TENSE TUESDAY: THE SIMPLE PASSIVE
10 / 03 / 2015
TENSE TUESDAY: THE SIMPLE PASSIVE: meaning and examples
Welcome back, everyone! For today's Tense Tuesday, we are looking at the PASSIVE VOICE.
Sentences in English can have two "voices": the ACTIVE or the PASSIVE. The ACTIVE sentences use the subject verb object order.
Example 1: John washes the windows.
The PASSIVE switches the order of the subject and object and uses BE PAST PARTICIPLE.
Example 2: The windows are washed by John.
We can do this with any of the English tenses, but today we are only looking at how to make the PASSIVE with the SIMPLE PRESENT. The form for the SIMPLE PRESENT is AM/IS/ARE PAST PARTICIPLE. Here are some more examples:
Example 3: The students are taught by Tanya.
Example 4: The dog is trained by its owner.
As you can see, the sentence is often completed with the words BY PERSON/THING. This is called the AGENT. Sometimes, we do not know who or what the agent is, so we do not use it.
Example 5: Cars are stolen every day in Barcelona.
Here, we do not know (or care) who stole the car, so we do not include the agent.
That's all for today. Join us tomorrow for Wordy Wednesday!
Sentences in English can have two "voices": the ACTIVE or the PASSIVE. The ACTIVE sentences use the subject verb object order.
Example 1: John washes the windows.
The PASSIVE switches the order of the subject and object and uses BE PAST PARTICIPLE.
Example 2: The windows are washed by John.
We can do this with any of the English tenses, but today we are only looking at how to make the PASSIVE with the SIMPLE PRESENT. The form for the SIMPLE PRESENT is AM/IS/ARE PAST PARTICIPLE. Here are some more examples:
Example 3: The students are taught by Tanya.
Example 4: The dog is trained by its owner.
As you can see, the sentence is often completed with the words BY PERSON/THING. This is called the AGENT. Sometimes, we do not know who or what the agent is, so we do not use it.
Example 5: Cars are stolen every day in Barcelona.
Here, we do not know (or care) who stole the car, so we do not include the agent.
That's all for today. Join us tomorrow for Wordy Wednesday!
