PASSIVE VOICE

Passive Voice

Verbs are also said to be either active (The executive committee approved the new policy) or passive (The new policy was approved by the executive committee) in voice. In the active voice, the subject and verb relationship is straightforward: the subject is a be-er or a do-er and the verb moves the sentence along. In the passive voice, the subject of the sentence is neither a do-er or a be-er, but is acted upon by some other agent or by something unnamed (The new policy was approved). Computerized grammar checkers can pick out a passive voice construction from miles away and ask you to revise it to a more active construction. There is nothing inherently wrong with the passive voice, but if you can say the same thing in the active mode, do so (see exceptions below). Your text will have more pizzazz as a result, since passive verb constructions tend to lie about in their pajamas and avoid actual work.
We find an overabundance of the passive voice in sentences created by self-protective business interests, magniloquent educators, and bombastic military writers (who must get weary of this accusation), who use the passive voice to avoid responsibility for actions taken. Thus "Cigarette ads were designed to appeal especially to children" places the burden on the ads — as opposed to "We designed the cigarette ads to appeal especially to children," in which "we" accepts responsibility. At a White House press briefing we might hear that "The President was advised that certain members of Congress were being audited" rather than "The Head of the Internal Revenue service advised the President that her agency was auditing certain members of Congress" because the passive construction avoids responsibility for advising and for auditing. One further caution about the passive voice: we should not mix active and passive constructions in the same sentence: "The executive committee approved the new policy, and the calendar for next year's meetings was revised" should be recast as "The executive committee approved the new policy and revised the calendar for next year's meeting."
Take the quiz (below) as an exercise in recognizing and changing passive verbs.
The passive voice does exist for a reason, however, and its presence is not always to be despised. The passive is particularly useful (even recommended) in two situations:

·         When it is more important to draw our attention to the person or thing acted upon: The unidentified victim was apparently struck during the early morning hours.

·         When the actor in the situation is not important: The aurora borealis can be observed in the early morning hours.

The passive voice is especially helpful (and even regarded as mandatory) in scientific or technical writing or lab reports, where the actor is not really important but the process or principle being described is of ultimate importance. Instead of writing "I poured 20 cc of acid into the beaker," we would write "Twenty cc of acid is/was poured into the beaker." The passive voice is also useful when describing, say, a mechanical process in which the details of process are much more important than anyone's taking responsibility for the action: "The first coat of primer paint is applied immediately after the acid rinse."
We use the passive voice to good effect in a paragraph in which we wish to shift emphasis from what was the object in a first sentence to what becomes the subject in subsequent sentences.

The executive committee approved an entirely new policy for dealing with academic suspension and withdrawal. The policy had been written by a subcommittee on student behavior. If students withdraw from course work before suspension can take effect, the policy states, a mark of "IW" . . . .

The paragraph is clearly about this new policy so it is appropriate that policy move from being the object in the first sentence to being the subject of the second sentence. The passive voice allows for this transition.†

Passive Verb Formation

The passive forms of a verb are created by combining a form of the "to be verb" with the past participle of the main verb. Other helping verbs are also sometimes present: "The measure could have been killed in committee." The passive can be used, also, in various tenses. Let's take a look at the passive forms of "design."

Tense	Subject	Auxiliary		Past Participle
		Singular	Plural
Present	The car/cars	is	are	designed.
Present perfect	The car/cars	has been	have been	designed.
Past	The car/cars	was	were	designed.
Past perfect	The car/cars	had been	had been	designed.
Future	The car/cars	will be	will be	designed.
Future perfect	The car/cars	will have been	will have been	designed.
Present progressive	The car/cars	is being	are being	designed.
Past progressive	The car/cars	was being	were being	designed.

A sentence cast in the passive voice will not always include an agent of the action. For instance if a gorilla crushes a tin can, we could say "The tin can was crushed by the gorilla." But a perfectly good sentence would leave out the gorilla: "The tin can was crushed." Also, when an active sentence with an indirect object is recast in the passive, the indirect object can take on the role of subject in the passive sentence:

Active	Professor Villa gave Jorge an A.
Passive	An A was given to Jorge by Professor Villa.
Passive	Jorge was given an A.

Only transitive verbs (those that take objects) can be transformed into passive constructions. Furthermore, active sentences containing certain verbs cannot be transformed into passive structures. To have is the most important of these verbs. We can say "He has a new car," but we cannot say "A new car is had by him." We can say "Josefina lacked finesse," but we cannot say "Finesse was lacked." Here is a brief list of such verbs*:

resemble	look like	equal	agree with
mean	contain	hold	comprise
lack	suit	fit	become

Verbals in Passive Structures

Verbals or verb forms can also take on features of the passive voice. An infinitive phrase in the passive voice, for instance, can perform various functions within a sentence (just like the active forms of the infinitive).

·         Subject: To be elected by my peers is a great honor.

·         Object: That child really likes to be read to by her mother.

·         Modifier: Grasso was the first woman to be elected governor in her own right.

The same is true of passive gerunds.

·         Subject: Being elected by my peers was a great thrill.

