If you have ever said something like, “Why do there have to be so many tenses in English grammar?!” – you’re not alone.
Well, the time has come to find out more about English tenses – and make English grammar easier to master. Check the Passive and Active Voice examples below – you’ll definitely find the tenses issue much simpler thereafter!
Passive and Active Voice Examples: The Force of a Habit
The first and foremost thing about these two is that, unlike Passive, Active Voice mentions the doer – the one who acts in the sentence. Once you learn this, you’ll realize that the form of Passive Voice is by far not as hard as most people believe it to be.
Like Active Voice, Passive Voice also mentions the doer – but in a slightly different fashion. To say in Passive Voice who the doer is, you’ll need:
For animate objects: by
The paper was written by Jack.
For inanimate objects: with
The picture was drawn with a pen.
Logically, the change of Voice is best when you care less about the doer in the sentence and more about the action described or its consequences.
In Passive, “with” and “by” are extremely important – don’t confuse them!
As for the verb “to be,” Passive Voice is actually based on that word. “To be” is used like a formal verb – it changes, while the notional part remains the same:
Everyone is watching this movie. – The movie is being watched in every corner of the Earth.
Generally speaking, the verb “to be” in English plays quite an important part.
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