What
is Passive Voice ?
In English, all
sentences are in either "active" or "passive" voice:
active: Werner
Heisenberg formulated the uncertainty principle in 1927.
passive: The
uncertainty principle was formulated by Werner Heisenberg in 1927.
In an active sentence,
the person or thing responsible for the action in the sentence comes first. In
a passive sentence, the person or thing acted on comes first, and the actor is
added at the end, introduced with the preposition "by." The passive
form of the verb is signaled by a form of "to be": in the sentence
above, "was formulated" is in passive voice while
"formulated" is in active.
In a passive sentence,
we often omit the actor completely:
The uncertainty principle was formulated in
1927.
When
to use the Passive ?
Sometimes the passive
voice is the best choice. Here are a few instances when the passive voice is
quite useful:
1. To emphasize an object.Take a look at
this example:
100
votes are required to pass the bill.
This
passive sentence emphasizes the number of votes required. An active version of
the sentence (“The bill requires 100 votes to pass”) would put the emphasis on
the bill, which may be less dramatic.
2.
To de-emphasize an unknown subject/actor.
Consider this example:
Over
120 different contaminants have been dumped into the river.
If
you don’t know who the actor is—in this case, if you don’t actually know who
dumped all of those contaminants in the river—then you may need to write in the
passive. But remember, if you do know the actor, and if the clarity and meaning
of your writing would benefit from indicating him/her/it/them, then use an
active construction. Yet consider the third case.
3.
If your readers don’t need to know who’s
responsible for the action.
Here’s
where your choice can be difficult; some instances are less clear than others.
Try to put yourself in your reader’s position to anticipate how he/she will
react to the way you have phrased your thoughts. Here are two examples:
Baby
Sophia was delivered at 3:30 a.m. yesterday.(passive)
and
Dr.
Susan Jones delivered baby Sophia at 3:30 a.m. yesterday.(active)
The
first sentence might be more appropriate in a birth announcement sent to family
and friends—they are not likely to know Dr. Jones and are much more interested
in the “object”(the baby) than in the actor (the doctor). A hospital report of
yesterday’s events might be more likely to focus on Dr. Jones’ role.
Formula
of the Passive Voice
·
Auxiliary verb can be primary auxiliary
verb be (is, are, am, was, were, be,
been, being)
· Or a combination of the two primary
(is/are being, was/were being, has/have been) or primary and modal auxiliary
verb (will be, will have been).
When
rewriting active sentences in Passive Voice, note the following:
·
the object of the active sentence
becomes the subject of the passive sentence
·
the finite form of the verb is changed
(to be + past participle)
·
the subject of the active sentence
becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped)
Examples
of Passive
|
Tense
|
Subject
|
Verb
|
Object
|
|
Simple Present
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
writes
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
is written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Simple Past
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
wrote
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
was written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Present Perfect
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
has written
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
has been written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Future I
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
will write
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
will be written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Hilfsverben
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
can write
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
can be written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Present Progressive
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
is writing
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
is being written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Past Progressive
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
was writing
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
was being written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Past Perfect
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
had written
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
had been written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Future II
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
will have written
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
will have been written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Conditional I
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
would write
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
would be written
|
by Rita.
|
|
Conditional II
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
would have written
|
a letter.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
would have been written
|
by Rita.
|
Passive
Sentences with Two Objects
Rewriting
an active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that one of the two
objects becomes the subject, the other one remains an object. Which object to
transform into a subject depends on what you want to put the focus on.
|
|
Subject
|
Verb
|
Object 1
|
Object 2
|
|
Active:
|
Rita
|
wrote
|
a letter
|
to me.
|
|
Passive:
|
A letter
|
was written
|
to me
|
by Rita.
|
|
Passive:
|
I
|
was written
|
a letter
|
by Rita.
|
As you can see in the
examples, adding by Rita does not sound very elegant. That’s why it is usually
dropped.
Personal
and Impersonal Passive
Personal Passive simply
means that the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive
sentence. So every verb that needs an object (transitive verb) can form a
personal passive.
·
Example: They build houses. – Houses are
built.
Verbs
without an object (intransitive verb) normally cannot form a personal passive
sentence (as there is
no object that can become the subject of the passive
sentence). If you want to use an intransitive verb in
passive voice, you need
an impersonal construction – therefore this passive is called Impersonal
Passive.
·
Example: he says – it is said
Impersonal
Passive is not as common in English as in some other languages (e.g. German,
Latin). In
English, Impersonal Passive is only possible with verbs of perception
(e. g. say, think, know).
· Example: They say that women live longer
than men. – It is said that women live longer than men.
Although
Impersonal Passive is possible here, Personal Passive is more common.
· Example: They say that women live longer
than men. – Women are said to live longer than men.
The
subject of the subordinate clause (women) goes to the beginning of the
sentence; the verb of
perception is put into passive voice. The rest of the
sentence is added using an infinitive construction
with 'to' (certain auxiliary
verbs and that are dropped).
Sometimes the term
Personal Passive is used in English lessons if the indirect object of an active
sentence is to become the subject of the passive sentence.
How to change a sentence from Active to Passive Voice, do
the following:
1.
Move the active sentence's direct object into the sentence's
subject slot
2.
Place the active sentence's subject into a phrase beginning with the preposition
by
3. Add a
form of the auxiliary verb be to the main verb and
change the main verb's form
Because passive voice sentences
necessarily add words and change the normal doer-action-receiver ofaction direction, they may make the reader work harder to understand
the intended meaning.
As the examples below illustrate, a
sentence in active voice flows more smoothly and is easier to
understand than the same sentence in passive voice.
Reference
:
Nama : Annis Septhi Kartika
Kelas : 4ea19
NPM :
19210469
Bahasa Inggris Bisnis 2#
·
