PASSIVE VOICE

GROUP 5:
1. ISNAINI PUJI RAHAYU (AICII8020)
2. ADRIYAN WIJAYA PUTRA (A1C118035)
Definition of
passive voice

A passive voice is a type of a clause or sentence in which an action (through

verb), or an object of a sentence, is emphasized rather than its subject.
Simply, the subject receives the action of the verb.
In other words, subject of the sentence has an action done to it by someone
or something else.
 Form of
passive voice

Subject + the appropriate form of to be + past Participle

NOTE: The appropriate form of to be = To be is put in the tense of the active voice
main verb.
When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following rules:
 The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
 The form of the verb is the appropriate form of to be (the tense of the active
voice main verb) + the past participle.
 The subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence
 1. Passive voice in
Simple Present Tense

Passive : S + to be (am, are, is) + past participle +

by + O

Example:
Active: She writes a letter
Passive: (+) A letter is written by her
(-) The letter is not written by her Active: He listens to the music
(?) Is the letter written by her? Passive: (+) The music is listened by him
(-) The music is not listened
by him
(?) Is the music listened by him?
 2. Passive voice in
Present Continuous Tense

Passive : S + to be (am, are, is) + being + past

participle + by + O
 

Example:
Active: The computer is processing the document.
Passive: (+) The document is being processed by the computer.
(-) the document is not being processed by the computer
(?) is the document being processed by the computer?
3. Passive voice in
Present Perfect Tense

Passive : S + have/has + been + past participle + by + O

 

Example:
Active: Sita has sent a parcel.
Passive: (+) A parcel has been sent by Sita
(-) A parcel has not been sent by Sita
(?) Has a parcel been sent by sita ?
 4. Passive voice in
Present Perfect Continuous Tense

Passive : S + have/has + been + being + past participle

+ by + O
 

Example:
Active: She has been waiting for you for about an hour.
Passive: (+) You have been being waited by her for about an hour.
(-) You have not been being waited by her for about an hour
(?) have you been being waited by her for about an hour?
 5. Passive voice in
Simple Future Tense

Passive : S + will be + past participle + by + O

 

Example:
Active: We will watch an action movie this evening.
Passive: (+) An action movie will be watched by us this evening.
(-) An action movie will not be watched by us this evening.
(?) Will an action movie be watched by us this evening?
 6. Passive voice in
Future Continuous Tense

Passive : S + will + be + being + past participle + by +

O
 

Example:
Active: She will be bringing many books
Passive: (+) Many books will be being brought by her.
(-) Many books will not be being brought by her.
(?) will many books be being brought by her?
 7. Passive voice in
Future Perfect Tense

Passive : S + will + have + been + past participle + by + O

 

Example:
Active: the children will have seen the show
Passife: (+) The show will have been seen by the children
(-) The show will not have been seen by the children
(?) Will the show have been seen by the children?
 8. Passive voice in Future
Perfect Continuous Tense

Passive : S + will + have + been + being + past participle + by +

O
 

Example:
Active: they will have been playing football for 2 hours
Passive: (+) Football will have been being played by them for two hours
(-) Football will not have been being played by them for two hours
(?) Will football have been being played by them for two hours?
Lab report example
Procedure

The equipment was arranged as shown in

Fig. 2.
25.0 ml HCl(aq) was pipetted into a 100 ml conical
flask. A burette was clamped to a retort stand
and filled with standardised NaOH(aq) and the
initial measurement was recorded. The conical
flask was placed below the burette, on top of a
piece of white paper. Five drops of universal
indicator solution were added to the flask.
Figure 2. Experimental set-up
for titration (taken from
Carroll 2017)
 Use Passive Voice
In some sentences, passive voice can be perfectly acceptable. You might use it in
the following cases:

• The actor is unknown:

The cave paintings of Lascaux were made in the Upper Old Stone Age.
[We don’t know who made them.]

• The actor is irrelevant:

An experimental solar power plant will be built in the Australian desert.
[We are not interested in who is building it.]

• You want to be vague about who is responsible:

Mistakes were made. [Common in bureaucratic writing!]

• You are talking about a general truth:

Rules are made to be broken. [By whomever, whenever.]

 
• You want to emphasize the person or thing acted on. For example, it may be your
main topic:
Insulin was first discovered in 1921 by researchers at the University of Toronto. It is
still the only treatment available for diabetes.

• You are writing in a scientific genre that traditionally relies on passive voice.
The sodium hydroxide was dissolved in water. This solution was then titrated with
hydrochloric acid.

In these sentences you can count on your reader to know that you are the one who
did the dissolving and the titrating. The passive voice places the emphasis on your
experiment rather than on you.