Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
When do we use the passive voice?
Example: Look at the following sentences:
a) My grandfather established this steel factory in 1940.
b) This steel factory was established in 1940 by my grandfather.
We use the passive voice when we are more interested in the action than the
person who does it or when we do not know the active subject .
Read the following sentences and, using the given clues, find out the reason for
the use of the passive construction as in the Example above.
1. He was killed in the World War II.
Clue: Who must have killed him? Is it obvious?
______________________________
2. The Bank was looted last night.
Clue: Have the police caught the culprits?
_______________________________
3. Sachin Tendulkar is looked upon as a sport icon.
Clue: Bywhom?
_______________________________
4. This sort of road-side restaurants can be seen everywhere in this city.
Clue: How will you write it in active voice?
________________________________
5. When he arrived at the airport, he was arrested.
Clue: Rewrite the sentence in active voice. Is it a little awkward?
_________________________________
6. Employer: On account of tight financial condition, bonus will not be paid this
year.
Clue: If it is some good news, what voice will the employer use?
_________________________________
7. I got my hair cut.
Clue: Look at the construction using 1got1
_________________________________
|
We must remember that all active constructions cannot/ should not be transformed Example: a) He is drinking water. Though sentence (b) is grammatically correct, we do not write or speak such a Hence it is necessary to keep in mind that the passive voice has certain legitimate |
Solution
- The doer or subject of the action is not obvious or known.
- Active subject is not known. OR the action needs more emphasis.
- We are more interested in the action than who does it.
- One can see this sort of road-side restaurants anywhere in this city.
The doer or subject is not important. - The custom officers arrested him when he arrived at the airport. Yes. It is a little awkward.
- The subject or doer of the action is obvious.
- The object or agent is obvious.
|
We must remember that all active constructions cannot/should not be transformed into passive constructions mechanically, even if such transformation is possible. Example: (a) He is drinking water. Though sentence (b) is grammatically correct, we do not write or speak such a sentence. It is unnatural. Hence it is necessary to keep in mind that the passive voice has certain legitimate uses as discussed in A.2. |
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Complete the following sentences using the correct form or the verbs
given in brackets.
- It is a big college. More than a hundred teachers ________ (employ)
there. - __________ (somebody/ clean) the office yesterday?
- How much of our country's land area __________ (cover) by forest?
- The hostel gates ______ (lock} at 8.00 pm everyday.
- The parcel (send) a month ago and it ______ _(arrive) onlyyesterday.
- Where (these photographs/take}? In Mumbai? ____________ (you/ take} them, or somebody else?
• Did you use the same type of construction in your answers?
What are the two types of construction called?
- ____________________________________
- ____________________________________
Match the excerpts below with the text types given in the box.
Excerpts
1. The tea leaves are picked and left to dry in the sun.
2. 20 ml of the salt is taken in a test tube and heated over the flame of a Bunsen
burner.
3. Many villagers were adversely affected by the flash flood. It is estimated that
nearly half of the standing crop has been submerged in water.
|
Text Types a) Newspaper (and formal) report _______________ b) Description of processes __________________ c) Academic writings including reporting of scientific experiments ______________ |
What are the text types in which we can expect to find frequent use of the
passive?
Now read the following extracts from a passage about a diamond:
a. The Jacob Diamond is believed to have been mined in Africa and was
bought in London by Shimla-based trader called A.M. Jacob, after whom it is
named.
b. Weighing 184.75 carats, it was reckoned to be the world's seventh largest
diamond.
c. The Jacob Diamond was bought by the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad, Mah bub Ali
Khan.
d. It was considered to be such a lucky stone that when the Nizam was offered
Rs. 1 million by the Agha Khan, he spurned the offer.
e. The famous diamond was later purchased by the Indian Government for Rs. 40
crore.
1. Give the article a title (use not more than three words) _________________________
_____________________________
2. Underline all the verb forms in the extracts above. What is the most common
verb form in the passage called? _______________________________
3. Write the appropriate newspaper headline for extract c. above. Use the jumbled
words given in the box below:
| bought - diamond - sixth - Jacob-Hyderabad - by - of - Nizam |
______________________________________
4. Now write a headline for extract e. above.
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
5. Compare your answers with your partner and then the rest of the class. Your
teacher will then discuss the possible answers.
