Active And Passive Sentences Part 1

Active and passive sentences involve tenses. It is important not to change the kind of tense in the active sentences when converting them to their passive form. The sentence pattern of active sentences looks like this:

The subject (doer) +kind of tense (action verbs) + the object
Read this active sentence.
The poultry farmer feeds the chickens every day. This is a present tense active sentence. Note that the subject/doer is The poultry farmer, the present tense action verb is feeds and the object is the chickens. How would you convert this active sentence to its passive form? Study the sentence pattern of the following passive sentence.

The object + kind of tense + by + the doer
The above active sentence written in its passive form looks like:
The chickens are fed by the poultry farmer every day. Therefore, you can see that in passive sentence construction, the object becomes the subject of the sentence. Note that the phrase are fed is the passive form of the simple present tense, and are is used because the subject The chickens is plural and agrees with the plural linking verb are. The action verb is fed (the past participle of feed) and must be used after are. It will be grammatically incorrect to write The chickens are feed..........

Read these examples sentences showing how active sentences are converted to their passive form. Note that all these sentences involve only the simple present tense.
The house maid cleans the house every weekend. (active)
The house is cleaned by the house maid every weekend. (passive)

Mrs Lee sweeps the floor every morning. (active)
The floor is swept by Mrs Lee every morning. (passive)

The clerk types the letters into the computer. (active)
The letters are typed into the computer by the clerk. (passive)

Now, let's take a look at active and passive sentences which involve the simple past tense. Read this example sentence again and pay attention to the change in the tense. It is a simple past tense active sentence.

The poultry farmer fed the chickens yesterday. (active)
The chickens were fed by the poultry farmer yesterday. (passive)

Therefore, you can see that when you convert simple past tense active sentences into their passive form, you must pay attention to the past tense form of the linking verb. In this case, the linking verb is were which is the past tense of are.

Sometimes when active sentences indicate that the doer is an unknown person or it is not necessary or important to include the doer, the phrase by someone at the end of the passive sentences can be omitted.

For examples:
Someone broke into Mr Lee's house last night. (active)
Mr Lee's house was broken into last night. (passive)
(It's not necessary to say Mr Lee's house was broken into by someone last night.)

They gave the hungry beggars lots of food. (active)
The hungry beggars were given lots of food. (passive)
(It's not necessary to say The hungry beggars were given lots of food by them.)

In this post, you see active and passive sentences which involve only the simple present tense and the simple past tense. You will see some more active and passive sentences which involve other tenses if you click on grammar and view Active and Passive Sentences Parts 2, 3 and 4.

Here's a short evaluation exercise for you. Write these active sentences in their passive form. Read the given example.
Example: The nanny looks after the children. (active)
The children are looked after by the nanny. (passive)

Someone stole Mr Peterson's limousine last night.
.................................................................................................

The students did all the class exercises.
.................................................................................................

The burglars tampered with the padlocks.
.................................................................................................

The sales assistant welcomes the regular customers.
.................................................................................................

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Answers
Mr Peterson's limousine was stolen last night.
All the class exercises were done by the students.
The padlocks were tampered with by the burglars.
The regular customers are welcomed by the sales assistant.

By Susan L
On 12/21/2009 05:48:00 AM
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Active And Passive Sentences Part 1

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