Lesson

Did you do something bad? Did your brother do your English homework? Did you drink the last beer?

With passive voice, you can describe actions without telling who did it.

For example, normally you would have to say, "I spilled the beer." With passive voice, you can say, "the beer was spilled."

The two sentences mean the same thing, except with passive voice you don't know who spilled the beer.

Ok, so now you know that the passive voice can be useful, but how do you make it?

First, let's review normal sentences. Normal sentences have:          subject + verb + object

  • The subject is the person or thing that is doing something.
  • The verb is the action.
  • The object is the thing being acted on.

An example would be:

 The dog bit the man.

  • The dog is the subject.
  • Bit is the verb.
  • The man is the object.


To make a sentence passive:

Put the object first, put the verb to be in the same tense as the normal sentence and add the past particle of the verb. And if you would like to tell who did it add by.

Object + Verb to be + past participle (by + Subject).

The man was bitten by the dog.
OR
The man was bitten.

I will give a few more examples:

Present Tense:
Active: She eats cheese. Passive: The cheese is eaten.
Active: I love him. Passive: He is loved.
Active: I stole the bike. Passive: The bike was stolen by me.

Past Tense:

Active: The fire destroyed the town. Passive: The town was destroyed.
Active: I wrote you a letter. Passive: A letter was written to you by me.
Active: I watched TV. Passive: TV was watched by me.

Now, can you guys try to make a few passive sentences in the comments. I will check back and make sure they are all correct. Give it a try!

Comments

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09:52 AM Mar 08 2008 | Reply

saudigirl

saudigirl

Saudi Arabia

ok..let me try..

i broke the glass..

actually..the glass was broken..Smileit's not me..

 

07:09 AM Mar 09 2008 | Reply

shruti kesari

shruti kesari

India

I TAUGHT HIM LESSONS.

THE LESSONS WAS TAUGHT BY ME.

IS IT CORRECT???

07:09 AM Mar 09 2008 | Reply

shruti kesari

shruti kesari

India

I TAUGHT HIM LESSONS.

THE LESSONS WAS TAUGHT BY ME.

IS IT CORRECT???

10:14 PM Mar 09 2008 | Reply

mitchelk

mitchelkSuper Member!

United States

You both did it perfectly!! Great Job! And for other people who read this lesson, come on… give it a try.

03:40 AM Mar 10 2008 | Reply

looking4mryt2007

looking4mryt2007

Philippines

let me try this

she caughted her boyfriend 

07:44 AM Mar 10 2008 | Reply

tramminhhienthao

tramminhhienthao

Viet Nam

This site was witten by me. Is it right?

10:31 AM Mar 10 2008 | Reply

deep_blue83

deep_blue83

Turkey

The USA exploit to the world.

World  is  exploited  by USA      :)

01:41 PM Mar 10 2008 | Reply

TabrisX

TabrisX

Argentina

hey, lessons made by you are quite good!Smile

short and right to the point, I wish all teachers were like you Tongue out

12:15 PM Mar 11 2008 | Reply

evvelzaman

evvelzaman

Turkey

you  stole my moneyYell

my money was stolenCry

09:34 PM Mar 11 2008 | Reply

Aswathy

Aswathy

India

 

Ash ate icreams.. Icreams were eaten by Ash..

its my contribution… i dont know whether its right or not… but all what i can say is,  I die for icecreamsWink

1 through 10 of 101 Next >
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Member Reviews

john

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johnSuper Member!

United States

this lesson was written really well

tinchoss

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tinchoss

Argentina

Nice!

Ryo23T

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Ryo23T

Saudi Arabia

desdemona

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desdemona

Brazil

Good point of view. I'll use it with some students. This point of view is good to start explaining it. Good work!!!

nat182

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nat182

Poland

Keni

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Keni

Azerbaijan

Alutka29

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Alutka29

Poland

I couldn't understood passive voice, and now is very easy for me. I'm so happy...Thanks a lot

Barbosage

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Barbosage

Brazil

gauravp7

11111

gauravp7

India

The lesson is very good.

tiffintime

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tiffintime

Sri Lanka

SÉRGIO

55555

SÉRGIO

Brazil

it was caught!

futurenurse

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futurenurse

Taiwan

i love the lesson^^

peni

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peni

Indonesia

Ono

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Ono

Hungary

:D The lesson was understood

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cakk

Turkey

great job!!

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Julitschka

Ukraine

It was good!

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