Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Active & Passive Verb Forms

Active / Passive Verb Forms
Sentences can be active or passive. Therefore, tenses also have "Active forms" and "Passive forms." You must learn to recognize the difference to successfully speak English.
Active Form
In active sentences, the thing doing the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing receiving the action is the object. Most sentences are active.
[Thing doing action] + [verb] + [thing receiving action]
Examples:
  Teacher           teaches          the students
(subject doing action)        (verb)                    (object receiving action)   

Passive Form
In passive sentences,the thing receiving the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing doing the action is optionally included near the end of the sentence. You can use the passive form if you think that the thing receiving the action is more important or should be emphasized. You can also use the passive form if you do not know who is doing the action or if you do not want to mention who is doing the action.
[Thing receiving action] + [be] + [past participle of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action]
 
Examples:
The Student          are taught         by the Professor.
 (subject receiving action)        ( passive verb)                    (doing action)   

Active and passive verb
Active / Passive Overview
Simple Present          Once a week, Raina cleans the house.(Active)
Simple Present          Once a week, the house is cleaned by Raina.(Passive)
Present Continuous   Right now, Sarah is writing the letter. (Active)
Present Continuous   Right now, the letter is being written by Sarah.(Passive)
Simple Past                Sam repaired the car (Active)
Simple Past                The car was repaired by Sam.(Passive)
 Present Perfect         Many tourists have visited that castle.(Active)  
Present Perfect         That castle has been visited by many tourists. .(Passive) 
Present Perfect Continuous    Recently, John has been doing the work(Active)  
Present Perfect Continuous    Recently, the work has been being done by John.(Passive)

No comments:

Post a Comment