FOUNDATION ENGLISH 2

BY,MS.RANJINI

SCHOOL OF ENGLISH

ACTIVE & PASSIVE VOICE

28/04/23ENGLISH LANGUAGE A-ENG 1001

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ACTIVE VOICE

In most English sentences with an action verb, the subject performs the action denoted by the verb.

These examples show that the subject is doing the verb's action.

Example:The man must have eaten five hamburgers.Ben mailed the letter.

Because the subject does or "acts upon" the verb in such sentences, the sentences are said to be in the active voice.

28/04/23ENGLISH LANGUAGE A-ENG 1001

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PASSIVE VOICE

Change the word order of active sentences so that the subject is no longer active, but is, instead, being acted upon by the verb.

Examples how the subject-verb relationship has changed:

Five hamburgers must have been eaten by the man

The letter was mailed by Ben

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ACTIVE TO PASSIVE

To change a sentence from active to passive voice, do the following:

1. Move the active sentence's direct object into the sentence's subject slot

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2. Place the active sentence's subject into a phrase beginning with the preposition by

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3. Add a form of the auxiliary verb be to the main verb and change the main verb's form

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PASSIVE TO ACTIVE

1. Move the passive sentence's subject into the active sentence's direct object slot

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2. Remove the auxiliary verb be from the main verb and change main verb's form if needed

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3. Place the passive sentence's object of the preposition by into the subject slot.

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