Passive voice
Passive Voice can be used only with transitive verbs! The general formula of Passive Voice formation is
to be + Participle II
Compare the formation of sentences in Active and Passive Voice. Find differences and similarities in the formation of tense and aspect forms.
Active Voice |
Tense and Aspect Forms |
Passive Voice |
Mary waters flowers twice a week. |
Present Indefinite (Simple) |
Flowers are watered (by Mary) twice a week. |
Mary watered flowers yesterday. |
Past Indefinite (Simple) |
Flowers were watered (by Mary) yesterday. |
Mary will water flowers tomorrow. |
Future Indefinite (Simple) |
Flowers will be watered (by Mary) tomorrow. |
Mary is watering flowers now. |
Present Continuous (Progressive) |
Flowers are being watered (by Mary) now. |
Mary was watering flowers when it started raining. |
Past Continuous (Progressive) |
Flowers were being watered (by Mary) when it started raining. |
Mary will be watering flowers when we come. |
Future Continuous (Progressive) |
Does not exist |
Mary has already watered all the flowers. |
Present Perfect |
All the flowers have already been watered (by Mary). |
Mary had already watered all the flowers by the time we came. |
Past Perfect |
All the flowers had already been watered (by Mary) by the time we came. |
Mary will have already watered all the flowers by the time we come. |
Future Perfect |
All the flowers will have already been watered (by Mary) by the time we come. |
Mary has already been watering flowers for half a day. |
Present Perfect Continuous |
Does not exist |
Mary had already been watering flowers for half a day when it started raining. |
Past Perfect Continuous |
Does not exist |
Mary will have already been watering flowers for half a day when it starts raining. |
Future Perfect Continuous |
Does not exist |
In English Passive Voice is used less often that Active Voice and is more formal. Passive Voice is used in the following cases:
When the person who caries out the action is unknown, unimportant or obvious from the context,
e.g. Ted’s flat was broken into last night. (The burglar is not known)
Coffee beans are grown in Brazil. (It is not important who grows coffee beans) Len’s car was serviced yesterday. (It is obvious that a mechanic did it)
When the action itself is more important than the person who carries it out (e.g. in news headlines, formal notices, instructions, processes, advertisements, etc.)
e.g. The new hospital will be opened on Monday. (Formal notice)
Then the milk is taken to a factory and pasteurized.
When people refer to an unpleasant event and don’t want to say who or what is to blame,
e.g. A lot of mistakes have been made. (Instead of "You’ve made a lot of mistakes.")
Sentences with some transitive verbs can form two different passive sentences, in which both direct and indirect objects can become subjects. These verbs are:
to bring to tell to send to show to teach to promise
to buy to sell to take to write to read to give
to hand to owe to offer to allow to feed to pass
to post to throw to award to grant to pay to lend
Phrasal verbs preserve their second element both in Active and Passive sentences,
e.g. Everyone laughed at John when he came into the classroom. =
John was laughed at (by everyone) when he came into the classroom.
Here is a list of phrasal verbs that are often used in Passive sentences
to argue about
to arrive at
to carry out
to deal with
to look at
to look for
to look after
to look into
to listen to
to refer to
to send for
to rely on
to laugh at
to pay for
to hear of
to wait for
to see off
to see to
to insist on
to talk about
to talk over
to read to
to put up with
to turn up/down
to speak to/about
to pay attention to
to make fun of
to think of/about/over
to make use of
to take advantage of
to catch sight of
to lose sight of
to take care of
to find fault with
to break into
to throw away
It is very important not to confuse two prepositions that are often used with Passive voice
b
y
# with
By + agent (i.e. the doer of the action) With + instrument (material or ingredient)
These tasty cakes were made by Agnes. They were made with eggs, milk, flour and some fruit
THE ADJECTIVE
Semantic Classification
adjectives
qualitative relative
(denote properties of the substance (describe properties of substances
directly) through relations to materials,
e.g. great, simple, places, time or to some actions)
magnificent, etc. e.g. wooden, metal, Hungarian. monthly, initial, etc.
Structural Classification
a
djectives
simple derivative compound
new, fresh, musical, messy, colour-blind.
green careless well-known
Degrees of comparison of adjectives
There are three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative and superlative.
The degrees can be formed in three ways: analytically, synthetically, irregularly.
Degrees of comparison are formed synthetically by adding the inflexion –er, -est to monosyllabic and some disyllabic adjectives,
e.g. sad - sadder - the saddest: slow - slower - the slowest
Disyllabic adjectives that form the degrees of comparison synthetically can be grouped in the following categories:
adjectives that end in –er; -le, -ow, -some, -y
e.g. clever – cleverer – the cleverest
simple – simpler - the simplest
yellow – yellower – the yellowest
handsome – handsomer – the handsomest
friendly – friendlier –the friendliest
adjectives that have the stress on the second syllable
e.g. polite – politer – the politest
complete –completer – the completest
some commonly used adjectives like
e.g. common, cruel, wicked, horrid, quiet, stupid, pleasant
Degrees of comparison are formed analytically by adding more, and the most to polisyllabic adjectives,
e.g. curious – more -curious - the most curious;