Passive Voice
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How to construct the passive.
How to construct the passive.
1. Check to see if the active sentence contains an object.
John ate an apple. (S V
O)
Passive is possible.
John ate yesterday. (S
V)
Passive is not possible.
2. Move the object to the front of the sentence. Put the
original subject in a "by" phrase .
An apple (V) by John.
3. Put the verb in the form "be" +3 (of main verb)*
An apple "be" eaten by John.
4. Put the "be" in the same tense as the original active
sentence.
An apple was/were eaten by John. ( past tense)
5. Make the first verb agree with the new subject.
An apple was eaten by John.
(Put other elements of the sentence in grammatical and
logical order.)
Yesterday the large green apple was quickly eaten by John, who didnТt
realize that it belonged to his sister.
When other (auxiliary) verbs and modals are used in combination
with the
passive, remember:
be +
3*
(Passive)
be + V ing
(Progressive)
have +
3
(Perfect)
modal +
1
(Modal)
The apple should
have been
being eaten
by John.
Combination of auxiliary verbs with the passive.
be +
3
(Passive)
be + V ing
(Progressive)
have +
3
(Perfect)
modal
+1
(Modal)
The
apple
is
eaten by John. (Present tense)
The
apple
was eaten by
John. (Past tense)
The
apple
is
being eaten by John.
(Present Progressive)
The
apple
was being
eaten by John. (Past Progressive)
The
apple
has
been
eaten by John. (Present Perfect)
The
apple
had
been
eaten by John. (Past Perfect)
The
apple
has been
being
eaten by John. (Pres. Perfect Progressive)
The
apple
had been
being
eaten by John. (Past Perfect Progressive)
The apple
will
be
eaten by John. ( Future/Modal)
The apple is going
to
be
eaten by John. (Future/Modal)
The apple
must
be
eaten by John. (Modal)
The apple
must have
been
eaten by John. (Past Modal)
The apple
must have
been being
eaten by John.
(Combination)
*Note, to simplify things, we refer to the forms of the verbs with numbers, as follows:
1 base form (be, go, do)
2 past form (was/were, went, did)
3 past participle (been, gone, done)
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