Verbs are also said to be either active (The executive committee
approved the new policy) or passive
(The new policy was approved by the executive committee) in voice. In the
active voice, the subject and verb relationship is straightforward: the subject
is a be-er or a do-er and the verb moves the sentence along. In the passive
voice, the subject of the sentence is neither a do-er or a be-er, but is
acted upon by some other agent or by something unnamed (The new policy was
approved). Computerized grammar checkers can pick out a passive voice
construction from miles away and ask you to revise it to a more active
construction. There is nothing inherently wrong with the passive voice, but if
you can say the same thing in the active mode, do so (see exceptions below).
Your text will have more pizzazz as a result, since passive verb constructions
tend to lie about in their pajamas and avoid actual work.
We find an overabundance of the passive voice in
sentences created by self-protective business interests, magniloquent
educators, and bombastic military writers (who must get weary of this
accusation), who use the passive voice to avoid responsibility for actions
taken. Thus "Cigarette ads were designed to appeal especially to
children" places the burden on the ads — as opposed to "We designed
the cigarette ads to appeal especially to children," in which
"we" accepts responsibility. At a White House press briefing we might
hear that "The President was advised that certain members of Congress were
being audited" rather than "The Head of the Internal Revenue service
advised the President that her agency was auditing certain members of
Congress" because the passive construction avoids responsibility for
advising and for auditing. One further caution about the passive voice: we
should not mix active and passive constructions in the same sentence: "The
executive committee approved the new policy, and the calendar for next year's
meetings was revised" should be recast as "The executive committee
approved the new policy and revised the calendar for next year's meeting."
Take the quiz (below) as an exercise in recognizing
and changing passive verbs.
The
passive voice does exist for a reason, however, and its presence is not always
to be despised. The passive is particularly useful (even recommended) in two
situations:
- When
it is more important to draw our attention to the person or thing acted
upon: The unidentified victim was apparently struck
during the early morning hours.
- When
the actor in the situation is not important: The aurora borealis can be
observed in the early morning hours.
The passive voice is especially helpful (and even
regarded as mandatory) in scientific or technical writing or lab reports, where
the actor is not really important but the process or principle being described
is of ultimate importance. Instead of writing "I poured 20 cc of acid into
the beaker," we would write "Twenty cc of acid is/was poured into the
beaker." The passive voice is also useful when describing, say, a
mechanical process in which the details of process are much more important than
anyone's taking responsibility for the action: "The first coat of primer
paint is applied immediately after the acid rinse."
We
use the passive voice to good effect in a paragraph in which we wish to shift
emphasis from what was the object in a first sentence to what becomes the
subject in subsequent sentences.
The executive committee approved an entirely new
policy for dealing with academic suspension and withdrawal. The policy had been
written by a subcommittee on student behavior. If students withdraw from course
work before suspension can take effect, the policy states, a mark of
"IW" . . . .
The paragraph is clearly about this new policy so it
is appropriate that policy move
from being the object in the first sentence to being the subject of the second
sentence. The passive voice allows for this transition.†
Passive Verb Formation
The passive forms of a verb are created by combining a
form of the "to be verb" with the past participle of the main verb.
Other helping verbs are also sometimes present: "The measure could have
been killed in committee." The passive can be used, also, in various
tenses. Let's take a look at the passive forms of "design."
|
Tense
|
Subject
|
Auxiliary
|
Past
Participle
|
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
|
Present
|
The
car/cars
|
is
|
are
|
designed.
|
|
Present
perfect
|
The
car/cars
|
has
been
|
have
been
|
designed.
|
|
Past
|
The
car/cars
|
was
|
were
|
designed.
|
|
Past
perfect
|
The
car/cars
|
had
been
|
had
been
|
designed.
|
|
Future
|
The
car/cars
|
will
be
|
will
be
|
designed.
|
|
Future
perfect
|
The
car/cars
|
will
have been
|
will
have been
|
designed.
|
|
Present
progressive
|
The
car/cars
|
is
being
|
are
being
|
designed.
|
|
Past
progressive
|
The
car/cars
|
was
being
|
were
being
|
designed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
A sentence cast in the passive voice will not always
include an agent of the action. For instance if a gorilla crushes a
tin can, we could say "The tin can was crushed by the gorilla." But a
perfectly good sentence would leave out the gorilla: "The tin can was
crushed." Also, when an active sentence with an indirect object is recast
in the passive, the indirect object can take on the role of subject in the
passive sentence:
|
Active
|
Professor
Villa gave Jorge an A.
|
|
Passive
|
An
A was given to Jorge by Professor Villa.
|
|
Passive
|
Jorge
was given an A.
|
|
|
Only transitive verbs (those that take objects) can be
transformed into passive constructions. Furthermore, active sentences
containing certain verbs cannot be transformed into passive structures. To have is the most important of
these verbs. We can say "He has a new car," but we cannot say "A
new car is had by him." We can say "Josefina lacked finesse,"
but we cannot say "Finesse was lacked." Here is a brief list of such
verbs*:
|
resemble
|
look
like
|
equal
|
agree
with
|
|
mean
|
contain
|
hold
|
comprise
|
|
lack
|
suit
|
fit
|
become
|
Verbals
in Passive Structures
Verbals or verb forms can also take on features of the
passive voice. An infinitive phrase in the passive voice, for instance,
can perform various functions within a sentence (just like the active forms of
the infinitive).
