Passive voice for dummies. Modal verbs in the passive voice - what could be simpler? What is Passive Voice

To show that an action is carried out on an object/person, in English we use passive voice.

Look at the examples: “English is spoken in many countries. These machines are manufactured in Germany. This house is for sale."

In such sentences, the emphasis is not on who performs the action, but on what action is performed on the person/object. This is the passive (or passive) voice.

In this article we will look at the schemes for constructing the passive voice in the present tense in English -. We will look in detail at how to construct affirmative, interrogative and negative sentences.

In the article you will learn:

• Formation of the Passive Voice in Present Simple Time

What is passive (passive) voice in English

First, let's figure out what collateral is and why it is needed.

In English, voice shows who performs the action:

• the person/object performs the action itself;
• a person/object experiences the action of another object.

In accordance with this, in English there are two types of collateral

• Active voice(Active voice) - the actor himself performs actions.

For example

• Passive voice(Passive voice) - the actor experiences the action of another person.

For example

The vase is broken. (The vase broke, but it didn’t break itself, but someone did it).

She is awakened by noise on the street. (She didn’t wake up on her own, but something woke her up.)

When do we use the passive voice?

Rules for using the passive voice in English

The most important thing to remember is that the passive voice is used when we talk about an action that is performed on a person/object.

The following cases of its use can be distinguished:

1. If we do not know who performed the action
For example: “Her wallet was stolen” (we don’t know who did it).

2. What matters to us is the action itself, not the person who performed it.
For example: “The watch is made in Switzerland” (it doesn’t matter to us who exactly made it).

3. If something unpleasant happened, but we don’t want to blame someone for it
For example: “The holiday is ruined” (we don’t want to say who exactly did it).

Now let's see how to construct sentences in the passive voice in the simple present tense.

Present Simple Passive Voice in English

In the Present Simple we use the passive voice when we talk about an ordinary, regular, constant action, which is carried out on a person/object.

For example

Cheese is made from milk.
Mail is delivered every day.

Rules for constructing the passive voice in the Present Simple

The passive voice in the Present Simple is formed using:

• verb to be in the present tense (am, are, is);
• verb in the past tense.

There are regular and irregular verbs in English. Depending on the verb we:

• add the ending -ed if the verb is regular;
• we put it in the 3rd form if the verb is irregular.

The scheme for constructing the passive voice in the Present Simple will be as follows.

Object/person + am/are/is + 3rd form of irregular verb or regular verb ending -ed.

Examples

The bread is baked every morning.
This bread is baked every morning.

Paper is made from wood.
Paper is made from wood.

These rooms are cleaned every day.
These rooms are cleaned every day.

Using by in the passive voice

If we want to indicate who did the action, we add preposition by. We put it at the end of the sentence, and after it comes the actor who performs the action itself.

The proposal outline will be as follows.

Object/person + am/are/is + 3rd form of an irregular verb or regular verb ending -ed + by + the one who performs the action.

Let's look at examples.

Our dinner is cooked by mom.
Mom cooks our dinner.

These jewels are made by Kate.
Kate makes these jewelry.

Using with in the passive voice

If we are talking about a tool with which an action is performed, we use preposition with. We put it at the end of the sentence, and after it comes the instrument.

A diagram of such a proposal.

Object/person + am/are/is + 3rd form of an irregular verb or regular verb ending -ed + with + a tool used to perform an action.

Examples

Bread is cut with a knife.
Bread is cut with a knife.

The pictures are drawn with a pencil.
These pictures are drawn with a pencil.

Negative Present Simple sentences in the passive voice

We can make the offer negative. To do this you need to put not after the verb to be.

Scheme of a negative sentence in Present Simple Voice

Object/person + am/are/is + not + 3rd form of irregular verb or regular verb ending -ed.

Example sentences

The flowers are not watered
Flowers are not watered.

This car is not washed.
This car is not washed.

I am not invited.
I'm not invited.

Present Simple Interrogative Sentences in Passive Voice

To ask a question, we need to put the verb to be first in the sentence. The proposal outline will be as follows.

Am/are/is + object/person + 3rd form of irregular verb or regular verb ending -ed?

Examples

Is the house sold?
Is this house for sale?

