PASSIVE VOICE

PASSIVE VOICE

Present and Past

UNDERSTANDING A SENTENCE....

To understand Passive voice we need to take a look at how sentences are written:

ACTIVE SENTENCES

• Alice watches movies every Saturday

• SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT

• 
  

  ACTIVE SENTENCES ARE THE SENTENCES WE USUALLY WRITE. THE FOCUS IS ON THE FIRST ITEM OF OUR SENTENCE (in this case: Alice)

SO...WHAT DO WE USE PASSIVE VOICE FOR?

• When we don't know who performs the action.

• It isn't important who performs the action.

• We want to focus on the object not the doer of the action.

HOW TO FORM PASSIVE SENTENCES

ACTIVE: She eats cake every day.

PASSIVE: Cake is eaten every day (by her).

- The OBJECT is the first Item in the sentence.

- We form the passive verb with: BE + PAST PARTICIPLE (of the main verb)

- We can add the AGENT (subject of the active sentence) using the prepositio "BY"

Multiple Choice

What's the object in this active sentence: "MARY WATERS THE PLANTS EVERY SATURDAY."

• MARY

• EVERY SATURDAY

• THE PLANTS

• WATERS

Multiple Choice

What's the correct form of the PASSIVE for the sentence "MARY WATERS THE PLANTS EVERY SATURDAY."?

• IS WATER

• IS WATERED

• ARE WATERED

• IS WATERS