Passive Voice for intermediate learners

active voice grammatical voice passive voice

Understanding the passive voice is important. The passive voice is used often by native English speakers. It's used both in formal and informal situations.

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What Is Passive Voice?

The normal order of a sentence is 'subject + verb + (object) +, etc.' When we use the 'passive voice', the order changes.
In passive voice, the focus is on the action not on the doer of the action. So, it is not important to know the doer of the action. Compare these examples.

The man puts the boxes on the table.

The boxes are put on the table.

Transitive Verbs

Transitive verbs need objects to have full meaning. Passive sentences are only formed with transitive verbs. Compare the examples:

The cook makes the dinner.

The dinner is made.

using passive voice

Forming Passive Voice

To make a passive sentence, all you have to do is to put the object as the subject of the sentence. Then use the proper form of verb 'be' (am, is, are, was, were) followed by the past participle of the main verb.
Check out the examples:

~~The~~ ~~baker~~ bakes the cake. Passive → The cake is baked.

~~The~~ ~~man~~ builds the buildings. Passive → The buildings are built.

~~She~~ writes this book. Passive → This book is written.

Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive verbs are verbs that are used transitively to reflect back to the subject. Let us learn more. Follow the article.

Voices

What are voices? How many voices are there in the English Grammar? Here are the most frequently asked questions by learners. Let us find the answers, here.

Active Voice

When the doer of the action is mentioned you are using the active voice. Let us learn more.

Causatives

'Causatives' indicate that someone did not do the action on their own, but they somehow intervened in the cause of the events.

Archaic Verb Conjugation

English has changed over time. Many words have changed their forms and pronunciations. In this lesson, we will cover the verbs that were changed.

Finite and Non-finite Verbs

Some verbs change their forms based on the person and tenses. In this lesson, you will learn more about these verbs.

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