Passive Voice Basics Video Lesson
Primarily, in the English language a passive construction occurs when the object of an action is made into the subject of a sentence. To be exact, whoever or whatever is performing the action is not the grammatical subject of the sentence. Therefore, in a sentence using the passive voice the performer of the action is not that important. The emphasis is put on the action itself.
Why we use passive structures
According to this English grammar video, there are two reasons to use the passive voice in the English language:
- We don’t know who or what initiated or took part in an action.
- We don’t care who or what initiated or took part in an action.
Structure of the Passive
Present Tense: Subject + to be + past participle
Past Tense: Subject + to be (past) + past participle
Future Tense: Subject + will + to be (base form) + past participle
Present Perfect Tense: Subject + have/has + to be (pp) + past participle
Have a look at the following example:
- James wrote this message. (active)
- this message is the object in this active construction
- This message was written by James. (passive)
- this message is now the subject of this passive sentence. by James is just extra information.
further exercises:
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