Passive voice in English

The passive voice takes place in English speech, while it has some similarities with Russian. It is distinguished by a clear structure and subordination to the rules of use. Let's try to deal with these rules.

What is it

As in Russian, in English there is an active and passive voice. They determine whether the subject is a subject or object performed by a predicate action. In this case, a passive voice (in English Passive Voice) indicates that the subject is the object of the action, that is, it is played over it.

Example

Consider the offer in comparison with the actual one:

The example shows that in the first case, the action is reproduced by Zoe, and this is subject in the sentence. And in the second case, the subject is the ball - the ball over which the action takes place, which is the form of the passive voice. Moreover, the agent performing the action is at the end of the sentence, separated by the preposition by.

Education

Passive voice in English - Passive Voice. It is formed with the help of the verb to be in the correct tense, person and number, as well as the participle in the past tense (Participle II) of the main verb.

Consider an example:

1. The task will be done in an hour. - The task will be done in an hour.
2. The house has been sold last week. - The house was sold last week.
3. My hart is broken. - My heart is broken.
4. This beautiful building was build by famous architect. - This beautiful building was built by a famous architect.

In negative statements

To create sentences in a passive voice for denial, it is necessary to put the particle not after the verb to be. And if the sentence has several auxiliary words, then this particle is placed after the first. Consider the following examples:

1. This book will not be read untill tomorrow. - The book will not be read until tomorrow.
2. His reaserch work was not copmpleted. - His research work is not completed.
3. The children have not been driven to the theater. - The children were not taken to the theater.

In interrogative sentences

To ask about something in the passive voice, you need to form an interrogative sentence. To do this, you need to put an auxiliary verb in front of the subject, for example:

1. Have you been tested already? “Have you been tested yet?”
2. Was it drown by Davinchi? - Is it painted by da Vinci?
3. Will this book be finished by Monday? “Will this book be completed by Monday?”

Education of different times

The times of the passive voice may be different. Therefore, you need to be able to correctly form them, taking into account the peculiarities of each time in English. The table shows the order of use of words at different times.

Passive voice can be used at all times except Perfect Continious and Future Continiuse. In English, transitive verbs are used for such statements, and only some intransitive ones, for example:

1. A lot of famous book were written in the 20th century. - Many famous books were written in the 20th century.
2. She is being evaluated right now. “She is being evaluated now.”
3. All our neighbors have been asked to help. - All the neighbors were asked to help.
4. My studing will have been finished by the first of june. - My studies will be completed before the first of June.

Features of the translation into Russian

The passive voice of the verb can be translated into Russian in different ways. There are several options:

According to the English sentence, i.e. using the verb to be, for example:

1. The house is build. - House is built.
2. It was done. - That was done.
3. The article will be ready by now. - The article will be ready now.

For proposals from the Continious group, the translation will be carried out using a verb ending in -sy:

1. The dinner is being prepared. - Dinner is getting ready.
2. The vocation was being continued. - Vacation continued.

Uncertain personal offer in active voice and 3 persons, for example:

1. He was invated. - He was invited.
2. They have been argued. - They scolded them.
3. We were scared. “They scared us.”

Terms of use

The use of the passive voice of a verb in writing requires special care and knowledge of special cases. This is especially true of the scientific presentation style, where Passive Voice is often used. The following points should be separately considered:

1. When the author / performer is not known or information about him is not relevant at the moment: The experimental recycling plant will be built in our region. - An experimental processing plant will be built in our region. (We don’t care who will build it / we don’t know).
2. Responsibility for the implementation of the action does not lie with a specific person: Everything is done - Everything has been done. (In the case of negative consequences, when one should not focus on the culprit).
3. These are generally accepted norms, laws, and rules: The Earth is illuminated by the Sun. - The earth is illuminated by the sun. (This is a generally accepted fact that does not require other evidence).
4. In the case when you need to highlight an object or individual over which the action takes place: The telephone was invented in the last century - The telephone was invented in the last century. (In this case, it is important for us to emphasize the invention of the phone).
5. In the writing of reports on research and experiments, in their practical part, laboratory and practical works: The conclutions were made on the base of acurate envistigations - The conclusions were made on the basis of accurate research. (The passive voice often appears in scientific papers).

Recently, in scientific papers, a tendency has been formed to move away from the use of the passive voice in the direction of using Active Voice in statements.

It is also important to consider the features of this grammatical category, to use it correctly. At the same time, you also need to know in which situations it is better to avoid its use:

1. In cases of specification, when it is necessary to clearly indicate the person responsible for the implementation of the action. This can introduce contradictions and fallacies in the utterance, for example: The Presedent and the government were discussing new bill. It was rejected. - The president and parliament were discussing a new bill. He was rejected. (In this case, it is very important to clearly determine who is responsible for the execution of the action. And the use of a passive voice can bring inaccuracies to the statement, which is unacceptable in a scientific style).
2. Indications in such a structure may be misinterpreted by readers, which can provoke a conflict situation. Example sentence: The reserch work was done to support the ideas. - Research work has been carried out to support ideas. (Without a specific context, it is impossible to understand who carried out this research, whose ideas needed support).
3. Very often, Passive Voice helps to hide inaccuracies in work by avoiding pointing to the agent performing the action: The Internet was invented in the last century - the Internet was created in the last century. (It is not indicated in which century specifically and who created it).

Exercises

Like any other grammatical category, the passive voice must be automated at all levels of its use in speech. For this, special attention should be paid to exercises:

You should also work hard on the pledge in the past tense:

The passive voice in English occupies an important place in grammar, and its use determines the level of language proficiency. Therefore, do not avoid it.