Unit5 - Subjective Questions

Definition:

• Active Voice: In active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the action. The focus is on the 'doer' of the action.
  • Structure: Subject + Verb + Object
• Passive Voice: In passive voice, the subject receives the action. The focus is on the 'action' or the 'receiver' rather than the doer.
  • Structure: Object (becomes Subject) + Helping Verb + (Past Participle) + by + Subject (becomes Object)

Fundamental Difference:

The primary difference lies in the emphasis. Active voice emphasizes the subject (who did it), while passive voice emphasizes the object or the action itself (what was done).

Example:

• Active: The chef prepared the meal. (Focus is on the chef)
• Passive: The meal was prepared by the chef. (Focus is on the meal)

The general rules for converting Active Voice to Passive Voice are as follows:

1. Interchange Subject and Object: The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb.
2. Change of Pronouns: If the subject or object is a pronoun, it changes its form (e.g., 'I' becomes 'me', 'He' becomes 'him', 'She' becomes 'her', 'We' becomes 'us', 'They' becomes 'them').
3. Use of Helping Verb: A suitable helping verb (auxiliary verb) is used according to the tense of the active sentence and the number/person of the new subject.
4. Past Participle Form: The main verb is always changed into its Past Participle form ( form of the verb).
5. Use of Preposition 'by': The preposition 'by' is usually placed before the agent (the original doer of the action).

In the Simple Present Tense, the passive voice is formed by using the auxiliary verbs is, am, or are followed by the past participle () of the main verb.

Structure:

• Active: Subject + (s/es) + Object
• Passive: Object (New Subject) + is/am/are + + by + Subject (New Object)

Examples:

1. Active: She writes a letter.
   Passive: A letter is written by her.
2. Active: They play football.
   Passive: Football is played by them.
3. Active: I do not help him.
   Passive: He is not helped by me.

When converting Present Continuous Tense to Passive Voice, the word 'being' is added between the auxiliary verb and the main verb to indicate continuity.

Structure:

• Active: Subject + is/am/are + + ing + Object
• Passive: Object (New Subject) + is/am/are + being + + by + Subject (New Object)

Examples:

1. Active: She is cooking food.
   Passive: Food is being cooked by her.
2. Active: They are building a house.
   Passive: A house is being built by them.
3. Active: Am I disturbing you?
   Passive: Are you being disturbed by me?

For the Present Perfect Tense, the passive voice uses the auxiliary verbs has or have combined with been.

Formula:

• Active: Subject + has/have + + Object
• Passive: Object (New Subject) + has/have + been + + by + Subject (New Object)

Note: 'Has' is used for singular subjects (he, she, it) and 'Have' for plural subjects (I, we, you, they).

Examples:

1. Active: I have finished the work.
   Passive: The work has been finished by me.
2. Active: She has not written the report.
   Passive: The report has not been written by her.

In the Simple Past Tense, the passive voice is formed using the past auxiliary verbs was or were.

Rules:

1. Use was if the new subject is singular.
2. Use were if the new subject is plural.
3. Always use the form of the verb ().

Structure:

• Active: Subject + + Object
• Passive: Object (New Subject) + was/were + + by + Subject (New Object)

Examples:

1. Active: The teacher punished the student.
   Passive: The student was punished by the teacher.
2. Active: They bought new cars.
   Passive: New cars were bought by them.

Similar to the Present Continuous, the Past Continuous Tense uses 'being' to retain the continuous aspect in the passive voice.

Structure:

• Active: Subject + was/were + + ing + Object
• Passive: Object (New Subject) + was/were + being + + by + Subject (New Object)

Examples:

1. Active: He was writing a novel.
   Passive: A novel was being written by him.
2. Active: The children were playing games.
   Passive: Games were being played by the children.
3. Active: Was she washing the clothes?
   Passive: Were the clothes being washed by her?

The Past Perfect Tense is converted to Passive Voice by adding 'been' after the auxiliary verb 'had'. This structure is generally simpler as 'had' is used for both singular and plural subjects.

Structure:

• Active: Subject + had + + Object
• Passive: Object (New Subject) + had + been + + by + Subject (New Object)

Examples:

1. Active: She had already cooked the dinner.
   Passive: The dinner had already been cooked by her.
2. Active: They had not received the notice.
   Passive: The notice had not been received by them.

For the Simple Future Tense, the passive voice is formed by adding 'be' after the modal auxiliaries (will/shall).

Structure:

• Active: Subject + will/shall + + Object
• Passive: Object (New Subject) + will/shall + be + + by + Subject (New Object)

Examples:

1. Active: He will help me.
   Passive: I shall be helped by him.
2. Active: They will announce the results tomorrow.
   Passive: The results will be announced tomorrow by them.
3. Active: Will you buy this book?
   Passive: Will this book be bought by you?

The Future Perfect Tense indicates an action that will be completed by a certain time in the future. In Passive Voice, we use 'have been'.

Structure:

• Active: Subject + will/shall + have + + Object
• Passive: Object (New Subject) + will/shall + have been + + by + Subject (New Object)

Examples:

1. Active: She will have washed the car by noon.
   Passive: The car will have been washed by her by noon.
2. Active: They will have completed the project.
   Passive: The project will have been completed by them.

Sentences containing modal auxiliaries are converted to passive voice using the general rule: Modal + be + .

Structure:

• Active: Subject + Modal + + Object
• Passive: Object + Modal + be + + by + Subject

Examples:

1. Can:
   • Active: I can solve this problem.
   • Passive: This problem can be solved by me.
2. Must:
   • Active: You must follow the rules.
   • Passive: The rules must be followed by you.
3. Should:
   • Active: We should respect elders.
   • Passive: Elders should be respected by us.

