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Business Communication Skills  ||  Cross-Cultural Competence  ||  English Proficiency
High-Effect with Low-Stress

THE PASSIVE VOICE

1  Word Order 2  Who Or What Is Responsible For The Action? 3  Examples

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1  WORD ORDER

The word order in a normal English sentence is  Subject – Verb – Object  ( S - V - O ).

A dog bit John.

If we change the order, we change the meaning of the sentence.

The man bit a dog.

Nevertheless, we sometimes want to put the object of the action at the beginning of the sentence.
We can do this if we change the verb to the PASSIVE VOICE.

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The rule for changing to the Passive Voice:

As an example, let's use this sentence: A dog bit the man.   [past tense]

1  Put the object of the original sentence into the subject position: 

The man

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2  Insert the verb "to be" and give it the same tense as the original verb in the original sentence.

The man was

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3  Change the original verb to the past participle (the third form) and insert it after the form of "be".

The man was bitten

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4a   Put the subject of the original sentence into the object position and put the word "by" in front of it.

The man was bitten by a dog. 

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4b  Leave out the subject of the original sentence completely, as in this example:

Movies are produced in Hollywood.

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2  WHO OR WHAT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTION?

In the example above under 4b, the subject of the original sentence disappeared in the passive voice.
We usually leave out the subject of the original sentence in the passive sentence if it is:

      not known
or  not important
or  obvious to everyone

Nevertheless, it is sometimes necessary to identify the subject of the original sentence in order for the sentence to make sense.  If so, we use the preposition "by".  For example:

Lightning struck my cousin and he survived.
My cousin was struck by lightning and survived.

Without the words "by lightning", it could mean he was struck by a person or a car or …

Traffic delayed me.
I was delayed by traffic.

Without the words "by traffic", it could mean he was held up (robbed at gunpoint).

My grandmother  made this sweater.
This sweater was made by my grandmother.

Without the words "by my grandmother", it would be a ridiculously obvious statement.

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3   EXAMPLES

Most of his movies His current movie Two of his movies His last movie It It It His next movie It It It It It

are is being have been was was being should have been would have been is going to be will be could be should be had better be is supposed to be

filmed filmed filmed filmed filmed filmed filmed filmed filmed filmed filmed filmed filmed

in Hollywood. in New York. in Chicago so far. in Hollywood. while he was getting a divorce. two years earlier. by Woody Allen but he was busy. in Miami. in 3-D. before summer. before autumn. before Christmas! by Robert Redford.