The Passive

There are the reasons of using passive voice, except...

• to focus on the result of an action rather than the people who are responsible for an action.

• to describe a process in formal writing such as academic writing, scientific journal, reports, etc.

• to emphasize who is responsible for an action.

• to be applied when it is not important to mention who does something because it is not obvious.

When we use passive sentence, we usually do not mention the agent (people who are responsible for the action) because of the following reasons, except ...

• we don't know

• it is inappropriate to mention it

• it is not important

• it is too obvious who or what is responsible

In the passive voice ....

• the object is more important than the subject.

• we have to conjugate the main verb.

• the subject should be emphasized.

• the action is the most important.

The preposition that we use when we want to mention the agent in passive voice is ...

• at

• in

• with

• by

Based on the following options, which one is the active sentence?

• Some mistakes were made with the passive voice.

• The Confederacy was defeated in 1865.

• The translator avoid common mistakes involving passive voice.

• In 1885, a major strike against Jay Gould’s Southwestern Railroad System had been won by the Knights of Labor.

I'll have to come by bus as my car _________ .

• is repairing

• repairs

• is being repaired

• has repaired

A: Our boat _____ by storm when we were sailing to Cape Town.

B: And how did you get back?

A: Luckily, there was another boat nearby.

• was damaged 

• was being damaged

• is being damaged

• damaged

What would be the correct passive voice of the following sentence?

Many people of different countries speak English.

• English are spoke by many people from different countries.

• English is spoken by many people from different countries.

• English spoken by many people from different countries.

• English is spoke by many people from different countries.

What would be the correct passive voice of the following sentence?

The waiter is serving the customers.

• The waiter was being served by the customers.

• The customers are served by the waiter.

• The customers are serving.

• The customers are being served by the waiter.

What would be the correct passive voice of the following sentence?

A hurricane destroyed a few houses.

• A few houses destroyed by a hurricane

• A few houses were destroyed by a hurricane.

• A few houses are destroyed by a hurricane

• A few houses were being destroyed by a hurricane.