ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE

ACTIVE AND PASSIVE 

VOICE

CARACTERISTICAS

1. Se dice que una oración está en VOZ ACTIVA cuando la significación del verbo es producida por la persona gramatical a quien aquél se refiere: Pedro de Mendoza founded Buenos Aires. (Pedro de Mendoza fundó Buenos Aires).

2. Se dice que una oración está en VOZ PASIVA cuando la significación del verbo es recibida por la persona gramatical a quien aquél se refiere: Buenos Aires was founded by Pedro de Mendoza. (Buenos Aires fue fundada por Pedro de Mendoza).

3. Se forma con el auxiliar del verbo to be y el participio pasado del verbo que se conjuga.

4. El complemento de la oración activa pasa a sujeto de la pasiva. Como en castellano, el sujeto de la activa se puede conservar como sujeto agente.

5. Cuando un verbo tiene dos complementos se pueden hacer dos estructuras de pasiva: a) A book was sent to Tom by Mr. Smith, Un libro fue enviado a Tom por Mr. Smith. b) Tom was sent a book by Mr. Smith (pasiva idiomática). Esta estructura no es posible en castellano.

Passive Verb Formation

Las formas pasivas de un verbo son creadas combinando una forma del "verbo To Be" con el participio pasado del verbo principal. Otros verbos auxiliares también están a veces presente: "The house could have been painted last month." "la casa pudo haber sido pintada el mes pasado."

 La voz pasiva  puede usarse, también, en los diferentes tiempos. Echemos una mirada a las formas pasivas de "design. Diseñar”

Examples of Passive 

Tense		Subject	Verb	Object
Simple Present	Active:	Rita	writes	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	is written	by Rita.
Simple Past	Active:	Rita	wrote	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	was written	by Rita.
Present Perfect	Active:	Rita	has written	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	has been written	by Rita.
Simple Future	Active:	Rita	will write	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	will be written	by Rita.

Tense		Subject	Verb	Object
Present Progressive	Active:	Rita	is writing	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	is being written	by Rita.
Past Progressive	Active:	Rita	was writing	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	was being written	by Rita.
Past Perfect	Active:	Rita	had written	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	had been written	by Rita.
Perfect future	Active:	Rita	will have written	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	will have been written	by Rita

(video taken from youtube)

EXERCISE 1:

Change the active verbs to passive verbs. Write the subject of the passive sentence.

1. SIMPLE PRESENT

a. The teacher helps me.                  ____I_____  ___am helped___ by the teacher.   

b. The teacher helps Jane.               _________  _______________ by the teacher.

c. The teacher helps us.                   _________  _______________ by the teacher.

2. SIMPLE PAST

a. The teacher helped me.                _________  _______________ by the teacher.

b. The teacher helped them. _________  _______________ by the teacher.

3. PRESENT PERFECT

a. The teacher has helped Joe.        _________  ________________ by the teacher.

b. The teacher has helped us.          _________  ________________ by the teacher.

4. FUTURE

a. The teacher will help me.     _________  ________________ by the teacher.

b. The teacher is going to help me.   _________  ________________ by the teacher.

    d. The teacher is going to help Tim. _________  ________________ by the teacher.

 EXERCISE 2. Change the verbs to passive. Do not change the tense.

1. The children have eaten the cake.            The cake _______  _____________ by the children.

2. Mr. Smith employs many people.             Many people_______  ____________ by Mr. Smith.

3. Linda wrote that letter.                   That letter     _______  _____________ by Linda.  

4. This news will amaze you.             You              _______  ____________ by this news.

5. The doctor has examined Jane.    Jane                _______  _____________ by the doctor. 6. A mechanic is going to fix my car.  My car            _______  _________ by a mechanic.         

2. 

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