Passive Voice in English




 Lesson 11

Passive Voice Tense Definition

Passive voice tense is a grammatical way of putting words together in such an order that the subject, instead of performing an action, receives it. In other words, in the active voice of tense, the subject of a sentence performs the action in that sentence. In contrary, in the passive voice of tense, the subject itself doesn't perform the action, but rather receives it.

In the following examples, the subjects, ‘she’ and ‘the accused’ receive the actions of beating and killing. 

Note:- The real subjects in the given below examples are ‘teacher’ and ‘policeman’ respectively, because they are the ones who are performing the actions of beating and killing. 

Examples:

(a) She is beaten up by her teacher everyday. 

(b) The accused was killed by a policeman. 


General Rules for Forming Passive Voice Sentences

Rule 1. Passive voice tense has 8 tense forms. 

They are as follows:

1. Present Indefinite Passive 

2. Present Continuous Passive 

3. Present Perfect Passive 

4. Past Indefinite Passive 

5. Past Continuous Passive 

6. Past Perfect Passive 

7. Future Indefinite Passive 

8. Future Perfect Passive 


Rule 2. The real subject of passive voice tense is used after the preposition, ‘By’. (Know more about preposition )

Examples:

(a) A mango was eaten by a boy. 

(b) He was beaten up by his father. 


Note:- The active voice sentences of the above-mentioned examples are (a). A boy ate a mango. (b). His father beat him up.


Rule 3. In passive voice, always the third form of a verb is used. 


In the following examples, ‘mentioned’ and ‘given’ are the third forms of the verbs, mention and give respectively.  (Know more about verbs) 

Examples:

(a) Rules are mentioned first. 

(b) Examples are given below. 


Note:- The three forms of verbs, first, second and third forms are as under: 

1. Mention, Mentioned, Mentioned.

2. Give, Gave, Given.


The Best Way of Learning Passive Voice By Heart

The easiest way to learn passive voice tense is to memorise the example sentences of each tense. 

Example sentences of present, past and future passive tenses are given below with five types of sentence, positive, negative, interrogative, negative interrogative and fact-finding. 


1. Present Indefinite Passive

1. A mango is eaten by him. (Positive sentence) 

2. A mango is not eaten by him. (Negative sentence) 

3. Is a mango eaten by him? (Interrogative sentence) 

4. Is a mango not eaten by him? (Interrogative negative sentence) 

5. Why is a mango eaten by him?  (Fact-finding sentence) 


Note:- ‘are’ and ‘am’ will be used with plural subjects and with ‘I’ respectively. For example, (a) Mangoes are eaten by him. (b) I am beaten by my father. 


2. Present Continuous Passive

1. A mango is being eaten by him. (Positive sentence) 

2. A mango is not being eaten by him. (Negative sentence) 

3. Is a mango being eaten by him? (Interrogative sentence) 

4. Is a mango not being eaten by him? (Interrogative negative sentence) 

5. Why is a mango being eaten by him?(Fact-finding sentence) 


Note:- ‘are being’ and ‘am being’ will be used with plural subjects and with ‘I’ respectively. For example, (a) Mangoes are being eaten by him. (b) I am being  beaten by my father. 


3. Present Perfect Passive

1. A mango has been eaten by him. (Positive sentence) 

2. A mango has not been eaten by him. (Negative sentence) 

3. Has a mango been eaten by him? (Interrogative sentence) 

4. Has a mango not been eaten by him? (Interrogative negative sentence) 

5. Why has a mango been eaten by him? (Fact-finding sentence) 


Note:- ‘have been’ will be used with plural subjects and with ‘I’. For example, (a) Mangoes have been eaten by him. (b) I have been beaten by my father. 


4. Past Indefinite Passive

1. A mango was eaten by him. (Positive sentence) 

2. A mango was not eaten by him. (Negative sentence) 

3. Was a mango eaten by him? (Interrogative sentence) 

4. Was a mango not eaten by him. (Interrogative negative sentence) 

5. Why was a mango eaten by him? (Fact-finding sentence) 


Note:- ‘were’ will be used with plural subjects, but not with ‘I’. For example, (a) Mangoes were eaten by him. (b) I was beaten by my father. 


5. Past Continuous Passive

1. A mango was being eaten by him. (Positive sentence) 

2. A mango was not being eaten by him. (Negative sentence) 

3. Was a mango being eaten by him? (Interrogative sentence) 

4. Was a mango not being eaten by him? (Interrogative negative sentence) 

5. Why was a mango being eaten by him? (Fact-finding sentence) 


Note:- ‘were being’ will be used with plural subjects, but not with ‘I’. For example, (a) Mangoes were being eaten by him. (b) I was being beaten by my father. 


6. Past Perfect Passive

1. A mango had been eaten by him. (Positive sentence) 

2. A mango had not been eaten by him. (Negative sentence) 

3. Had a mango been eaten by him? (Interrogative sentence) 

4. Had a mango not been eaten by him? (Interrogative negative sentence) 

5. Why had a mango been eaten by him? (Fact-finding sentence) 


7. Future Indefinite Passive

1. A mango will be eaten by him. (Positive sentence) 

2. A mango will not be eaten by him. (Negative sentence) 

3. Will a mango be eaten by him? (Interrogative sentence) 

4. Will a mango not be eaten by him? (Interrogative negative sentence) 

5. Why will a mango be eaten by him? (Fact-finding sentence) 


8. Future Perfect Passive

1. A mango will have been eaten by him. (Positive sentence) 

2. A mango will not have been eaten by him. (Negative sentence) 

3. Will a mango have been eaten by him?  (Interrogative sentence) 

4. Will a mango not have been eaten by him? (Interrogative negative sentence) 

5. Why will a mango have been eaten by him? (Fact-finding sentence)