TALKING ABOUT GRAMMATICAL DOUBTS...

Passive voice |by Libia GomesCásseres B.

I’ve decided to write about active and passive voices because this is a topic many of my students have expressed difficulty with. I could go into a very lengthy discussion of the grammatical structure behind voicing. However, I don’t believe either of us wants to sit through a hardcore lesson in grammar, so I’ll try to be concise and add some Web pages to practice with.

Passive Voice

View more presentations from marperez.

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/passiv.htm

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/passive

http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/omgrammar/vozpasiva.htm

http://www.moosebutter.com/lyrics.php?song=22#

Here you can watch a video with the structure of Passive Form:

Now let's have fun and practice Passive form through some songs...!

Uncle Earl's Hairpiece

• MOOSEBUTTER - LYRICS and AUDIO (moosebutter.com)
  Lyrics, Notes and Trivia
  
  Uncle Earl's Hairpiece
  "Once I was eaten by a man-eating great white shark
  Once I was crushed by an anvil when it fell from the sky..."

http://wwwedu.ge.ch/cptic/prospective/projets/anglais/exercises/passive2.htm

• Passive 2 (wwwedu.ge.ch/cptic)
  "A more advanced exercise using the passive.
  You will have to take certain specified words and make them the subject of the sentence."

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/passiv.htm

http://english-zone.com/verbs/pssvchrt.html

Changing Active to Passive

If you want to change an active-voice sentence to passive voice, consider carefully who or what is performing the action expressed in the verb, and then make that agent the object of a “by the…” phrase.

Make what is acted upon the subject of the sentence, and change the verb to a form of be + past participle.

Including an explicit “by the…” phrase is optional.

Suggestions

1. Avoid starting a sentence in active voice and then shifting to passive.

Unnecessary Shift In Voice	Revised
Many customers in the restaurant found the coffee too bitter to drink, but it was still ordered frequently.	Many customers in the restaurant found the coffee too bitter to drink, but they still ordered it frequently.
He tried to act cool when he slipped in the puddle, but he was still laughed at by the other students.	He tried to act cool when he slipped in the puddle, but the other students still laughed at him.

2. Avoid dangling modifiers caused by the use of passive voice. A dangling modifier is a word or phrase that modifies a word not clearly stated in the sentence.

Dangling Modifier With Passive Voice	Revised
To save time, the paper was written on a computer. (Who was saving time? The paper?)	To save time, Kristin wrote the paper on a computer.
Seeking to lay off workers without taking the blame, consultants were hired to break the bad news. Who was seeking to lay off workers? The consultants?)	Seeking to lay off workers without taking the blame, the CEO hired consultants to break the bad news.