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Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not
known, however, who or what is performing the action.
In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I do not
know, however, who did it.
In this case, I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame
anyone (e.g. You have made a mistake.).
Form of Passive
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
writes a letter.
Simple Present Active: Rita
Examples of Passive
is writing a letter.
Present Progressive Active: Rita
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.
As you can see in the examples, adding by Rita does not sound very elegant.
Thats why it is usually dropped.
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 say that women live longer than men. It is said that women live
longer than men.
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.
Wefindanoverabundanceofthepassivevoiceinsentencescreatedbyself
protectivebusinessinterests,magniloquenteducators,andbombasticmilitary
writers(whomustgetwearyofthisaccusation),whousethepassivevoiceto
avoidresponsibilityforactionstaken.Thus"Cigaretteadsweredesignedto
appealespeciallytochildren"placestheburdenontheadsasopposedto
"Wedesignedthecigaretteadstoappealespeciallytochildren,"inwhich"we"
acceptsresponsibility.AtaWhiteHousepressbriefingwemighthearthat"The
PresidentwasadvisedthatcertainmembersofCongresswerebeingaudited"
ratherthan"TheHeadoftheInternalRevenueserviceadvisedthePresidentthat
heragencywasauditingcertainmembersofCongress"becausethepassive
constructionavoidsresponsibilityforadvisingandforauditing.Onefurther
cautionaboutthepassivevoice:weshouldnotmixactiveandpassive
constructionsinthesamesentence:"Theexecutivecommitteeapprovedthenew
policy,andthecalendarfornextyear'smeetingswasrevised"shouldberecastas
"Theexecutivecommitteeapprovedthenewpolicyandrevisedthecalendarfor
nextyear'smeeting."
Takethequiz(below)asanexerciseinrecognizingandchanging
passiveverbs.
Thepassivevoicedoesexistforareason,however,anditspresenceisnot
alwaystobedespised.Thepassiveisparticularlyuseful(evenrecommended)in
twosituations:
Whenitismoreimportanttodrawourattentiontothepersonor
thingactedupon:Theunidentifiedvictimwasapparently
struckduringtheearlymorninghours.
Whentheactorinthesituationisnotimportant:Theauroraborealiscanbe
observedintheearlymorninghours.
Thepassivevoiceisespeciallyhelpful(andevenregardedasmandatory)in
scientificortechnicalwritingorlabreports,wheretheactorisnotreally
importantbuttheprocessorprinciplebeingdescribedisofultimateimportance.
Insteadofwriting"Ipoured20ccofacidintothebeaker,"wewouldwrite
"Twentyccofacidis/waspouredintothebeaker."Thepassivevoiceisalso
usefulwhendescribing,say,amechanicalprocessinwhichthedetailsofprocess
aremuchmoreimportantthananyone'stakingresponsibilityfortheaction:"The
firstcoatofprimerpaintisappliedimmediatelyaftertheacidrinse."
Weusethepassivevoicetogoodeffectinaparagraphinwhichwewishto
shiftemphasisfromwhatwastheobjectinafirstsentencetowhatbecomes
thesubjectinsubsequentsentences.
The executive committee approved an entirely new policy for dealing with academic
suspension and withdrawal. The policy had been written by a subcommittee on student
behavior. If students withdraw from course work before suspension can take effect, the
policy states, a mark of "IW" . . . .
Theparagraphisclearlyaboutthisnewpolicysoitisappropriate
thatpolicymovefrombeingtheobjectinthefirstsentencetobeingthesubjectof
thesecondsentence.Thepassivevoiceallowsforthistransition.
Auxiliary Past
Tense Subject
Singular Plural Participle
Onlytransitiveverbs(thosethattakeobjects)canbetransformedinto
passiveconstructions.Furthermore,activesentencescontainingcertainverbs
cannotbetransformedintopassivestructures.Tohaveisthemostimportantof
theseverbs.Wecansay"Hehasanewcar,"butwecannotsay"Anewcarishad
byhim."Wecansay"Josefinalackedfinesse,"butwecannotsay"Finessewas
lacked."Hereisabrieflistofsuchverbs*:
Subject:Tobeelectedbymypeersisagreathonor.
Object:Thatchildreallylikestobereadtobyhermother.
Modifier:Grassowasthefirstwomantobeelectedgovernorinherownright.
Thesameistrueofpassivegerunds.
Subject:Beingelectedbymypeerswasagreatthrill.
Object:Ireallydon'tlikebeinglecturedtobymyboss.
Objectofpreposition:Iamsotiredof
beinglecturedtobymyboss.
Withpassiveparticiples,partofthepassiveconstructionisoftenomitted,the
resultbeingasimplemodifyingparticipialphrase.
[Havingbeen]designedforoffroadperformance,thePathseekerdoesnot
alwaysbehavewellonpavedhighways.
be able to
Although we look at be able to here, it is not a modal verb. It is simply
the verb be plus an adjective (able) followed by the infinitive. We look
at be able to here because we sometimes use it instead ofcan and could.
+ I am able to drive.
isn't
You will be able to speak perfect English very soon. (future simple)
I would like to be able to fly an airplane. (infinitive)
Be able to + infinitive significa poder. Como sabris, el verbo poder es can en
ingls. Este can es lo que llamamos en gramtica un verbo modal. Otros
verbos modales son: must, should, may y might. Bien, qu quiere decir
verbo modal? Un verbo modal tiene varias implicaciones:
1) Va seguido de un infinitivo sin to, por ejemplo: I can swim, NO I can to swim.
2) Es la misma forma para todas las personas, por ejemplo: You can swim,
pero tambin he can swim, es decir, la tercera persona no lleva -s, como
sucede en la tercera persona de cualquier verbo que no sea modal en el
presente simple (he drinkscoffee every day).
3) No requiere auxiliares, como cualquier verbo, ni para la negativa ni para las
preguntas. La negativa se hace pegando nt al verbo, cant: I cant go out
tonight. Y la interrogativa se hace poniendo can al principio, seguido de sujeto
e infinitivo: Can I go to the toilet, please?
Estas tres reglas se aplican a todos los verbos modales.
Ahora bien, te preguntars, por que nos explica el verbo can, si el ttulo de este
post es Be able to, muy fcil, porque como os deca al principio, be able to
significa poder, igual que can, pero cundo usamos can y cundo be able