Are the dogs walked by Tom?
Does Tom walk the dogs?

Now let's put the theory into practice. To do this, do an exercise on using the passive voice.

Reinforcement task

Translate the following sentences into English. Leave your answers in the comments below the article.

1. These songs are listened to often.
2. She is not given gifts every day.
3. The phone is for sale.
4. Is the exam written with a pen?
5. Are these products made in China?
6. He is punished by his parents.

The passive voice in English, or Passive Voice, serves to emphasize that the subject is not performing any action. Wait, you say, what about the predicate, which is always present in English sentences? The secret is that the action it expresses is directed at the subject by some other performer. It doesn't matter to us whether it is listed or not.

Don’t be afraid of this linguistic phenomenon - it is very logical and even - let’s not be afraid of this word - simple. Passive Voice in English is formed using the verb to be, which must be consistent with the subject in number, person and tense, and the third form of the semantic verb ( V3).

You are very lucky: unlike the active - Active Voice, the passive voice boasts only ten tenses:

• Present Simple: am/is/are + V3The flowers are watered twice a week— Flowers are watered twice a week.
• Present Continuous: am/is/are + being + V3The student is being listened to attentively at the moment— The student is being listened to attentively at the moment.
• Present Perfect: have/has + been + V3The pictures have been painted this week— The pictures were painted this week.
• Past Simple: was/were + V3The village was built in 1658— The village was built in 1658.
• Past Continuous: was/were + being + V3
  Children were being played with at 10 in the morning yesterday— Yesterday at 10 am we were playing with the children.
• Past Perfect: had + been + V3The road had been destroyed before the troops entered the city— The road was destroyed before the troops entered the city.
• Future Simple: shall/will + be + V3A new movie theater will be built here in a year— A new cinema will be built here in a year.
• Future Perfect: shall/will + have + been + V3All the work in the garden will have been finished by 3 p.m.— All work in the garden will be finished by three o'clock.
• Future-in-the-Past Simple: should/would + be + V3He said that a new servant would be brought to the house the following week“He said that a new servant would be brought to the house next week.”
• Future-in-the-Past Perfect: should/would + have + been + V3We were informed that the contest would have been interrupted by 3 o'clock— We were informed that the competition would be interrupted at three o'clock.

The passive voice in English has wide scope of use: in addition to colloquial constructions, Passive can often be found in scientific literature, instructions, textbooks, etc. Remember that:

1. To form an interrogative sentence you will need to move the auxiliary verb to a position before the subject:
   

   Will the cake be eaten at once or in a few days?— Will the cake be eaten immediately or in a few days?

2. For a negative form, it is enough to put the particle not after the auxiliary verb:
   

   The hospital was not reconstructed after the Great Patriotic War— After the Great Patriotic War, the hospital was not rebuilt.

The passive voice arsenal will also allow you to construct sentences with modal verbs and even in the imperative mood! However, be careful. Don't get confused by the word order:

Go away from the firing range, you can be killed - Leave the training ground, they might kill you.
Drop back or be captured! - Retreat or be captured!

What to do if the sentence needs to mention the performer of the action? Prepositions will help you here:

1. by- for an animate figure:
   

   The letter was written by my mother — The letter was written by my mother.

2. with- for the instrument with which the action is performed:
   

   The tea will be stirred with a spoon

   — The tea will be stirred with a spoon.

And finally, let's discuss the difficult points that you will have to memorize and practice in writing and speaking:

• In English, many verbs require specific pretext and form with them Prepositional Passive, and this preposition does not disappear anywhere:
  

  She is spoken of as a woman of great talents— They talk about her as a woman of great talents.
  The surgeon has been just sent for - The surgeon has just been sent for.

• Verbs to sell- sell, to wash- wash, to peel- peel off the skin, to crease- hesitate, to wear- wear, to bake- bake, to burn— burn are used in the active form, although they will be translated into the native language in the passive form:
  

  The blouse washes and wears well— The blouse washes and wears well.
  The fairy-tales of this author sell well— This author’s fairy tales sell well

• Remember a group of verbs that are not used in Passive Voice: to seem- seem to lack- lack, to become- become, to fit- approach, to suit- arrange, to resemble- remind:
  

  Mary resembles her grandmother Jane— Mary looks like her grandmother Jane.
  They seem to read a lot of science fiction— They seem to read a lot of science fiction.

