Post on 04-Jan-2016
Read and compare the sentences:
The letter was written yesterday.
Many letters are written in the office.
The letter will be written tomorrow.
The letter must be written.
My father built the house.
The house was built by my father.
My father built the house.the house
The housewas built
by my father.
objectsubject
doer of the action
new subject
The Structure of the Sentence
S + Be + V3
Verb 3
• Regular verbs: V+ed
• Irregular verbs: buy-bought-bought
go - went – gone
make-made-made
put-put-put
see-saw-seen
BeBe Formsam is aream is are
Past Simple was werewas were
Future Simple
will bewill be
Present Simple
Modals
can be
could be
must be
should be
Act
ive
Somebody sent
Pass
ive
was sent a letter.
John a letter.
1. John
2.A
letterwas sent to John.
Compare!
We use the passive voice when the action is more important than the person who performs it , or when we don’t know who performs the action.
The Active Voice: She makes a cake every Sunday.
The Passive Voice: A cake is made every Sunday.
Examples:
She cooks dinner in the family.Dinner is cooked by her.
Someone stole my car yesterday.My car was stolen by somebody.
Activ
ePas
sive
She makes a cake
A cake is made
made
was
every Sundaylast
every Sundaylast
will make
will be
next
next
is making now
nowis being
was making when I came home
when I came homewas being
has made
has been - let’s taste!
- let’s taste!
by the time everybody came
by the time everybody came
had made
had been
Questions and Negatives
• He doesn’t do homework every day
• They don’t write a lot of letters.S + don’t + V1
doesn’t
Homework isn’t done by him every day.• S + isn’t + V3
• aren’t
•
Did he study the material?
Did+S+V1?
Was the material studied?
Was +S+V3 ?
Were