Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Voice - Passive Voice




      2. PASSIVE   VOICE :--

       * The passive voice is less usual.
       *  In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb.
       * The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb:

       *   Passive ==   subject verb   +   object
       
          passive ==    Fish  +  is  eaten  + by  cat.

          passive == Ritesh + is  pushed  +  by Sohan.
    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.
  * We can use the passive form if we think that the thing receiving the action is more important or should be emphasized.
  * We can also use the passive form if we do not know who is doing the action or if we do not want to mention who is doing the action.

 [ receiving  thing ] + [be] + [past participle of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action]

     Examples:
               * The milk +   is    +   drunk    +   by   + Ram.
               * Monu     +    is    +   pushed  +   by  + Sonu.


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 Construction of the Passive Voice:
       
       The structure of the passive voice is very simple:
       subject  +  auxiliary verb (be)  +  main verb (past participle)
      * The main verb is always in its past participle form.

       Look at these examples:
      * subject auxiliary verb (to be)  +  main verb (past participle)
    

       Water           +        is             +          drunk            +           by everyone.
       200 people   +       are           +            employed   +           by this company.
       I                    +       was          +        paid                 +       in euro.
       We               +        are            +       not paid           +        in dollars.

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        Use of the Passive Voice
   
      We use the passive when:
       * we want to make the active object more important
       * we do not know the active subject
       * we give importance to active object (President Kennedy).
       * President Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.
       * we give importance to active subject unknown.
       * My wallet has been stolen. (?)
 **   Note:
  We always use by to introduce the passive object (Fish are eaten by cats).
    Look at this sentence:
       * He was killed with a gun.
   Normally we use by to introduce the passive object. But the gun is not the active subject. The gun did not kill him. He was killed by somebody with a gun.
      In the active voice, it would be:
       * Somebody killed him with a gun.
         The gun is the instrument.
         Somebody is the "agent" or "doer".

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        Conjugation for the Passive Voice:

      We can form the passive in any tense. In fact, conjugation of verbs in the passive tense is rather easy, as the main verb is always in past participle form and the auxiliary verb is always be.
    * The boy was bitten by a dog.
    * He is loved by all.
      Here are some examples with most of the possible tenses :


        * infinitive                                       to be washed
        * simple present                            It is washed.
        * past                                               It was washed.
        * future                                            It will be washed.
        * conditional                                   It would be washed.
        * continuous present                     It is being washed.
        * past                                                It was being washed.
        * future                                             It will be being washed.
        * conditional                                    It would be being washed.
        * perfect simple present                 It has been washed.
        * past                                                 It had been washed.
        * future                                              It will have been washed.
        * conditional                                     It would have been washed.
        * perfect continuous present         It has been being washed.
        * past                                                 It had been being washed.
        * future                                              It will have been being washed.
        * conditional                                     It would have been being washed.

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