·         Object: I really don't like being lectured to by my boss.

·         Object of preposition: I am so tired of being lectured to by my boss.

With passive participles, part of the passive construction is often omitted, the result being a simple modifying participial phrase.

·         [Having been] designed for off-road performance, the Pathseeker does not always behave well on paved highways

 

The passive voice in English

English, like some other languages, uses a periphrastic passive. Rather than conjugating directly for voice, English uses the past participle form of the verb plus an auxiliary verb, either be or get, to indicate passive voice.

·         The money was donated to the school.

·         The vase got broken during the fight.

·         All men are created equal.

If the agent is mentioned, it usually appears in a prepositional phrase introduced by the preposition by.

·         Without agent: The paper was marked.

·         With agent: The paper was marked by Mr. Tan.

The subject of the passive voice usually corresponds to the direct object of the corresponding active voice (as in the above examples), but English also allows passive constructions in which the subject corresponds to an indirect object or preposition complement:

·         We were given tickets. (subject we corresponds to the indirect object of give)

·         Tim was operated on yesterday. (subject Tim corresponds to the complement of the preposition on)

In sentences of the second type, a stranded preposition is left. This is called the prepositional passive or pseudo-passive (although the latter term can also be used with other meanings).
The active voice is the dominant voice in English at large. Many commentators, notably George Orwell in his essay "Politics and the English Language" and Strunk & White in The Elements of Style, have urged minimizing use of the passive voice. However, the passive voice has important uses. Jan Freeman of The Boston Globe states "[a]ll good writers use the passive voice" – including Orwell and Strunk & White themselves, in the sections of their essays criticizing the passive voice. There is general agreement that the passive voice is useful for emphasis, or when the receiver of the action is more important than the actor.

Examples of Passive Voice Sentences

1.      Active: He believes you.
Passive: You are believed by him.

2.       Active: They did the test.

 Passive: The test was done by them.

3.      Active: My mother is making a cake.

Passive: A cake is being made by my mother.

4.      Active: She will hold a party.

Passive: A party will be held by her.

5.      Active: The team has won the match.

Passive: The match has been won by the team.

6.      Active: He would cancel the meeting.

Passive: The meeting would be cancelled by him.

7.      Active: They made this plane in Germany.

Passive: This plane was made by them in Germany.

8.      Active: The students sang a song.

Passive: A song was sung by the students.

9.      Active: Gina read the book yesterday.

Passive: The book was read by Gina yesterday.

10.  Active: She has been telling it to me.

Passive: It has been being told to me by her.

11.  Active: Secretary wrote the letter two days ago.

Passive: The letter was written by secretary two days ago.

12.  Active: We will discuss the matter later.

Passive: The matter will be discussed later.

13.  Active: She cannot repair the computer.

Passive: The computer cannot be repaired by her.

14.  Active: Does the boy like it?

Passive: Is it liked by the boy?

15.  Active: We can help you.

Passive: You can be helped by us.

16.  Active: The army shot the terrorist.

Passive: The terrorist was shot by the army.

17.  Active: Rizki is taking the umbrella.

Passive: The umbrella is being took by Rizki.

18.  Active: Rina bought a necklace.

Passive: A necklace was bought by Rina.

19.  Active: Evan is buying some flowers for his girlfriend.

Passive: Some flowers are being bought by Evan for his girlfriend.

20.  Active: We are decorating the hall.

Passive: The hall is being decorated by us.

21.  Active : He meets them everyday.
Passive : They are met by him everyday.

22.  Active : She waters this plant every two days.
Passive : This plant is watered by her every two days.

23.  Active : He met them yesterday
Passive : They were met by him yesterday

24.  Active : She watered this plant this morning
Passive : This plant was watered by her this morning

25.  Active : He has met them
Passive : They have been met by him

26.  Active : She has watered this plant for 5 minutes.
Passive : This plant has been watered by her for 5 minutes.

27.  Active : He had met them before I came.
Passive : They had been met by him before I came.

28.  Active : She had watered this plant for 5 minutes when I got here
Passive : This plant had been watered by her for 5 minutes when I got here

29.  Active: Harry ate six shrimp at dinner.

Passive: At dinner, six shrimp were eaten by Harry.

30.  Active: Beautiful giraffes roam the savannah.

Passive: The savannah is roamed by beautiful giraffes.

31.  Active: Sue changed the flat tire.

Passive: The flat tire was changed by Sue.

32.  Active: We are going to watch a movie tonight.

Passive: A movie is going to be watched by us tonight.

33.  Active: I ran the obstacle course in record time.

Passive: The obstacle course was run by me in record time.

34.  Active: The crew paved the entire stretch of highway.

Passive: The entire stretch of highway was paved by the crew.

35.  Active: Mom read the novel in one day.

Passive: The novel was read by Mom in one day.

36.  Active: The critic wrote a scathing review.

Passive: A scathing review was written by the critic.

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/passive.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_voice

http://sarahnurmalaa.wordpress.com/2013/09/28/contoh-kalimat-passive-and-active-voice/