and present perfect. This simple present passive makes me confuse because it is present and at the same time past participle. Well you help me to understand this one and explain it to me the rules of how to use it.

Thank you very much. This program is a really big help to me in improving my grammar and enhancing my communication skills both oral and written.

Lyzel