DESCRIBING PROCESSES

LSP300

The active verbs

the subject and verb relationship is straightforward Eg :
They keep the butter here. Mother made a cake.

The passive verbs

the subject of the sentence is neither a do-er or a be-er, but is acted upon by some other agent or by something unnamed Eg :

The butter is kept here.

A cake is made by mother.

Purposes of passive verbs

to draw our attention to the person or thing acted upon: Eg : The victim was attacked during the early morning hours. When the actor in the situation is not important: Eg : The aurora borealis is seen in the early morning hours.

Purposes of passive verbs

in scientific or technical writing or lab reports, where the actor is not really important but the process or principle being described is of ultimate importance. Eg : The acid is/was poured into the beaker. when describing, in which the details of process are much more important than anyone's taking responsibility for the action: Eg :The first coat of paint is applied immediately.

Passive verbs formation

Combining Verb to be + past participle = passive
Tense
Present

Subject
The car/cars

Verb-to-be Singular
is

Plural
are

Past Participle
designed.

Present perfect
Past Past perfect Future Future perfect Present progressive Past progressive

The car/cars
The car/cars The car/cars The car/cars The car/cars The car/cars

has been
was had been will be will have been is being

have been
were had been will be will have been are being

designed.
designed. designed. designed. designed. designed.

The car/cars

was being

were being

designed.

Formation
passive voice will not always include an agent of the action Active Passive Passive Profe ssor Villa gave Jorge an A.

An A was given to Jorge by Professor Villa.

Jorge was given an A.

Formation
Only transitive verbs (those that take objects) can be transformed into passive constructions certain verbs cannot be transformed into passive structures

look resemble like

equal

agree with

mean
lack

contain hold
suit fit

comprise
become

Exercises
Change the sentences into passive voice.

1. 2. 3. 4.

She invited me to her party last week. The teacher will appoint the head prefect. The detective follows him everywhere. Many people were watching him at that moment. 5. The woman has just sold the flowers to that lady. 6. They will find him guilty of murder. 7. The boy saw him searching the room. 8. They expected me to pay the bill. 9. Everyone in this town knows him. 10. The teacher has already corrected the compositions.

Exercises
Rewrite the radio news using passive where appropriate.

People have hailed a teenage girl a hero after she

jumped into a river to save a child. Kate Mills, three, fell into the river while strapped into her pushchair. Several

passers-by saw the incident from the tow-path, but it

was the girl who leapt into the water and dragged the buggy to the surface. A passing fireman pulled Kate and

the girl from the water and an ambulance took them to

the hospital. They discharged them both after a brief check-up. They have not yet identified the girl, who left the hospital without revealing her name, but locals believe she is from outside the area.

Exercises
Rewrite the radio news using passive where appropriate. A heroic cockatoo that someone killed last month as

it tried to defend its owner may not have died in vain.

People claim that Bird, who its owner named after the basketball player Larry Bird, may provide vital evidence

in a murder trial. When someone fatally attached the

birds owner, Kevin Butler, at his home in Texas, the cockatoo fought back. Bird managed to wound the two assailants before they stabbed it to death with a fork. Now people hope that DNA they scrape from Birds claws will help convict the suspected killers.