Active Vs Pasive

Inglés 5
Escuela Preparatoria Uno
UADY

ACTIVE VS. PASSIVE
VOICE
E L A B O R AD O P O R : L I C . E D U A R D O B A R G A S .
EN ERO 2012

MY MOM MAKES SANDWICHES
Subject

Verb

Object

The active voice focuses on the
person or thing that does the action

E L A B O R AD O P O R : L I C . E D U A R D O B A R G A S .
EN ERO 2012

MY MOM MAKES SANDWICHES
Subject

VerbObject

SANDWICHES ARE MADE BY MY MOM
Subject

E L A B O R AD O P O R : L I C . E D U A R D O B A R G A S .
EN ERO 2012

Verb

Agent

SANDWICHES ARE MADE BY MY MOM
Subject

Verb

Agent

• The object became the subject
• The verb changed from Simple Present to
Am/Is/Are + Past Participle

The passive voice focuses on the
person or thing the action is
done to.
E L A B O RAD O P O R : L I C . E D U A R D O B A R G A S .
EN ERO 2012

MORE EXAMPLES…
Active
 Rita writes a letter
 They wear blue shoes
 I draw a picture
Passive
 A letter is written by Rita
 Blue shoes are worn by them
 A picture is drawn by me

E L A B O R AD O P O R : L I C . E D U A R D O B A R G A S .
EN ERO 2012

ACTIVE OR PASSIVE?
1.

Technology is changing our lives ___Our lives are being changed by technology ___

2.

Many people own cell phones ___
Cell phones are owned by many people ___

3.

Millions of documents are sent by fax every day ___
Fax send millions of documents every day ___

4.

Phone messages are taken by answering machines ___
Answering machines take phone messages ___

5.

The Internet connects people around the world ___People around the world are connected by the Internet ___

E L A B O R AD O P O R : L I C . E D U A R D O B A R G A S .
EN ERO 2012

EXCERCISE
Put an ‘A’ if the sentence is in ACTIVE VOICE or
a ‘P’ if it’s in PASSIVE VOICE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

They listen to music ___ Music is listened by them
She is reading an e-mail ___ The e-mail is being read by her
These cars areproduced in Japan ___ They produce these cars in Japan
Alan teaches Geography ___ Geography is taught by Alan
German is spoken in Austria ___In Austria they speak German
An earthquake destroys houses ___Houses are destroyed by an earthquake
The bus driver is hurt ___ Hurt the bus driver is / Hurt is the bus driver
The house is built by John ___ John builds the house

E L A B O R AD O P O R : LI C . E D U A R D O B A R G A S .
EN ERO 2012

Uses of the Passive Voice
Why do we use it?
When do we use it?

Elaborado por: Lic. Eduardo Bargas. Enero 2012

Elaborado por: Lic. Eduardo Bargas. Enero 2012

When the doer of the action isn’t known
• New technology is developed everyday

• People develop new technology everyday

Elaborado por: Lic. Eduardo Bargas. Enero 2012When it isn’t necessary to mention the
doer because the doer is obvious
• He was arrested
• A policeman arrested him

Elaborado por: Lic.
Eduardo Bargas. Enero
2012

When we are more interested
in the action than in the doer
• A classroom was added to the school
• The Principal added a classroom to the school

Elaborado por: Lic.
Eduardo Bargas. Enero
2012

When we want to avoid“blaming” the doer
• Too many long distance calls were made this
month.
• You made too many long distance calls this
month

Passive Voice
Simple Present and
Simple Past Tenses

Elaborado por: Lic. Eduardo Bargas. Enero 2012

Elaborado por: Lic. Eduardo Bargas. Enero 2012

The repairman checks the phones every week

The phones are checked every week (by the repairman)

SimplePresent

am/is/are +
Past Participle

Elaborado por: Lic. Eduardo Bargas. Enero 2012

The repairman checked the telephones yesterday

The phones were checked (by the repairman)
yesterday

Simple
Past

was/were +
Past Participle

Elaborado por: Lic. Eduardo Bargas. Enero 2012

Invent

Lanzar

Link

Tomar

Send

Hacer

Discover

Take

Desarrollar

Orbitar...