PASSIVE VOICE active vs passive voice The voice

PASSIVE VOICE

active vs. passive voice The voice of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state) that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its arguments (subject, object, etc. ). When the subject is the agent or doer of the action, the verb is in the active voice. When the subject is the patient, target or undergoer of the action, the verb is said to be in the passive voice.

form Tense/verb form Active Passive Simple present keeps is kept Present continuous is keeping is being kept Simple past kept was kept Past continuous was keeping was being kept Present perfect has kept has been kept Present perfect cont. has been keeping has been being kept Past perfect had kept had been kept Past perfect cont. had been keeping had been being kept Future will keep will be kept Future continuous will be kept will be being kept Future perfect will have kept will have been kept Future perfect cont. will have been keeping will have been being kept

form: ROUND 2 Tense/verb form Active Passive Conditional would keep would be kept Perfect conditional would have kept would have been kept Present infinitive to keep to be kept Perfect infinitive to have kept to have been kept Present participle/gerund keeping being kept Perfect participle having kept having been kept Modals can keep can be kept

uses ✖When it is not necessary to mention the doer of the action as it is obvious or irrelevant who they are/were/will be or when we cannot remember or do not know them. ○ He was arrested after all. (Obviously, by police officers) ○ My bike was stolen last night. (We don’t know) ✖When the subject of the active sentence is YOU or ONE (generalization). ○You see the ad everywhere This ad is seen everywhere. ✖Preferred for pshycological reasons: to disclaim responsibility. (Widely used in the media) ○Prices will be increased by the end of the year.

passive: gerunds, infinitives and modals Present infinitive to keep to be kept Perfect infinitive to have kept to have been kept Present participle/gerund keeping being kept Perfect participle having kept having been kept Modals can keep can be kept

passive with two objects ✖Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that one of the two objects becomes the subject, the other one remains an object. Which object to transform into a subject depends on what you want to put the focus on. Rita wrote a letter to me. ○A letter was written to me by Rita. ○I was written a letter by Rita.

passive with get ✖With some verbs, get is often used instead of be. They often show an action was unexpected or accidental. Normally used in spoken English. ✖ Thousands get hurt every year in avoidable accidents.

impersonal passive and reporting ✖Verbs without an object (intransitive) normally cannot form a personal passive sentence (as there is no object that can become the subject of the passive sentence). If you want to use an intransitive verb in passive voice, you need an impersonal construction. Normally with verbs of perception (say, think, know…). ○It is said that the president is going to resign. ○It is thought that the crisis is becoming worse. ○It is known that a hurricane is going to reach the USA.

impersonal passive and reporting ✖If we want to avoid mentioning the generalised agents we, they, people, everybody, one etc. with reporting verbs, we can use the following passive patterns: it + passive reporting verb + that-clause In this pattern, the generalised agent + active reporting verb is replaced with it + passive reporting verb: ○Everybody knows that my grandfather likes red wine. ○It is known that my grandfather likes red wine. subject + passive reporting verb + to-infinitive In this pattern we start with the subject of the reported clause, which is followed by the passive reporting verb and the to-infinitive form of the verb in the reported clause: ○Everybody knows that my grandfather likes red wine. ○My grandfather is known to like red wine. The reporting verb (is known) is in the same tense as it was in the active sentence (knows). The type of to-infinitive we use (to like) corresponds to the temporal relationship between the action of reporting and the reported event. This temporal relationship can be of two basic types: ■The reporting and the reported event happen simultaneously (as in the example above). ■The reported event happens before the reporting. ✖Examples of reporting verbs used in the passive voice: allege, assume, believe, claim, consider, declare, discover, estimate, expect, feel, find, intend, know, observe, presume, prove, report, reveal, say, see, show, suppose, think, understand

causative ✖We use a causative verb when we want to talk about something that someone else did for us or for another person. It means that the subject caused the action to happen, but didn't do it themselves. Maybe they paid, or asked, or persuaded the other person to do it. ○I cleaned my house. (This means I cleaned it myself). ○I had my house cleaned. (I paid someone to do it) ✖In a sense, using a causative verb is similar to using a passive. The important thing is that the house is now clean. We don't focus on who did the cleaning.

causative: second round ✖ Have + object + past participle (have something done) We usually use 'have something done' when we are talking about paying someone to do something for us. It's often used for services. The form is 'subject + have + object + past participle'. ○I had my car washed. ○John will have his house painted. ✖ Get + object + past participle (get something done) ○He got his washing machine fixed. ○I'll get my hair cut next week. ✖ Have someone do something (have + person + infinitive) We can also use the construction 'subject + have + person + infinitive'. This has a very similar meaning to 'have something done', which we've already talked about, but this time we say who did the thing - we talk about the person who we asked to do the thing for us. The doctor will have the nurse call the patients. The teacher had the students write the answers on the whiteboard. ✖Get someone to do something (get + person + to + infinitive) Finally, we can also use the construction 'get + someone + to + infinitive'. Again, this means that you cause the other person to do the action, maybe by paying them to do it, or by asking them to do it, or by persuading them to do I got the cleaner to clean under the cupboards. Sometimes, this construction has the feeling that we needed to convince someone to do something, while the other constructions on are neutral.