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The Passive Voice

The Passive Voice

Introduction

The English language offers its speakers a variety of means to express actions and emotions . In to accomplish this , the speaker generally must employ verbs . Luckily the language offers a rich array of verbs from which to choose , but learning all of the tenses , voices and irregularities of these verbs can be challenging . On difficult verb concept for students to master is that of the active and passive voices .Basically , the English language consists of two main voices : the passive and the active voice . The active voice is

generally in vivid writing , while the passive voice is reserved for more rare occasions The term voice , according to Pollack , refers to the relationship between the subject and the verb in a sentence (163

In active voice constructions , the subject of the sentence acts upon an object through an active voice verb . In passive voice constructions the subject receives the action of the verb rather than acting on it . The rational of this is to analyze the passive voice by introducing general uses of it , then discussing the forms of it , and concluding with the meaning of the passive when used instead of the active voice

General Uses of the Passive Voice

Passive voice is distinguished from active voice by the focus , or meaning , of the sentence . The active voice focuses on the subject , or who is doing the action . The passive voice focuses on the action itself - what happened (Pollack 164

For example , a sentence reads as follows

The boy threw the ball

This sentence is in active voice because the boy , the subject , is the agent of action , the one that performs the action of the verb which is `to throw . The boy here is emphasized , as opposed to , say , the girl or the man

If the sentence were to be converted to passive voice , it would read as follows : The ball was thrown by the boy

In this sentence the ball is the subject , but instead of being the agent of the action , the ball is the receiver of the action . After all , the ball didn 't throw anything . Here , the focus is on the fact that the ball was thrown rather than perhaps kicked or rolled . The intent of the writer or speaker , then , is important in choosing to use the passive voice

How to Form the Passive Voice

The passive voice is formed by combining some form of the verb `to be with a past participle . When forming the present tense , the writer would use am , is or are with the past participle (`am formed , `is formed ' or `are formed , to form the past tense , the writer would use was or were plus the past participle (`was formed ' or `were formed Finally the future passive is formed by using the word will be the past participle , as in `will be formed

For example

Active voice Passive Voice

The chairman forms a committee . The committee is formed by the chairman...

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