The passive voice

The passive voice

1. Why should you use the passive voice?

   • You don't want to say who or what did the action.
   • You don't know who did the action.
   • The object is the most important part of the sentence.

2. ACTIVE VOICE

   • subject + verb + object
     • The children ate the cake.
       • The cake was eaten by somebody.

3. Steps to transform a passive voice:

   • Identify the subject, the verb and the object.
   • Move the object to become the new subject of the sentence.
   • What is the verb tense in the active sentence?
   • Conjugate the verb 'be'
   • Add the past participle of the main verb after 'be'
   • Subject of the active sentence.

4. Example:

   • Someone has stolen my neighbour's car.
     • My neighbour's car has been stolen by someone.
   • I will clean the house on Monday.
     • The house will be cleaned by me on Monday.