Passive Voice In English

Passive Voice In English

In passive voice, the focus is on the action and what the action is happening to, not who or what is doing the action. For example, instead of saying The cat chased the mouse (active voice), we would say The mouse was chased by the cat (passive voice). Let's use some fun examples that could help you understand passive voice. Active Voice: Good design saves the world. Passive Voice: The world is saved by good design. Here, instead of focusing on good design doing the action, we are focusing on the world that was saved. Active Voice: The dog buried the bone. Passive Voice: The bone was buried by the dog. In this example, the focus shifts from the dog to the bone that was buried. Active Voice: Mum made a big cake. Passive Voice: A big cake was made by Mum. Instead of focusing on Mum making a cake, we are focusing on the big cake that was made. Active Voice: Dad will wash the car. Passive Voice: The car will be washed by Dad. In this sentence, we are not focusing on Dad washing the car, but on the car that will be washed. Remember, in passive voice, we are more interested in the action and the thing the action is happening to. We don't care as much about who or what is doing the action. It's a bit like watching a magic trick: sometimes, we are more excited about the magic trick itself (the action) and what happens to the rabbit (the object), not just the magician (the subject). In English grammar, sentences are often in either the active or passive voice. In an active voice sentence, the subject of the sentence performs the action. This is the most common way we speak and write. Here's an example: The cat (subject) chased (verb) the mouse (object). In a passive voice sentence, the subject of the sentence is acted upon by the verb. Put another way, the focus of the sentence has been shifted from who is doing the action to the action itself. Here's the previous example, rewritten in the passive voice: The mouse (subject) was chased (verb) by the cat (object). Notice that in the passive voice version, the mouse has become the subject of the sentence even though it isn't doing any action. Here are a few more examples: Active voice: The manager (subject) will announce (verb) the employee of the month (object) today. Passive voice: The employee of the month (subject) will be announced (verb) by the manager (object) today. Active voice: Mary (subject) bakes (verb) the pies (object). Passive voice: The pies (subject) are baked (verb) by Mary (object). The passive voice is often used in formal or scientific writing, where the focus is more on the action or the result rather than who is performing the action. It's also used when the actor in a situation is unknown or irrelevant. One important thing to note about the passive voice is that it often requires more words than the active voice, which can make your sentences wordier and harder to read. For this reason, many writing guides suggest using the active voice whenever possible. However, the passive voice is a useful and necessary part of English and has its place. It allows us to emphasize certain information over other information, according to what we deem important or interesting. Finally, passive sentences often use a form of the verb 'to be' (is, are, was, were, will be) followed by a past participle (the 'ed' form of a regular verb or a special form for irregular verbs). This is a key structure to identify passive sentences.

passive voice, English passive, passive voice in English

— Onur Cobanli