Verbs are also said to be either active (The executive committee approved the new policy) or passive (The newing 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 do-er or a be-er, but is
acted upon by some other agent or by something unnamed (the new policy
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 void 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
assive 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
briefing audited” rather than “ The Head of the Internal Revenue service
advised the President that her agency was auditing certain member 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.”
e.g
The passive voice does exist for a reason, however , and
it’s 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 durig 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 technicalwriting 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.”
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 sentencecast in the passive voice will not
always include an agent of the action. For instance 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. Futhermore, active
sentences containing certain verbs cannot be transformed into passive
structures. To have is the most important of these verbs. We can saya “ He has
anew 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 abrief list of
such verb:
|
resemble
|
look like
|
equal
|
agree with
|
|
mean
|
contain
|
hold
|
comprise
|
|
lack
|
suit
|
fit
|
become
|
VERBAL IN PASSIVE STRUCTURES
Verbals or verb forms can also take on
fatures 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 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.
