Passive Voice 1

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The key takeaways are about using passive voice and examples of transforming sentences from active to passive voice and vice versa.

Some examples given are 'It is said that Henry eats ten eggs a day.' becoming 'Henry is said to eat ten eggs a day.' and 'They say that the wanted man is living in New York.' becoming 'The wanted man is said to be living in New York.'

The passive voice is used to emphasize the recipient of the action rather than the performer, to avoid specifying the agent or when the agent is unknown, unimportant or obvious from the context.

PASSIVE VOICE

1 BACH.

SUBJECT +VERB (say ,believe,feel, think, consider, find, know,report,understand...)


+NOUN CLAUSE OBJECT.
1) IMPERSONAL IT
Active: They say that he knows some very influential people.
Passive: It is said that he knows some very influential people.
2) The subject of the noun clause is the subject of the whole sentence in the
passive. And the verb in the noun clause takes the infinitive form.( If the time
reference is the same.
Active: They say that he knows some very influential people.
Passive: He is said to know very influential people.
But if the verb in the noun clause has a time reference anterior to that of the verb in
the main clause, use the perfect infinitive.
Passive: It is thought that he acted very well
Passive: He is thought to have acted very well.
It was thought that he had acted very well
He was thought to have acted very well.

INFINITIVE FORM (PRESENT INFINITIVE)


MAIN CLAUSE

NOUN CLAUSE OBJECT

Present progressive
Present simple
Present simple
Present progressive
Past simple
Past simple

present simple
present progressive
present simple/ future
present progressive
past simple
past progressive

PERFECT INFINITIVE (PAST INFINITIVE)


MAIN CLAUSE

NOUN CLAUSE OBJECT

Present simple
Present simple
Past simple
Future
Present Simple

past simple
present perfect
past perfect
past
past continuous

Active: SUBJECT + DECIDE + TO +VERB + OBJECT


Active:SUBJECT + RECOMMEND + ING + OBJECT
Active:SUBJECT + SUGGEST + ING + OBJECT
Passive: SUBJECT + DECIDE + THAT + SUBJECT ( the object of the verb in
infinitive or gerund ) + SHOULD + BE + PAST PARTICIPLE ( of the infinitive or
gerund) +
Active: They suggested selling the car.
Passive: They suggested the the car should be sold.
Active: He recommended sending the letter as soon as possible.
Passive: He recommended that the letter should be sent as soon as possible.
Active: She suggested making the bed before her mother came back.
Passive: She suggested the bed should be made before her mother came back.

PASSIVE VOICE
ACTIVE > PASSIVE

OR

PASSIVE > ACTIVE TRANSFORMS

1. It is said that Henry eats ten eggs a day.


Henry
Ten..
2. They say that the wanted man is living in New York.
The..
3. It is reported that two people were killed by the explosion.
Two
The.
4. Many people are said to be homeless after the floods.
It
They.
5. They knew that the Prime Minister had been in favour of the new law.
The
6.It is expected the government will lose the election.
The.
7. The police think that the prisoner escaped by climbing over the wall.
The.
8. The thieves are believed to have got in through the kitchen window.
The police
9. It is reported that three men were arrested after the explosion.
Three men..
10. Arthur is believed to write poetry.
It.
Poetry..
People.
11. People believe that Smith left England last week.
Smith.
12. People thought Sue had paid too much money.
Sue..
Too..
13. The police reported that the thief was in the house.
The
14. Everyone knows that eating fruit is good for you.
Eating..
15. Everyone thought the thieves had destroyed the painting.
The thieves..
The painting.
16. People say that the late Mr. Johnson was difficult to work with.
The late.
17. One of the guests is thought to have stolen the jewels.
People.
The jewels.
18. It is believed that the Chinese invented gunpowder.
The Chinese.
Gunpowder..
19. We believe that the government has prepared a plan.

It
The.
A..
20. People say that Mrs. Turner was having business difficulties.
Mrs
21. Everyone thought that Helen had missed the train.
Helen.
The..
22. They will have to put off the meeting until later in the week.
The
23. People said that no one could reach any agreement on this question.
It
No
24. He wanted them to treat the information as confidential.
He.
25. The house had been broken into,and two thousand pounds worth of jewellery had
been stolen.
The thieves..
26, They reported he was living in another country.
It ..
He.
27.It is believed that he has resigned.
He.
28.Police discovered that the thieves had stolen over 1 million pounds from the bank.
It.
The
Over
29. My mother suggested selling the old car and buying a lorry.
My..
30. They decided not to give him any money.(two solutions)
They.

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