Let's summarize. The passive voice in English is fraught with many traps that are easy to fall into. First of all, you need to realize that the subject does not perform any action, but is subjected to it. Then you need to choose the appropriate tense form and take care of prepositions. Finally, check the exclusion lists, just in case. We wish you good luck!

Our speech in Russian is quite diverse. We use different designs: simple and complex, active and passive. And we don’t even think about it. If you want to raise your English speaking to the same "intuitive level", then you should definitely use our Passive Voice table.

When you started studying tenses, you probably came across such a grammatical phenomenon as active and passive voice. Let's remember what their difference is. Most time periods can be used in two cases. If the subject of the sentence itself performs the action (I’m walking, he’s drawing, we bought, they’ll fly), then we need an active form. If something is done to the subject, he is subjected to influence (trees are planted, water is poured, I was invited, we will be taken), then we use the passive construction. That's the last one we'll talk about.

Education

Each tense uses different auxiliary verbs and predicate forms. The Passive Voice table will tell us about this.

Note that the Perfect Continuous is not used at all in the passive voice. And Continuous time has no future segment. The interrogative and negative forms are identical in all tenses.

? - Recall. verb + mean + predicate

- Subject + auxiliary. verb + not + predicate

Were you invited to the party yesterday? — Were you invited to a party yesterday?

I wasn’t invited to the party yesterday. — I wasn’t invited to the party yesterday.

Are the flowers being planted now? —Are they planting flowers now?

The trees are not being planted now. — Trees are not being planted now.

Let's compare Active and Passive

The use of different tenses fully corresponds to their counterparts in the active voice. That is why it is recommended to study all the elements of this group, and then look in detail at. Let's look at a few examples to make it easier for you to understand everything and remember it at the right time.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in this element of the language. First of all, determine the role of the subject: it acts or on him. Then determine the time (you can use hint words). If you need to use the passive construction, then our passive voice table is at your service. Choose the tense, auxiliary verb, predicate ending, and you're done. It is better to consolidate all this in exercises that can be completed online on our website.

Good afternoon dear friends! Today I will tell you about the active voice in British speech.

Of course, it is easiest for us to perceive any information about a foreign language in comparison with our native one, Russian.

The active voice in English and the simple rules for composing sentences are very easy to remember with this comparison.

Only in order

The English language has a huge number of dialects and variations and it is difficult to imagine that the birthplace of a language spoken by one and a half billion people is a small European country with an area of ​​just over 240 thousand square kilometers.

And, despite such a huge distribution of British and its varieties in each of them, the rules for constructing a sentence and using the 12 tenses of the active voice remain unchanged.

It is to this scheme that you need to bring your speech to form the active voice.

It's not difficult at all, is it? Well, let's move on. Read about how to form passive voice.

I went to London - three ways

Statements with direct word order in English can be in 12 tenses, just like in Russian, time is expressed by a verb - the predicate.

At first glance, it may seem that 12 times is a lot, but it is very easy to understand them.

A table of active voice tenses can help us with this:

On the left you see exactly the same groups of tenses as in Russian: , and (from top to bottom). Everything is very clear here.

At the top are groups of tenses that are not similar to Russian ones: simple, continuous, perfect and completely continuous.

In order to easily remember these groups and the rules for their use, it is enough to compare the example sentences given in the table.
In general terms, we can draw the following conclusion:

• Indefinite (or Simple) – simple, we use it when we talk about something that happens sometime in the past or future, or in the present with some frequency (often, always, sometimes). Pay attention to the rules for forming sentences in this tense - they are very simple: V is the initial form of the verb, Vs is the initial form + s.
• Continuous - or long-term. From the name it is clear that it lasts now, in the past or future at a certain time. It is also formed simply: the predicate will always have the ending ing, and the predicate will be preceded by to be in the required time and number.

• Perfect – perfect or . We use it when we talk about an action that took place in the past or future, BUT completed at the time of speech (in the present), at an exact time in the past or future. They say that the result of an action must be visible by a certain time. We form it using the auxiliary verb have/has and the main one in the third form.

