UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE CHIMBORAZO

FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACION, HUMANAS Y TECNOLOGIAS

ENGLISH MAJOR

STUDENTS:
Bravo Miguel
Barreno Eduardo

SEMESTER:
Sixth

SUBJECT:
Grammar VI

TOPIC:
Pasive voice

What happened?
DOER

Miss Leung took Brians book.

(Subject
)
DOER

Brians book was taken by Miss Leung.

(Object)

What happened?
DOER

Miss Leung took Brians book.

(Subject
)
RECEIVER

Emphasis more
IMPORTANT

DOER

Brians book was taken by Miss Leung.

(Subject
)

(Object)

What happened?
DOER

Miss Leung took Brians book.

(Subject
)
RECEIVER

DOER

Brians book was taken by Miss Leung.

(Subject
)

(Object)

What happened?
DOER

Miss Leung took Brians book.

(Subject
)
RECEIVER

DOER

Brians book was taken by Miss Leung.

(Subject)

Passive Voice
What are you going to learn?
1. When to Use Passive Voice
2. Structure of Passive Verbs
3. Passive Verbs in Tenses

1. When Do We Use Passive Voice?

A. When the RECEIVER of an action is

the EMPHASIS
B. When it is NOT NECESSARY to
mention the DOER of an action
C. When the DOER of an action is NOT
KNOWN

1.A. When the RECEIVER of the

action is the EMPHASIS
Example:
Look! A mermaid is found by the fishermen!

What is the main

message of the sentence?

As the emphasis is on the mermaid,

we start the sentence with A
mermaid to attract readers
attention to the receiver of the
action.

Now lets watch a video.

Example:
This table is reserved for Hong Kong people.

As the emphasis is on the table, we start

the sentence with This table to attract
readers attention to the receiver of the
action.

1.B. When it is NOT NECESSARY

to mention the DOER of the action
Example:

I was born in August.

Is it necessary to mention
WHO gave birth to you?

(Who else would it be if not your

mom??!!)

As the doer of the action is

understood, we can omit it and
start the sentence with the receiver
of the action, i.e.I.

1.C. When the DOER is NOT

KNOWN
Example:

Miss Leungs diamond ring was stolen!!

Who stole the ring?

We do not know who stole

the diamond ring.
So, the doer is not known. Instead of starting
the sentence with somebody, i.e.,
Somebody stole Miss Leungs diamond
ring, we can omit the doer of the action
and start the sentence with the receiver of
the action, i.e., Miss Leungs diamond
ring.

2. Structure of Passive Verbs

Syntactic Structure
ACTIVE ----------------------- PASSIVE
e.g. eats ----------------------- is eaten
i.e.
verb ----------------------- be + p.p.
Note: be is changed according to
the tense of the sentence
the number (singular/plural) of the subject of the
sentence.

3. Passive Verbs in Tenses

3.1 Present Tenses
Tenses
Present - Simple
- Continuous
- Perfect

Active
-eats
-is eating
-has eaten

Passive
-is eaten
-is being eaten
-has been eaten

3.2 Past Tenses

Now, try to complete the following table:
Tenses
Past - Simple
- Continuous
- Perfect

Active
-ate
-was eating
-had eaten

Passive

ANSWERS
Tenses
Past - Simple
- Continuous
- Perfect
eaten

Active
-ate
-was eating
-had eaten

Passive
-was eaten
-was being eaten
-had been

3.3 Future Tenses

Please complete the following table:
Tense
Future - Simple

Active
-will eat

Passive

ANSWERS
Tense
Future - Simple

Active
-will eat

Passive
-will be eaten

Practice
Now, rewrite the sentences below by using
passive voice.

1. The janitor cleans our classroom every

day.
2. Japan exported millions of cars last year.
3. Mr. Chan will feed his dog on canned food.

ANSWERS
1. Our classroom is cleaned (by the
janitor) every day.
2. Millions of cars were exported from
Japan last year.
3. Mr. Chans dog will be fed on canned
food.

Activity

What is Different?

Players
Each group chooses 1 member as the
player.
All players come to the front of the room
and look carefully around the room.
Now, would the players leave the room and
stay outside for a moment?

Action!
Each group takes turn to make a change to
objects in the room.
e.g. clean the blackboard,
close the window.

Welcome Back!
Now, lets invite the players to come back
and try to find out what have been
changed.

What is different?
Dear players,
8 changes have been made to objects in the
room.
Check what have been changed.
Report to the class in complete passive
voice sentences.
e.g. The door has been closed.
1 mark for each correct observation.

Time Limit: 8 mins

Relevant Web-Sites
http://www.english4us.com
http://www.telenex.hku.hk

You HAVE BEEN TAUGHT:

when to use passive voice

Congratulations!!
You HAVE BEEN TAUGHT:
when to use passive voice
how to form passive verbs
Give yourselves a BIG BIG
HAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Passive or ACTIVE??????)