What is
Voice?
“A Grammar of
Contemporary English” defines Voice as “voice is a grammatical category which
makes it possible to view the action of a sentence in two ways, without change
in the facts reported”. One and the same idea can often be expressed in two
different ways, by means of an active, and by means of a passive construction.
1. Active Voice
Active voice is
used to indicate the grammatical subject of the verb is performing the action
or causing the happening denoted by the verb. With the active voice, you learn
‘who’ or ‘what’ is responsible for the action at the beginning of the sentence.
In other words, the subject performs the action denoted by the verb. With help
of active voice more powerful sentences can be build than passive voice.
Use of active voice:
1. Active voice is used in a clause whose subject
expresses the agent of the main verb.
2. Subject can be easily identified by asking ‘who’ or ‘what’ to the verb.
3. Sentences are short and easily understandable.
2. Subject can be easily identified by asking ‘who’ or ‘what’ to the verb.
3. Sentences are short and easily understandable.
Example :
John wrote the letter.
-John (subject) performs the action denoted by the verb (write).
John wrote the letter.
-John (subject) performs the action denoted by the verb (write).
2. Passive Voice
In Passive
voice the sentence focus on object i.e. who/what is receiving the action and
not on who/what is performing the action. In passive voice, the actor of the of
the verb (action) is either understood at the end of the sentence or maybe not
told. The passive voice is used in writing facts, truth, lab or technical
reports in which the actor is not important or unknown, but the action
happening on the object is very important.
Use of passive voice:
1. It is used if it doesn‘t need to know or we don‘t
know the actor performing the job.
2. In the end of the clause or sentence “by” is prefixed to know the actor performing the job.
3. It is used if we are more interested in the job than the actors who work.
2. In the end of the clause or sentence “by” is prefixed to know the actor performing the job.
3. It is used if we are more interested in the job than the actors who work.
Example :
The letter was written by John.
- letter receives the action denoted by the write (verb).
- letter receives the action denoted by the write (verb).
How to identify the active / passive voice?
Ask who/what performed the action(verb)? -- if the ‘who
or what is at the beginning of the sentence, the sentence is active
voice.
Example :
Jack is eating the apple.
Question will be : Who is
eating the apple?
Look for the word “by”, if present it is passive voice.
Look for the word “by”, if present it is passive voice.
Active/Passive voice using Modals:
The modal verbs consist of will, would, can, could,
shall, should, may, might, must which are
used with main verbs to express ability, probability, obligation, advice etc.
To convert active voice having modal into passive voice, auxiliary verb “be” is added after modal in sentence.
used with main verbs to express ability, probability, obligation, advice etc.
To convert active voice having modal into passive voice, auxiliary verb “be” is added after modal in sentence.
Rules for Active to Passive
conversion
|
||
Tense
|
Active voice
|
Passive voice
|
Simple Present Tense
|
Subject + infinitive +
object
E.g.
The grocer sells fresh vegetables.
|
S + to be + past
participle + by object
E.g. Fresh
vegetables are sold by the grocer.
|
Present
Continuous Tense
|
Subject + to
be (is, am, are) being + present participle + object
E.g. My boss is giving many assignments.
|
S + to be
(is, am, are) + being + past participle + by object
E.g. Many assignments are being given by my boss.
|
Present Perfect Tense
|
Subject + has/have + past
participle + object
E.g. I have
taken him out.
|
S + have/has been + past
participle + by object
E.g. He has
been taken out by me.
|
Simple Past Tense
|
Subject + past participle
+ object
E.g. He
built a large house.
|
S + was/were + past
participle + by object
E.g.
A large house was built by him.
|
Past Continuous Tense
|
S + was/were + being +
past participle + object
E.g She was
cooking dinner.
|
S + was/were + being +
past participle +by object
E.g.
Dinner was being cooked by her.
|
Past Perfect Tense
|
Subject + had + past
participle + object
E.g.
She had posted the letter.
|
S + had been + past
participle + by object
E.g.
The letter had been posted by her.
|
Simple Future Tense
|
Subject + will +
infinitive + object
E.g.
I will give you a present.
|
S + will + be + past
participle + by object
E.g.
A present will be given to you by me.
|
Future Perfect Tense
|
Subject + would +
infinitive + object
E.g.
The doctor shall have examined ten patients by 10 O’clock.
|
S + would + be + past
participle + by object
E.g.
Ten patients will have been examined by 10 O’clock by the doctor.
|
Rules for Pronouns in Active to
Passive conversion
|
|
Active voice
|
Passive voice
|
I
|
me
|
you
|
you
|
we
|
us
|
they
|
them
|
it
|
it
|
Pronoun number and person table
|
|||
Person
|
I
|
II
|
III
|
Number
|
|||
Singular
|
I -> am
|
you -> are
|
he,she,it -> is
John,Sara -> is
|
Plural
|
we -> are
|
you -> are
|
they -> are
|
What are transitive verbs?
Transitive verbs are action verbs that have an object to receive that
action. In the first sentence above, the direct object ball received the action
of the verb hit.
Here are some more examples of transitive verbs:
I baked some cookies.
I rode the bicycle.
I moved the chair.
I stitched a quilt.
All of the verbs in the above sentences are transitive because an object
is receiving the action of the verb.
But what about the sentence “The bird sang.” Is the verb in that sentence
a transitive verb? No, in this case the verb sang is an intransitive verb.
What are intransitive verbs?
Intransitive verbs are action verbs but unlike transitive verbs, they do
not have an object receiving the action. Notice there are no words after the verb
sang.
More examples of intransitive verbs:
I laughed.
I cried.
The book fell.
The horse galloped.
The sun set.
In all of the above cases the subject is performing the action of the
verb and nothing is receiving the action.
What about this sentence?
I walked to the park today.
Is walked transitive or intransitive? Think about the rules. Since walked
has words coming after it, the verb must be transitive, right? WRONG! The
phrase to the park is a prepositional phrase and today is an adverb. There is no
object receiving the action of the verb walked so the verb is intransitive.
To recap, a transitive verb must be an action verb plus there must be an
object to receive that action.
EXERCISE
1. ‘’The boys have been told the good news.” It means ______.
A. The good news was told to the boys.
B. Somebody has told the boys the good news.
C. The good news has been told by the boys.
D. The boys have told the good news.
Keyword : have been told
2. The meeting was supposed to be held yesterday, but it has been ______ to next Thursday.
A. taken off
B. worn off
C. put off
D. called off
Keyword : supposed to be held yesterday
3. The proposal ______ discussed when I called the office this morning.
A. was being
B. been
C. being
D. have been
Keyword : when I called
4. Black, red, and even bright pink diamonds _____
A. Occasionally to find
B. Occasionally found
C. Have occasionally been found
D. Have occasionally found
Keyword : diamonds
5. Many books _____, but one of the best is “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carniegie.
A. Have written about success
B. Written about success
C. Have been written about success
D. About successful
Keyword : Many books
6. _____ were first viewed through telescope by Galileo.
A. Jupiter has four moons
B. Jupiter’s four moons
C. Jupiter surrounded by four moons
D. Surrounded by four moons, Jupiter
Keyword : were first viewed
source :
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