Active and Passive Voice

Passive Voice

In traditional grammar, a verb form (or voice) in which the grammatical subject receives the verb's action. Example: "A good time was had by all." Contrast with active voice.

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 "be" phrase .

An apple (V) by John

3.  Put the verb in the form "be" +3 (of main verb)

An apple У be Ф 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 didn’t realize that it belonged to his sister.

When other (auxiliary) verbs and modals are used in combination with the passive, remember:

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	Be + V-ing (Progressive)	Be + 3 (Passive)
The apple	should	Have	been	being	Eaten by John

Combination of auxiliary verbs with the passive

Present Tense

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	Be + V-ing (Progressive)	Be + 3 (Passive)
The Apple				Is eaten	By John

Past Tense

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	Be + V-ing (Progressive)	Be + 3 (Passive)
The Apple				was eaten	By John

Present Progressive Tense

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	Be + V-ing (Progressive)	Be + 3 (Passive)
The Apple			is	Being eaten	By John

Past Tense

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	Be + V-ing (Progressive)	Be + 3 (Passive)
The Apple			was	Being eaten	By John

Present Perfect Tense

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	Be + V-ing (Progressive)	Be + 3 (Passive)
The Apple		have		Been eaten	By John

Present Perfect Progressive

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	Be + V-ing (Progressive)	Be + 3 (Passive)
The Apple		have	Been	Being eaten	By John

Past Perfect Progressive

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	Be + V-ing (Progressive)	Be + 3 (Passive)
The Apple		had	been	Being eaten	By John

Future/Modal

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	Be + V-ing (Progressive)	Be + 3 (Passive)
The Apple	will			be eaten	By John

Future/Modal

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	Be + V-ing (Progressive)	Be + 3 (Passive)
The Apple	Is going to			Be eaten	By John

Modal

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	Be + V-ing (Progressive)	Be + 3 (Passive)
The Apple	Must			Be eaten	By John

Past Modal

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	Be + V-ing (Progressive)	Be + 3 (Passive)
The Apple	Must	have		Been eaten	By John

Combination

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	Be + V-ing (Progressive)	Be + 3 (Passive)
The Apple	Must	Have	Been	Being eaten	By John