{"id":3713,"date":"2014-06-03T09:00:49","date_gmt":"2014-06-03T13:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=3713"},"modified":"2014-08-06T13:57:57","modified_gmt":"2014-08-06T17:57:57","slug":"the-passive-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/the-passive-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"The passive voice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s talk about the passive tense, an often disparaged and misunderstood verb tense in English.<\/p>\n

The passive tense is a grammatical construction used in writing and speaking. It is a verb tense, but is also often called a \u201cvoice.\u201d\u00a0 When the passive tense is used the noun or noun phrase (which is the object in an active sentence) becomes the subject of a passive sentence. Here is an example for you to see:<\/p>\n

Active sentence: Ms. Smith<\/strong> teaches the students<\/em>.
\nPassive sentence: The students<\/em> are taught by Ms. Smith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As you can see in this example not only does the object of the sentence move, but the passive verb tense is formed by using the auxiliary verb \u2018be\u2019 (or sometimes \u2018get\u2019) and the past participle of the main verb.<\/p>\n

Take a look at the following four sentences and see if you can decide which ones are passive sentences.
\n1.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Eli repaired his car.
\n2.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Every year the car is checked by Eli\u2019s repairman.
\n3.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Many cars have been repaired by Eli over the years.
\n4.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The car is going to have been repaired by Eli before the road trip.<\/p>\n

In these sentences, #1 is in the active voice and #2-4 are in the passive voice.<\/p>\n

Now try this, see if you can turn this active sentence into a passive sentence.
\nActive: Mom makes dinner every night.
\nPassive: (See the end of this post for the answer.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Lastly, let\u2019s take a look at when you might want to use the passive voice instead of the active voice.<\/p>\n

You should use the passive tense when:
\nA.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0You want to emphasize the object of the sentence over the subject.
\nB.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The actor (or performer of the action) is unknown.
\nC.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The actor (or performer of the action) is common knowledge.
\nD.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The actor (or performer of the action) is unimportant or irrelevant.
\nE.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0You want to be vague about who is responsible for the action.
\nF.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0You are talking about a general truth. (Example: Rules are made to be broken.)
\nG.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0You are writing a scientific paper or report, i.e. a research paper.<\/p>\n

Here is a short video<\/a> about when and why to use the passive tense. This is a video review of what is covered above, which would be great to watch to practice your listening comprehension and to reinforce what you just read.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/international.ouc.bc.ca\/chalkntalk\/whypassive\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Although you shouldn\u2019t use the passive tense too often, it is a good verb tense to know how to use well. Please let me know if you have any questions.<\/p>\n

Answer from above<\/strong>.
\nPassive sentence: Dinner is made by mom every night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Let\u2019s talk about the passive tense, an often disparaged and misunderstood verb tense in English. The passive tense is a grammatical construction used in writing and speaking. It is a verb tense, but is also often called a \u201cvoice.\u201d\u00a0 When the passive tense is used the noun or noun phrase (which is the object in…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":3714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[134956],"tags":[317120,3343],"class_list":["post-3713","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-grammar","tag-passive-tense","tag-passive-voice"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t