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Hid the truth! With passive voice!

Hid the truth! With passive voice!

Date: Mar 07 2008

Topic: Grammar

Author: mitchelkSuper Member!

Lesson

Did you do something bad? Did your brother do your English homework? Did you drink the last beer?

With passive voice, you can describe actions without telling who did it.

For example, normally you would have to say, "I spilled the beer." With passive voice, you can say, "the beer was spilled."

The two sentences mean the same thing, except with passive voice you don't know who spilled the beer.

Ok, so now you know that the passive voice can be useful, but how do you make it?

First, let's review normal sentences. Normal sentences have:          subject + verb + object

  • The subject is the person or thing that is doing something.
  • The verb is the action.
  • The object is the thing being acted on.

An example would be:

 The dog bit the man.

  • The dog is the subject.
  • Bit is the verb.
  • The man is the object.


To make a sentence passive:

Put the object first, put the verb to be in the same tense as the normal sentence and add the past particle of the verb. And if you would like to tell who did it add by.

Object + Verb to be + past participle (by + Subject).

The man was bitten by the dog.
OR
The man was bitten.

I will give a few more examples:

Present Tense:
Active: She eats cheese. Passive: The cheese is eaten.
Active: I love him. Passive: He is loved.
Active: I stole the bike. Passive: The bike was stolen by me.

Past Tense:

Active: The fire destroyed the town. Passive: The town was destroyed.
Active: I wrote you a letter. Passive: A letter was written to you by me.
Active: I watched TV. Passive: TV was watched by me.

Now, can you guys try to make a few passive sentences in the comments. I will check back and make sure they are all correct. Give it a try!

Comments

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Fatim

Fatim

Pakistan

I ve eaten a cake

 

The cake was eaten by me 

06:17 AM May 02 2008 |

zhengxiang6658

China

hi,nice to meet you.i want to give some help in your mandarin.would you please to contact me ;2.skypeericeric6685.hope to here from you.                  时代迎来全球化,                    互通语言有方法。                    不分你我想扶持,

                    共建未来地球家。

11:26 AM Apr 27 2008 |

suganthi senthilvel

India

I write the letter

the letter was written by me 

02:29 PM Apr 24 2008 |

rusminah

rusminah

Malaysia

hi Lollipop

Active voice is something that you are very certain or sure.

Meanwhile passive voice is something that is not clear or hidden message.

So supposed you said: " Brian Broke my heart" for active voice

and

"He / somebody broke my heart" for passive voice.

hei we can always get back to Mitchelk she's the expert!Smile

06:48 AM Apr 23 2008 |

Lollipop

Lollipop

Saudi Arabia

It`s really handy lesson, I`ll add it to my lessons list.

 And This is mine

Active: someone broke my heart

The passive: The heart was broken

 I hope that`s correct ..ـ..

Thanx for ur lessons honey

05:36 AM Apr 23 2008 |

millimono

millimono

Guinea

 Active :I want somebody to polish my shoe. Passive: I want my shoe to be polished.

Active :The village was attacked by the rebels. Passive: The village was attacked.

 

03:41 PM Apr 22 2008 |

superegy

superegy

Egypt

well done honey

try 2 keep it upWink

02:32 PM Apr 22 2008 |

rusminah

rusminah

Malaysia

what about this

I lost my cat in a park

My cat was lost in a park. Does this sound like a passive voice ?

08:39 AM Apr 18 2008 |

suganthi senthilvel

India

I receive the phone call.

The phone call was received by me. 

09:54 AM Apr 08 2008 |

sythri

Philippines

sentence: She is sleeping

present: She is sleeping

passive: She was sleepingCool

 

03:55 AM Apr 07 2008 |

Alutka29

Alutka29

Poland

I wrote poeme.
The poeme was written by me.

03:35 PM Apr 06 2008 |

Alutka29

Alutka29

Poland

I couldn’t understood passive voice, and now is very easy for me. I’m so happy…Thanks a lot

03:24 PM Apr 06 2008 |

dofkele15

dofkele15

Lithuania

I've already done my homework.

passive voice: My homework have been already done..

is it right?

12:22 PM Apr 05 2008 |

millimono

millimono

Guinea

 Active :The village was attacked by the rebels;

Passive: The was attacked.

08:57 PM Mar 29 2008 |

millimono

millimono

Guinea

Active :I want somebody to polish my shoe.

Passive: I want my shoe to be polished

08:34 PM Mar 29 2008 |

sheetalbotany

India

I did the right work.

 The work was done rightly.

11:25 AM Mar 28 2008 |

millimono

millimono

Guinea

In the age of globalization, the use of English as the primary language for communication has become worldwide standard.

The ability to communicate in Englsih has become the strategic factor of business planning

Active: The rebels attacked the city. Passive: The city was attacked.

These active and passive play the important rule in English grammar.

03:41 AM Mar 28 2008 |

johanne

Philippines

 

Active: I baked delicious cupcakes. 

Passive: that delicoius cupcakes was baked by me.

09:00 AM Mar 27 2008 |

mitchelk

mitchelkSuper Member!

United States

You are correct!!

09:45 PM Mar 18 2008 |

babyboi0181

Philippines

ok let me try this

active: i kill the dog

passive: the dog was killed by me?

am i correct?

04:01 PM Mar 18 2008 |

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