6. Now read the extract again. You want to write a headline based on this extract. You also want to focus attention on the Nizam of Hyderabad, not the Agha Khan. Write a headline to summarise this extract in not more than five words.
Read the set of instructions below and underline the main verb in each
sentence.
|
HOW TO MAGNETISE A SCREWDRIVER USING A COIL 1. Place a screwdriver inside a coil carrying a direct current. |
When we write a description of this experiment, which tense do we use?
Complete the description of the experiment using the information in B 1, by writing the verbs in the correct form. One example has been done for you
A screwdriver (place) is placed inside a coil carrying a direct current. The
screwdriver (become)____________ magnetised. It (removed) _____________carefully and
(place)_______________- in iron filings. It (attract) _____________the fillings.
Now read these instructions.
HOW TO DEMAGNETISE A SCREWDRIVER USING A COIL
1. Place the magnetised screwdriver blade inside the coil.
2. Pass an alternating current through it.
3. Slowly withdraw the screwdriver from the coil to a distance of about one metre
while the current is flowing.
4. It becomes demagnetised.
5. Switch off the current.
6. Place the screwdriver in iron filings.
7. It does not attract the filings.
Write your own description of this experiment, using the Present Passive where
appropriate.
A magnetised screwdriver is placed inside the coil .....__________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
Think back to when you were a small child. For each year, from the ages of five to ten, write a sentence in the simple past passive.
When I was five, I was called Bug Bunny by my sister.
When I was six, I wasn't allowed to ..... .
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
________________________
________________________
Show your writing to your partner. Do you share any experience?
(Correct each other's work, as necessary').
An architect is speaking at a special meeting of the Town Council. She is presenting her proposals for improving one area of the town. Using the notes below, write down what she will say to the Town Council. You may start the report as given below.
"Firstly, the polluted slum settlements will be cleared and replaced with lowcost
housing ... "
Now Future
slum settlement/ people build low cost housing
sleeping on streets
six cinemas/ no theatre turn one cinema into a theatre
open sewers cover sewers
only one old primary setup/ establish two more
school (overcrowded) primary schools, and one
secondary school
no parks or open spaces create small parks between
low-cost housing blocks
Match the items from A and B to make meaningful sentences. There is sometimes more than one sensible combination.
| A | B |
| 1. Who will be 2. She likes 3. They ought 4. They are going 5.She 6. ltwill 7. You will 8. He hates 9. What has 10. Has Sita |
a. be informed b. been done to stop it? c. been told? d. was given the money. e. to get hurt. f. have been done by them. g. asked to come to the party? h. being asked to parties. i. being looked at. j. to be punished for what they did. |
Rewrite the paragraph below by changing these sentences into the passive; include the agent only if necessary.
Last year Mckiney Company built two new apartment buildings in the city centre. Recently one of the buildings was damaged by an earthquake. The earthquake also destroyed the company offices in the other building. The owners of the apartments of the buildings will receive the insurance money to fix the damages. Nobody will lose the money paid for the apartments.
Two new apartment ___________Recently one of the buildings was damaged by an earthquake. The company offices in__________The insurance_______Money.
Look at the following newspaper article. It has two versions. Version 'A' is written in the active and version 'B' is written in the passive voice. For each piece of information, decide whether Version 'A' or Version 'B' is more appropriate. Then rewrite the passage using a combination of the two versions.
Version A
Thieves stole the famous NorY Koh emerald from the City Museum last night.
Police believe the thieves must have forced the locks on the windows and
disabled the alarms before the museum attendants had closed the museum for
the night. Police have arrested a man whom someone saw acting suspiciously
outside the museum.
Version B
The Famous Nor Y Koh emerald was stolen from the museum last night. It is
believed that the window-locks had been forced and the alarms disabled before
the museum was closed for the night. A man who was seen acting suspiciously
outside the museum has been arrested.
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
