Active and Passive Voice
Active: the subject does the action (He wrote a letter). Passive: the action is done to the subject (A letter was written by him).
1. Tense table (object + be-form + V3 + by + agent)
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Simple present | writes | is/am/are written |
| Present continuous | is writing | is being written |
| Present perfect | has written | has been written |
| Simple past | wrote | was/were written |
| Past continuous | was writing | was being written |
| Past perfect | had written | had been written |
| Simple future | will write | will be written |
| Future perfect | will have written | will have been written |
| Modals | can/must/should write | can/must/should be written |
| have to | has to write | has to be written |
Perfect continuous tenses and future continuous are normally not changed into passive. Intransitive verbs (sleep, escape, die) have no passive.
2. Questions
- Did you break it? → Was it broken by you?
- Who wrote it? → By whom was it written?
- Whom did you invite? → Who was invited by you?
- Why did you beat him? → Why was he beaten by you?
3. Imperatives and Let
- With an object: Shut the door → Let the door be shut.
- Without an object: Go away → You are ordered to go away. Please help me → You are requested to help me.
- Advice: Help the poor / Let us help the poor → The poor should be helped.
- Let him do it → Let it be done by him. Let me play (permission) → I may be allowed to play.
4. Special cases
- Not "by": known to, surprised at, contained in, filled with, interested in, pleased with, married to.
- Linking verbs: Quinine tastes bitter → Quinine is bitter when it is tasted.
- Prepositional verbs keep the preposition: laughed at, looked into.
- Two objects: the person usually becomes the subject: I was given a book.
- make/help/bid + bare infinitive → passive takes "to": He was made to wash.
- General agents (people, someone, they) are dropped: English is spoken all over the world.