• Perfect Continuous is a mixture of the second and third, both in essence, in name, and even in formation. The action has already lasted for some time and continues to last at a certain point in time. It is formed: have + been + predicate with the ending ing. Where been is to be in the third form.

The simplest and most effective way to memorize and correctly use all tenses in speech is through exercises.

Read how to prepare for international exams and which type to choose.

Regular training on unique ones will give you the opportunity to pass any test for active voice tenses with the highest score. New technology for memorizing foreign words will help you quickly increase your vocabulary and easily apply new words in speech. You will learn how to memorize 100 foreign words in an hour.

Don’t forget to subscribe to new useful materials on my blog, and you will also receive as a gift a phrasebook in three languages, English, German and French. Its main advantage is that there is Russian transcription, so even without knowing the language, you can easily master colloquial phrases.

I was with you, Natalya Glukhova, I wish you a good day!

In this lesson we will examine a very complex grammatical topic - Active and Passive Voice in English. Simply put, voice is an indicator of whether the subject performs the action or the action is performed on it.

There are two forms of voice in English: the Active Voice and the Passive Voice.

In the active voice, the verb denotes an action that is performed by the subject:

• I read twenty pages yesterday.
• Yesterday I read twenty pages.

In the passive voice, the verb denotes an action that is performed on the subject:

• Twenty pages were read by me yesterday.
• Yesterday I read twenty pages.

Compare the following examples:

• They usually sing such songs in class. (Active Voice)
• They usually sing such songs in class.

• Such songs are usually sang by them in class. (Passive Voice)
• Such songs are usually sung by them in class.

• Has the manager checked up your report? (Active Voice)
• Did the manager check your report?

• Has your report been checked up by the manager? (Passive Voice)
• Has your report been reviewed by the manager?

If you have reached the topic of voices in English, then by now you have already learned the tense forms of the verb in Active Voice. You already know that there are a total of 12 main active tenses in the English language. Each tense is formed in its own way, using endings and auxiliary verbs. What does the system of tenses in the passive voice look like?

The passive voice also has a tense system. But unlike the active voice, there are only 8 tense forms in it. All Perfect Continuous tenses, as well as the Future Continuous tense, are not used in Passive Voice.

To form tenses of the passive voice, we need the auxiliary verb to be, which must have the appropriate form of the active voice, and the past participle of the semantic verb. You already know that the past participle is formed using the -ed ending for regular verbs, or use the III form of irregular verbs from the table, which you need to know by heart.

The passive voice formation scheme for all tenses is as follows: How are tense forms of the passive voice formed?

Below, as examples, are tables of conjugation of the verbs to promote and to choose in the passive voice (affirmative form).

Simple Tenses in the Passive Voice −
Simple tenses in passive voice

Continuous Tenses in the Passive Voice -
Long tenses in passive voice

Perfect Tenses in the Passive Voice -
Perfect tenses in passive voice

What verbs form Passive Voice forms?

All verbs in English have Active Voice forms. Not all verbs can form Passive Voice forms, mainly only Transitive Verbs.

Transitive verbs express an action directed at some object and take a direct, indirect or prepositional object.

Examples of transitive verbs in active and passive voices:

• Active: The pioneers have done much useful work on the collective farm.
• Passive: Much useful work has been done by the pioneers on the collective farm.

• Active: Jane’s friends gave her many presents for her birthday.
• Passive: Jane was given many presents for her birthday.

• Active: We shall build Communism in this country within the next twenty years.
• Passive: Communism will be built in this country within the next twenty years.

• Active: Everybody listened to the lecturer with great attention.
• Passive: The lecturer was listened to with great attention.

Intransitive Verbs express an action that characterizes the subject, but is not directed at any object. Intransitive verbs do not take objects. As a rule, they do not have passive voice forms or have them only in some cases.

Examples with intransitive verbs:

• We live in Russian Federation.
• I am a teacher.

