Passive
Voice





The passive
voice is less usual than the active voice. The active voice is the
"normal" voice. But sometimes we need the passive voice. In this
lesson we look at how to construct the passive voice, when to use it and how to
conjugate it.


Construction
of the Passive Voice





The
structure of the passive voice is very simple:





subject +
auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (past participle)





The main
verb is always in its past participle form.





Look at
these examples:subject auxiliary
verb (to be) main verb (past participle)


Water is
drunk by everyone.


100 people are
employed by this company.


I am
paid in euro.


We are not paid in
dollars.


Are they
paid in yen?





Use of the
Passive Voice





We use the
passive when:


we want to
make the active object more important


we do not
know the active subject subject verb object


give
importance to active object (President Kennedy) President
Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.


active
subject unknown My wallet has been stolen. ?