Page 101 - English Grammar - 7

Formation of Passive Voice

Each tense has its own passive voice which is created by using a form of the auxiliary verb
to be + past participle.

R
Rememberemember

Verbs that do not have an object, for example, arrive, exist, go, live, sleep, cannot be changed into
the passive form.

Hence, the following two aspects are very important in the formation of passive voice.

The key to the formation of passive voice is the use of past participle form of the verb with
an auxiliary verb put before it. For example:

You took it yesterday. (active voice)
O
It was taken by you yesterday (passive voice)
O
auxillary verb past participle
The verb form in a passive voice sentence takes shape, in accordance with the tense, being
used in it. The following chart shows the formation of sentences in passive voice in all
kinds of states, i.e. simple, continuous and perfect forms in all kinds of tenses, past,

present and future.

Auxiliary +
Tense Active/Passive Voice
Past Participle

subject + am/ • I play cricket every day. (active)
Simple is/are + past • Cricket is played by me every day. (passive)
Present participle + • My friend waters the plants. (active)
by + object • The plants are watered by my friend. (passive)

subject + • They are playing football. (active)
am/is/are +
Present being + past Football is being played by them. (passive)
Continuous • He is feeding the animals. (active) Active and Passive Voice
participle +
by + object Animals are being fed by him. (passive)

subject + has/ • I have planted many trees. (active)
Present have + been + • Many trees have been planted by me. (passive)
Perfect past participle • She has posted the letter. (active)
+ by + object • The letter has been posted by her. (passive)

subject + was/ • The traffic police stopped Tarun. (active)
were + past Tarun was stopped by the traffic police. (passive)
Simple Past
participle + • We stopped further protests. (active)
by + object Further protests were stopped by us. (passive)

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