Imperative sentences expressing commands or orders do not have a subject in the active voice (the subject 'You' is implied). They are converted using the verb 'Let'.

Structure:
Let + Object + be +

Examples:

1. Active: Open the door.
   Passive: Let the door be opened.
2. Active: Do not starve the cow.
   Passive: Let the cow not be starved.

Alternative Method (if 'Let' is not used):
Use "You are ordered to..."

• Active: Get out.
• Passive: You are ordered to get out.

When an imperative sentence expresses advice, moral duty, or a request, the structure changes slightly from commands.

1. For Advice/Duty (using 'Should'):

• Structure: Object + should be +
• Active: Help the poor.
• Passive: The poor should be helped.
• Active: Respect your parents.
• Passive: Your parents should be respected.

2. For Requests (using 'You are requested to'):

• Structure: You are requested to + + Object
• Active: Please give me a pen.
• Passive: You are requested to give me a pen.
• Active: Kindly grant me leave.
• Passive: You are requested to grant me leave.

When converting Yes/No questions (questions starting with helping verbs like do, does, is, are, did, have), the passive sentence must retain the interrogative form (i.e., the helping verb comes before the subject).

Steps:

1. Identify the tense and the corresponding passive auxiliary.
2. Place the passive auxiliary at the beginning.
3. Place the object (new subject) next.
4. Place the main verb in form.

Examples:

1. Present Indefinite (Do/Does Is/Am/Are):
   • Active: Does he write a letter?
   • Passive: Is a letter written by him?
2. Past Indefinite (Did Was/Were):
   • Active: Did she call you?
   • Passive: Were you called by her?
3. Perfect Tense (Has/Have Has/Have + been):
   • Active: Have you finished the work?
   • Passive: Has the work been finished by you?

Sentences starting with 'Wh-' words generally retain the 'Wh-' word at the beginning, followed by the passive auxiliary structure. A special case is 'Who', which changes to 'By whom'.

1. Sentences starting with 'Who':

• Structure: By whom + Helping Verb + Object + ?
• Active: Who broke this cup?
• Passive: By whom was this cup broken?

2. Other 'Wh-' words (Why, When, Where, What):

• Structure: Wh-word + Helping Verb + Object + + by + Subject?
• Active: Why did you punish him?
• Passive: Why was he punished by you?
• Active: When will they announce the results?
• Passive: When will the results be announced by them?

Some transitive verbs take two objects: an Indirect Object (usually a person) and a Direct Object (usually a thing). Such sentences can be converted into passive voice in two ways.

Example Active Sentence: He gave me (Indirect) a pen (Direct).

Method 1: Making the Indirect Object the Subject (Preferred)

• The indirect object 'me' becomes 'I'.
• Passive: I was given a pen by him.

Method 2: Making the Direct Object the Subject

• The direct object 'a pen' becomes the subject. Note that a preposition 'to' is often added before the indirect object.
• Passive: A pen was given to me by him.

Another Example:

• Active: The teacher taught us English.
• Passive 1: We were taught English by the teacher.
• Passive 2: English was taught to us by the teacher.

Agentless Passive sentences are those where the 'by + agent' phrase is omitted. We do not mention the doer of the action in the passive sentence.

The agent is omitted when:

1. The agent is unknown:
   • Active: Someone has stolen my purse.
   • Passive: My purse has been stolen. (We don't know who did it).
2. The agent is obvious/understood:
   • Active: The police arrested the thief.
   • Passive: The thief was arrested. (It is obvious that police arrest thieves).
3. The agent is vague (People, They, Someone):
   • Active: People speak English all over the world.
   • Passive: English is spoken all over the world.
4. The focus is entirely on the result:
   • Passive: The road has been repaired.

Prepositional verbs are verbs that are followed by a specific preposition (e.g., laugh at, look after, listen to). When converting these to passive voice, the preposition must remain attached to the verb.

Rule: Do not drop the preposition. It should follow the Past Participle ().

Structure: Object + Helping Verb + + Preposition + by + Subject

Examples:

1. Active: She looks after her child.
   Passive: Her child is looked after by her.
2. Active: They laughed at the beggar.
   Passive: The beggar was laughed at by them.
3. Active: We must listen to our elders.
   Passive: Our elders must be listened to by us.

Distinction:

• Transitive Verb: A verb that requires an object to complete its meaning (e.g., eat, write, kill). The action passes from the subject to the object.
• Intransitive Verb: A verb that does not require an object (e.g., sleep, go, die, laugh). The action stops with the subject.

Why Intransitive verbs cannot be Passive:
To convert a sentence to passive voice, the object of the active sentence must become the subject of the passive sentence. Since intransitive verbs do not have an object, there is nothing to become the subject of the passive sentence. Therefore, passive voice is not possible.

Examples of No Passive:

• Birds fly. (Intransitive - No object)
• He is sleeping. (Intransitive - No object)
• She goes to school. ('To school' is an adverbial phrase, not a direct object).

Out of the 12 tenses in English, the following 4 tenses cannot be converted into Passive Voice naturally because their structures would become too clumsy or grammatically awkward:

1. Present Perfect Continuous Tense
   • (e.g., He has been doing this work.)
2. Past Perfect Continuous Tense
   • (e.g., She had been reading the book.)
3. Future Continuous Tense
   • (e.g., I shall be playing cricket.)
4. Future Perfect Continuous Tense
   • (e.g., They will have been living here.)