UNIT 6 : DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN
●GRAMMAR : THE PASSIVE VOICE
ACTIVE VOICE: Tell us what a person or thing does. The subject performs the action
(verb) on the object.
SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT
Ex: Ana painted the house / Ali posted the video online
PASSIVE VOICE: Tell us what is done to someone or something. The subject is being
acted upon.
OBJECT + VERB + SUBJECT
Ex: The house was painted by Ana / The video was posted online by Ali
We use the passive voice when:
a. the agent is unknown or unimportant
- They sell cars in that shop = Cars are sold in that shop
b. to make the object of the active sentence more important
- Hamlet was written by Shakespeare
- A window has been broken
Transforming from active to passive
●ACTIVE: Mary bought a book
●PASSIVE: A book was bought by Mary
- Active Object becomes Passive Subject: A book
- Verb “Be” in the same tense as Active Verb + Active Verb in the Past Participle:
was bought
- Subject: Agent with “BY”: by Mary (It can be omitted when it isn’t relevant).
