Active and Passive voices

Definition:
• Voice refers to the form of a verb that indicates when a grammatical
subject performs the action or is the receiver of the action. When a
sentence is written in the active voice, the subject performs the action; in
the passive voice, the subject receives the action.

• Active and passive are the two grammatical voices in English. Neither is
inherently better than the other, but each is suited to certain types of writing.
There’s a reason why news anchors sound detached from the stories they’re
reporting: They often speak using the passive voice. There’s also a reason
why the authors of opinion pieces sound so sure of their positions: They
usually write in the active voice.
Active Tense Form:
• In active sentences, the thing/person doing the action is the subject of the
sentence and the thing/person is the object. In these sentences, the
thing/person doing the action is important. Most sentences are active.
Subject + Verb + Object
Jeremy + washes + the dishes.
The professor + teaches + the students.
Passive Tense Form:
• Subject + be + past participle + by + Agent
The dishes + were + washed (+ by + John).
The students + are + taught + by + Sally.
Please note that the ‘be’ verb takes the tense. That is, if the sentence is in
the past simple, we use ‘was/were + pp’; if it is present perfect, we use
‘have/has been + pp’; if it is present continuous, we use ‘am/are/is being +
pp’ and so on.
Active and passive voice usage:

• Although you may have been told that writing in the passive voice is “bad
writing,” it’s actually more nuanced than that. For most of the writing you do,
like emails, blog posts, and many kinds of essays, the active voice is a more
effective way to communicate the ideas, themes, and facts you’re expressing.

In certain kinds of writing, though, the passive voice is necessary. Think about
how news reports about crime and incidents are usually written and delivered:

A car was broken into on Elm Street last night.

Cash was stolen from the register.

In these kinds of reports, the passive voice is used to emphasize the action
that occurred rather than the individual or group who committed the action,
often because the perpetrator isn’t known or hasn’t yet been found guilty of
the offense.

There are other kinds of writing where the action itself, rather than the doer of
the action, is the primary focus. These include scientific and, in some cases,
historical reports. These use the passive voice to keep the reader’s focus on
what has happened or is happening. Here are a few examples:

The rats were placed into the maze.

The governor was inaugurated at the statehouse.

Notice how in both of these sentences, the doer of the action isn’t mentioned.
That’s because it’s either implied or irrelevant. In the first example, the
scientist performing the experiment is the one who placed the rats in the
maze. In the second, those conducting the inauguration ceremony aren’t
relevant to what’s being expressed in the sentence.

Active and passive voice examples:

• Take a look at these examples of both the active and passive voices in
action:

Active: Is Ajani visiting us today?

Passive: Will we be visited by Ajani today?

As you see, questions can be written in either voice. Other kinds of sentences,
like exclamatory and imperative sentences, are often best written in the active
voice:

Active: Please remove your shoes before entering my house.

Passive: Shoes should be removed before entering my house.

Active: Lock the door!

Passive: Let the door be locked!

 Future Tense Expressions

Definition:

• In grammar, a future tense is a verb form that generally marks the event described by the verb as
not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future. An example of a future tense form is

the French aimera, meaning "will love", derived from the verb aimer ("love"). The "future" expressed

by the future tense usually means the future relative to the moment of speaking, although in contexts

where relative tense is used it may mean the future relative to some other point in time under

consideration.

Future Tense Form:

• Use will + main verb (base form).

Future Tense Usage:

• We use the future simple tense to describe:
(1) Instant decisions:

This describes actions or situations in the future that are decided while speaking.
(2) Predictions:

It can be used to make a prediction about the future, to describe something that will
happen. This is based on information that we know or something that we expect to
happen.

(3) Giving orders:

It can be used as a way to give orders and to tell somebody to do something.

(4) Making requests;

It can be used as a way to make requests and to ask for something in a polite way.

