Telling stories is cool. We do it every day, but it is also used in different professional situations. Like for example, in a newspaper, on television, if we go to an interview, etc.
The prime grammatical structure that is used in these cases is by far the “passive” voice; hated by some people who are learning the language, but it is NECESSARY, and that is extremely true!
Today, we have created this post so you can learn it and practice it with us, Let’s begin!
WHAT IS THE PASSIVE VOICE?
The passive voice is a tool that allows us to show interest or to highlight the subject in a sentence (where the action of the verb is located) who is the one who carries out the action.
In other words, we take the subject of the sentence into the background to highlight the person or object that receives the action of the verb.
It is the contrary form of the active voice, which is the traditional manner that we use to communicate, where the subject is the protagonist of the sentence and is the one who carries out the action of the verb.
HOW DO WE USE PASSIVE VOICE?
We can use passive voice for various motives and situations. Some of them are:
- When we have a special interest in highlighting the person or object that receives the action of the subject of the sentence.
Example:
The blue book was written in 2017
In this case, we seek to highlight the action (object in this sentence), and the person who wrote it is omitted (subject).
- When the subject of the sentence is too obvious or does not hold any importance in the context of the sentence. In other words, the subject is so evident that we do not need to mention it or give it importance.
Example:
He was arrested yesterday.
- In this case, the police or a government entity detained the person. We do not need to say “The police arrested him”, because only the police have the competence to carry out that action.
- When we describe a process or tell a story, we merely focus on the story and not the person who executed the action, or we do not acknowledge the said person.
Example:
Three stores were robbed last night.
In this case, we highlight the action and do not focus on who did the action.
- When there is an interest in eluding the responsibility of the action or the person who had the obligation is not mentioned.
Example:
Some mistakes have been made on this project.
TO CREATE A SENTENCE IN "PASSIVE VOICE" WE NEED TO:
- Identify the subject of the sentence
- The most important part is to identify the object
- We need to identify the verb and the verbal time in which it is in
- We need to conjugate the verb “to be” at the same time
- We need to identify the past participle of the verb
Out of all those necessities, the least essential one is the first one.
WHAT RULES DO WE NEED TO LEARN TO APPLY THE PASSIVE VOICE?
In English, the passive voice structure is based on the following elements:
Depending on the verbal time that the sentence is in, you need to conjugate the verb “to be” into the “passive voice” structure:
NOTE
It is important that you conjugate the verb “to be” as it should, and remember to make sure that the past participle that you are using is the correct one. Keep in mind that there are regular and irregular verbs, and you will need to memorize some of them.
ONE MORE CURIOSITY
There is a verb that you will always need to use in passive voice and it is the verb “to be born”:
I borned in the 80s. (That’s incorrect) ❌
I was born in the 80s. That is the correct manner. ✔️