- Subject: To be elected by my
peers is a great honor.
- Object: That child really likes
to be read to by her mother.
- Modifier: Grasso was the first
woman to be elected governor in her own right.
The
same is true of passive gerunds.
- Subject: Being elected by my
peers was a great thrill.
- Object: I really don't like
being lectured to by my boss.
- Object of preposition: I am so
tired of being lectured to by my boss
USING THE
PASSIVE
|
(a) Rice is
grown in India.
(b) Our house was
built in 1890.
(c) This olive oil was
imported from Spain.
|
Usually the passive is used
without a “ by phrase.” The passive is most frequently used
when it is not known or not important to know exactly who performs an action.
In (a): Rice is grown in India by
people, by farmers, by someone. In sentence (a), it is not known or important
to know exactly who grows rice in India.
(a), (b), and (c) illustrate the
most common use of the passive, i.e., without the “by phrase.”
|
|
(d) Life on the
Mississippi was written by
Mark Twain.
|
The “by phrase” is
included only if it is important to know who performs an action. In (d), by
Mark Twain is important information.
|
|
(e)
My aunt made this rug. (active)
(f)
This rug was made by my aunt.
That rug was made by my mother.
|
 If the speaker/writer knows who performs an
action, usually the active is used, as in (e).
The passive may be used with the “by
phrase” instead of the active when the speaker/writer wants to focus
attention on the subject of a sentence. In (f) the focus of attention is on
two rugs.
|
Example :
People grow
corn in
Iowa.
Corn is grown in Iowa
INDIRECT OBJECTS AS PASSIVE SUBJECTS
|
(a) Someone gave Mrs.
Lee[LO] an award
[DO].
(b) Mrs. Lee was
given an award.
|
LO= indirect object. DO= direct
object. Either an indirect object or a direct may become the subject of a
passive sentence.
(a), (b), (c), and (d) have the
same meaning.
|
|
(c) Someone gave an
award to Mrs. Lee.
(d) An award was
given to Mrs. Lee.
|
Example :
Someone handed Ann a menu at the
restaurant.
(indirect object =
Ann) Ann was
handed a menu at the restaurant.
Passive Of Verbs That Take Two
Objects
With verbs that take indirect
objects, either the direct or the indirect object may be the grammatical
subject of the passive verb.
Active
The company will give us the guarantee in writing
Passive We
will be given the guarantee in writing
Or
The guarantee will be given (to) us in writing.
(To is optional in the passive)
Example
: She sent her husband a telegram
Her husband was sent a telegram
Present simple am/is/are + Verb-3
Active :
Somebody clean this room everyday
Passive :
This room is cleaned everyday
Many
accidents are caused by dangerous
driving
I’m not often invited to parties
How many people are injured inroad accident everyday
Past simple
was/were + Verb-3
Active :
Somebody cleaned this room yesterday
Passive :
This room
was cleaned yesterday
During the night we were all waken up by a loud explosion
When was that castle built
The house wasn’t damaged in the storm but a tree was blown down
Present
continuous am/is/are + Verb-3
Active :
Somebody is cleaning the room at the moment
Passive :
The room is
being cleaned at the moment
Look at
those old houses! They are being knocked
down
(shoop
assistant to customer) Are you being served, madam?
Past continuous was/were being + Verb-3
Active :
Somebody was cleaning the room when I arrived
Passive :
The room was being cleaned when I arrived
Suddenly I
heard footsteps behind me. We were being
followed
Present perfect have / has been + Verb-3
Active :
The room
looks nice. Somebody has cleaned it
Passive :
The room
looks nice. It has been cleaned
Have you
heard the news? They president has been
shot
Have you ever been bitten by a dog?
I’m not
going to the party. I haven’t been
invited
Past perfect had been + Verb-3
Active :
The room
looked much better. Somebody had cleaned
it
Passive :
The room
locked much better. It had been cleaned
Jim didn’t
know about the change of plans. He hadn’t
been told.
Reference :
Azar, Betty Schrampfer. UNDERSTANDING AND USING
ENGLISH GRAMMAR Second Edition. New Jersey: Englewood Cliffs, 1989.
Buku SPMB konsultan Pendidikan
Salemba Group divisi bimbingan tes alumni
salemba Jakarta.
Frank,
Marcella. Modern English : Exercises For Non-Native Speakers Part 1 of Speech.
New York: Prentice Hall, Inc, 1972.