Future Tense Examples:

1. Dan‘s going to take the order over to the customer.
2. The girls are going to sing ‘Amazing Grace’ now.
3. They aren’t going to buy the house.
4. I am not going to make dinner tonight. We’re going out to a restaurant.
 Modal Verbs

Definition:
• Modal verbs are used to express certain hypothetical conditions, such as
advice, capability, or requests (there’s a full list in the next section). They’re
used alongside a main verb to change its meaning slightly. Because they’re
auxiliary verbs, they can’t necessarily be used on their own. (A modal verb
should only appear alone if it’s clear from context what the main verb is.)

Modal Verbs Form:

modal verb alternative form example sentence
Max must do what he is told.
must to have to His father also had to do
what he was told.
Max must not touch anything
dangerous.
must not not to be allowed to
His father was not allowed to
touch anything dangerous.
Max can already change
to be able to/ tyres.
can (ability)
could* His father was not able
to/couldn’t change tyres.
Max can help in the garage
to be allowed to/ at the age of 12.
can (permission)
could* Max’s father was allowed to
help at the age of 13.
Max need not worry about
his future.
need not not to have to Max’s father did not have to
worry about his future
either.
should/ought to to be supposed to/to be Max should work in the
expected to/to be to garage more often.
Max’s father also was
supposed to/was expected
to/was to work in the garage
often.
How to use modal verbs (with examples)
Luckily, using modal verbs in a sentence is pretty simple. For basic sentences
the simple present tense just remember these rules:

 Modal verbs always come directly before the main verb (except for
questions).
 With modal verbs, use the infinitive form of the main verb without “to”.

So, if you want to brag about your ability to eat an entire pizza, you take the
infinitive form of “eat” without “to”—which is simply “eat”—and add the modal
verb “can” in front of it. The rest of the sentence continues as normal.

I can eat an entire pizza.

For questions, you still use the infinitive form of the main verb, but the order is
a little different:

[modal verb] + [subject] + [main verb]

So let’s rephrase the example above as a question:

Can you eat an entire pizza?

Because modal verbs largely deal with general situations or hypotheticals that
haven’t actually happened, most of them are in the present tenses. However,
some of them can be used in different verb tenses, so let’s talk a little about
how to construct them.

Present tenses
We already covered the simple present above, but you can also use modal
verbs in the present continuous and present perfect continuous tenses.
Present continuous

After the modal verb, use the word be followed by the –ing form of the main
verb.

[modal verb] + be + [verb in -ing form]

I should be going.

Present perfect continuous

You can add a modal verb before a verb in the present perfect continuous
tense without changing much. However, when using a modal verb, you must
always use “have,” never “had,” even if the subject is third-person.

[modal verb] + have been + [verb in -ing form]

She must have been sleeping.

Past tenses and present perfect

Putting a modal verb in the simple past, past continuous, and present perfect
tenses is a little trickier.

For starters, two modal verbs in particular have a simple past tense: can and
will. If you want to use either of those in any of the past tenses, you must first
conjugate them into their past-tense form:

 can -> could

 will -> would
All the others remain the same, although some can’t be used in the past at all.
Modal verbs often deal with hypotheticals, but if an action already happened
in the past, it can’t be hypothetical. These are mostly for speculating about the
past, such as wondering “what if . . .”

None of the modal verbs can be used in the past perfect or past perfect
continuous.

Simple past

Of the main modal verbs listed at the top, only can and will can be used in the
simple past. Have to and need to can also be used, as long as they’re
conjugated accordingly as had to and needed to. Other modal verbs use the
present perfect to discuss events in the past.

Can and will use their past tense form plus the infinitive form of the main verb
without “to,” just like in the present.

could/would + [verb in infinitive]

I could do a handstand when I was a kid.

During exam season in college, I would not sleep much.

Past continuous

Again, only can and will can be used in the past continuous. It’s formed just
like the present continuous, except with the past form of the modal verb.

could/would + be + [verb in -ing form]

I could be working right now.

