Lita Rahmasari, M.

Sc

A sentence is written in active voice when the subject of the sentence performs the action in the sentence. e.g : The girl was washing the dog

A sentence is written in passive voice when the subject of the sentence has an action done to it by someone or something else. e.g : The dog was being washed by the girl

Passive voice verbs are used in writing much more than in speech, and they are used in some types of writing much more often than in others. Passive are used more in journalism (newspaper, magazines) than in fiction (novels, stories), but most journalists and fiction writers use far more active than passive sentence.

However, passives are very common in all types in scientific and technical writing. Scientific articles often contain more passive than active sentences

1. The object of the active verb is the subject of the passive verb. Therefore, verbs which cannot be followed by object (intransitive verbs) cannot be used in passive voice. These are some common intransitive verbs: appear, arrive, come, cry, die, go, happen, occur, rain, sleep, stay, walk. These verbs cannot be used in passive voice.

2. The passive verb always contains a form of the auxiliary verb be. The form of be: in the passive verb phrase corresponds to the form of the main verb in the active verb phrase. That is, if the active main verb is simple present tense; then a simple present tense form of be is used in the passive verb phrase. If the active main verb is ING form, then the ING form of be is used in the passive verb phrase.

3. The main verb in a passive predicate verb phrase is always the participle form of the verb. 4. Some examples of active and passive sentences : ACTIVE : They speak English PASSIVE : English is spoken

ACTIVE : They spoke English PASSIVE : English was spoken ACTIVE : They will speak English PASSIVE : English will be spoken ACTIVE : They are going to speak English PASSIVE : English is going to be spoken

ACTIVE : They are speaking English PASSIVE : English is being spoken ACTIVE : They were speaking English PASSIVE : English was being spoken ACTIVE : They have spoken English PASSIVE : English has been spoken

ACTIVE : They had spoken English PASSIVE : English had been spoken ACTIVE : They will have spoken English PASSIVE : English will have been spoken

5. Perfect progressive verb forms are generally used in active voice only. That is, these are good English sentences : Active : They have been speaking English They had been speaking English They will have been speaking English

Most passive sentences do not contain an agent ; all active sentences contain an agent. 1. An agent is the subject of the active verb. In the example sentences above, the agent is they in all active sentences; the passive sentences do not contain an agent. 2. When a passive sentence contains an agent, it is in a prepositional phrase following the verb. Example : English is spoken by them