THEORY AND EXAMPLE ACTIVE AND PASSIVE

The sentence is active (active voice) is a sentence where the subject of his work, in contrast, a passive sentence (passive voice) is a sentence where the subject of his subject's work by object sentence. Active voice is more often used in everyday life than with passive voice. However, we often find the passive voice in newspapers, articles in magazines and scholarly writings. Passive voice is used because the object from active voice is more important than the information with respect to him.

example:

-  Active : We fertilize the soil every 6 months

-  Passive: The soil is fertilized by us every 6 months

From this example we can see that :

* The Object of the active voice (the soil) became the subject of the passive voice.

* Subject of active voice (we) became the object of the passive voice. Note also that there is a change of subject pronoun 'we' becomes the object pronoun 'us'.

* Verb1 (fertilize) in the active voice to be verb3 (fertilized) in passive voice.

* The increase be 'is' in front of verb3. Be used is dependent on the subject is passive voice and tenses are used. (Note the passive voice patterns below).

* Added word 'by' behind verb3. However, if the object of the passive voice is not considered important or not known, then the object is normally not expressed and so does the word 'by'.

* For specific sentences progressive (present, past, past perfect, future, past, future and past future perfect continuous, need to add 'being' in front of verb3). If it's not added 'being', the tensis will change, not progressive/continuous again. Note the examples in points h - o below.

The pattern of active and passive voice in each simple tense :

#  If the active voice in simple present tense, then the 'be' passive voice is 'is', am or are.

example:

Active    : He meets them everyday.

Passive  : They are met by him everyday.

Active    : She waters this plant every two days.

Passive  : This plant is watered by her every two days.

#  If the active voice in simple past tense, then the 'be' passive voice is was or were.

example:

Active    : He met them yesterday

Passive  : They were met by him yesterday

Active    : She watered this plant this morning

Passive  : This plant was watered by her this morning

Active / Passive Overview

Tense	Active	Passive
Simple Present	Once a week, Tom cleans the house.	Once a week, the house is cleaned by Tom.
Present Continuous	Right now, Sarah is writing the letter.	Right now, the letter is being written by Sarah.
Simple Past	Sam repaired the car.	The car was repaired by Sam.
Past Continuous	The salesman was helping the customer when the thief came into the store.	The customer was being helped by the salesman when the thief came into the store.
Present Perfect	Many tourists have visited that castle.	That castle has been visited by many tourists.
Present Perfect Continuous	Recently, John has been doing the work.	Recently, the work has been being done by John.
Past Perfect	George had repaired many cars before he received his mechanic's license.	Many cars had been repaired by George before he received his mechanic's license.
Past Perfect Continuous	Chef Jones had been preparing the restaurant's fantastic dinners for two years before he moved to Paris.	The restaurant's fantastic dinners had been being preparedby Chef Jones for two years before he moved to Paris.
Simple Future will	Someone will finish the work by 5:00 PM.	The work will be finished by 5:00 PM.
Simple Future be going to	Sally is going to make a beautiful dinner tonight.	A beautiful dinner is going to be made by Sally tonight.
Future Continuous will	At 8:00 PM tonight, John will be washing the dishes.	At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes will be being washed by John.
Future Continuous be going to	At 8:00 PM tonight, John is going to be washing the dishes.	At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes are going to be being washedby John.
Future Perfect will	They will have completed the project before the deadline.	The project will have been completed before the deadline.
Future Perfect be going to	They are going to have completed the project before the deadline.	The project is going to have been completed before the deadline.
Future Perfect Continuous will	The famous artist will have been painting the mural for over six months by the time it is finished.	The mural will have been being painted by the famous artist for over six months by the time it is finished.
Future Perfect Continuous be going to	The famous artist is going to have been painting the mural for over six months by the time it is finished.	The mural is going to have been being painted by the famous artist for over six months by the time it is finished.
Used to	Jerry used to pay the bills.	The bills used to be paid by Jerry.
Would Always	My mother would always make the pies.	The pies would always be made by my mother.
Future in the Past Would	I knew John would finish the work by 5:00 PM.	I knew the work would be finished by 5:00 PM.
Future in the Past Was Going to	I thought Sally was going to make a beautiful dinner tonight.	I thought a beautiful dinner was going to be made by Sally tonight.