Present perfect

Instead of using the infinitive form of the main verb, just use the present
perfect form, which is “have” plus the past participle. As before, you must
always use “have,” even if the subject is third-person.

If you’re using can, be sure to use its past tense form of could.

[modal verb] + have + [past participle]

I might have gone to the party, but I forgot.

Future tenses
The truth is that most of the future tenses already use modal verbs because
they use “will.” If you want to use different modal verb, such as “can” or
“should,” you can use it normally with the infinitive form of the verb, and
without will.

I can hang out tomorrow.

Should I major in law next year?

 Reported Speech

• Definition:
Reported speech is the form in which one can convey a message said by oneself or
someone else, mostly in the past. It can also be said to be the third person view of
what someone has said. In this form of speech, you need not use quotation marks
as you are not quoting the exact words spoken by the speaker, but just conveying
the message.

• Reported Speech Form:

You can use the following formula to construct a sentence in the reported speech.
Subject said that (report whatever the speaker said)

• Reported Speech Usage:

Reported speech is when we tell someone what another person said. To do
this, we can use direct speech or indirect speech.

Present simple, present continuous and present perfect:

When we backshift, present simple changes to past simple, present
continuous changes to past continuous and present perfect changes to past
perfect.

Past simple and past continuous:

When we backshift, past simple usually changes to past perfect simple, and
past continuous usually changes to past perfect continuous.

Past perfect:
The past perfect doesn't change.
• Reported Speech Examples:

'I travel a lot in my job.'

 Jamila said that she travelled a lot in her job.
'The baby's sleeping!'
 He told me the baby was sleeping.
'I've hurt my leg.'
 She said she'd hurt her leg.
We lived in China for five years.'
 She told me they'd lived in China for five years.
'It was raining all day.'
 He told me it had been raining all day.
I'd tried everything without success, but this new medicine is great.'
 He said he'd tried everything without success, but the new medicine
was great.
 Relative Clause

• Definition:
A relative clause is one kind of dependent clause. It has a subject and verb, but
can’t stand alone as a sentence. It is sometimes called an “adjective clause”
because it functions like an adjective—it gives more information about a noun.

• Relative Clause Form:

A relative clause always begins with a “relative pronoun,” which substitutes for a
noun, a noun phrase, or a pronoun when sentences are combined.

• Relative Clause Usage:

Use relative clauses to provide extra information. This information can either define
something (defining clause) or provide unnecessary but interesting added
information (non-defining clause).
Relative clauses can be introduced by:
 A relative pronoun: who (whom), which, that, whose
 No relative pronoun
 Where, why, and when instead of a relative pronoun
You need to consider the following when deciding which relative pronoun to use:
 Is the subject or object or possessive of a relative clause?
 Does it refer to a person or an object?
 Is the relative clause a defining or non-defining relative clause?
Relative clauses are often used in both spoken and written English. There is a
tendency to use non-defining relative clauses mostly in written, rather than in
spoken, English.
Defining relative clauses:

We use defining relative clauses to give essential information about

someone or something – information that we need in order to understand
what or who is being referred to. A defining relative clause usually comes
immediately after the noun it describes.
We usually use a relative pronoun (e.g. who, that, which, whose and
whom) to introduce a defining relative clause (In the examples, the relative
clause is in bold, and the person or thing being referred to is underlined.):
They’re the people who want to buy our house.
Here are some cells which have been affected.
They should give the money to somebody who they think needs the
treatment most.
[talking about an actress]
She’s now playing a woman whose son was killed in the First World
War.

Non-defining relative clauses

We use non-defining relative clauses to give extra information about the
person or thing. It is not necessary information. We don’t need it to
understand who or what is being referred to.
We always use a relative pronoun (who, which, whose or whom) to
introduce a non-defining relative clause (In the examples, the relative
clause is in bold, and the person or thing being referred to is underlined.)
Clare, who I work with, is doing the London marathon this year.
Not: Clare, I work with, is doing the London marathon this year. Doctors