There are verbs in English that, depending on their meaning, can be either transitive or intransitive. For example, the verb to grow meaning “to grow” is intransitive and does not form a passive voice form. In the meaning of “to grow” it is transitive and forms forms of the passive voice. Compare:

• Barley grows very fast - Barley grows very quickly (intransitive meaning, Active Voice)
• We grow many beautiful flowers in our small garden - We grow many beautiful flowers in our small garden (transitive meaning, Active Voice)
• Many beautiful flowers are grown in our garden - Many beautiful flowers are grown in our garden (transitive meaning, Passive Voice)

Constructions with verbs in Passive Voice

If a verb in Active Voice takes direct and indirect objects, then any of these objects can act as the subject of a sentence with a verb in Passive Voice.

Compare the following sentences:

1. My parents told me many interesting facts about our family’s past. (verb to tell in Active Voice; indirect object - me, direct object - facts)
2. I was told many interesting facts about our family’s past by my parents. (verb to tell in Passive Voice; the subject in sentence 2 corresponds to the indirect object in sentence 1 (I − me)
3. Many interesting facts about our family’s past were told to me by my parents. (verb to tell in Passive Voice; the subject in sentence 3 corresponds to the direct object in sentence 1 (facts - facts)

Type 2 sentences in Passive Voice use the following verbs: to allow - to allow, to ask - to ask, to award - to assign, to forbid - to prohibit, to forgive - to forgive, to give - to give, to offer - to offer, to pay - to pay, to present - to give, to show - to show, to teach - to teach, to tell - to speak.

• My big brother was given many presents for his birthday - My older brother was given many gifts for his birthday
• They were asked some questions at the enter-exams - They were asked a couple of questions at the entrance exams
• We will be taught Spanish next year - We will be taught Spanish next year
• I was shown the way by a small girl - The little girl showed me the way

In Russian, sentences of type 2 are not used in Passive Voice. Instead, indefinite personal sentences or personal sentences with a verb in Active Voice are used. Compare:

• We were told many interesting stories − We were told many interesting stories (vaguely personal sentence)
• We were told many stories by our teacher − Our teacher told us many stories (personal sentence with a verb in Active Voice)

If a verb in Active Voice takes a prepositional object, then the prepositional object can act as the subject of a sentence with a verb in Passive Voice (with the preposition placed after the verb). Compare:

• People speak much about that film - People talk a lot about that film (Active Voice)
• That film is much spoken about - They talk a lot about that film (Passive Voice)
• Olga liked to wear very short dresses, and she was often made fun of by her classmates - Olga liked to wear very short dresses, which is why her classmates often laughed at her

Sentences of this type are not found in Russian. Instead, indefinite personal sentences or personal sentences with a verb in Active Voice are used:

• He is waited for − They are waiting for him
• He is waited for by his friends − His friends are waiting for him

Using Passive Voice Forms

Sentences with a Passive Voice predicate are used in English when the main interest is the object undergoing the action (the object of the action) rather than the one doing the action (the subject of the action), as in sentences with the Active Voice verb.

In sentences with Passive Voice, the object of the action is the subject, and the subject of the action is either expressed by a prepositional object with the prepositions by/with, or is not mentioned at all.

Examples of sentences with a verb in Passive Voice, in which the subject of the action is not mentioned:

• Tennis is played all over the world − Tennis is played all over the world
• The wounded were flown to hospital − The wounded were sent to the hospital by plane
• I am told you’re a bad player − I was told that you are a bad player
• Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14 - Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14
• A new building is being built in my street - A new building is being built on my street

As you have probably already noticed, sentences of this type are translated into Russian as indefinite-personal sentences, or less often, sentences with a verb in the passive voice.

Examples of sentences with a verb in Passive Voice, in which the subject of the action is expressed by a prepositional object with the prepositions by/with:

• Many flowers were planted by our children last spring - Our children grew many flowers last spring
• The sky wasn’t covered with dark clouds - The sky was not covered with dark clouds
• The radio was invented by Popov In 1895 - Popov invented the radio in 1895

Tenses in the passive voice have the same meanings as the corresponding tenses in the active voice. The passive voice is used much more often in English than in Russian, where the same meaning is conveyed by indefinitely personal, impersonal or personal sentences with a verb in the active voice.

No matter how difficult the topic “Active and Passive Voice in English” may seem to you, you simply must master it, because The passive voice is very often used in both spoken and written English.

Watch the following video lessons on the topic: “Active and Passive Voice in English” (9 Votes: 4,11 out of 5)