Passive Voice (Present Perfect and Past Perfect)

The Passive Voice is a grammatical structure in which the Object of an Active Voice sentence becomes the Subject and is acted upon by the verb.

Here the action becomes important, rather than the doer of the action. Usually brought into use when the Subject is anonymous or unimportant.

Examples:

·  My car was stolen.

· Kashmir is known for its apples.

· Twenty army men were killed in a landmine explosion, last night.

There are two basic rules to be followed for converting sentences from Active to Passive Voice, which are common for all tenses.

1. Subject and Object positions are inter-changed.

2. Only third form of the Verb (Past Participle) is used as the main form of Verb in a Passive voice sentence.

Now, we come specifically to the rules to be followed for converting an Active Voice sentence in Present and Past Continuous Tense.

The Rules for using Auxiliary Verb are different for each tense in Passive Voice sentences.

Rules for Converting Active Voice to Passive Voice in case of Present Perfect.

Active Voice Structure:  Subject + has/have +Past Participle of the Verb+ Object.

Passive Voice Structure: Object of the active Voice sentence+ has/have+ been+past participle of the Verb +by+ Subject of the Active Voice sentence.

Examples:

Active:                 I have written a novel.

Passive:               A novel has been written by me.

Active:                  He has broken all rules.

Passive:               All rules have been broken by him.

In case of Negative sentences:

Examples:

Active:                  She has not done any wrong.

Passive:               No wrong has been done by her.

Active:                  I have not received the letter.

Passive:               The letter has not been received by her.

In case of Interrogative sentences:

Example:

·         If the Active Voice starts with a question, the Passive Voice also follows suit.

Active:                  Have you done your homework?

Passive:               Has the homework been done by you?

·         If the Active Voice starts with words like ‘When’, ‘where’, ‘which’, ‘why’, the Passive Voice sentence also does the same.

Example:

Active:  Why have you not told the truth?

Passive: Why has the truth not been told by you?

·         If the Active Voice starts with ‘Who’ or ‘Whose’, the Passive Voice becomes ‘By Whom’ or ‘By Whose’.

Example:

Active: Who has broken the window?

Passive: BY whom has the window been broken?

·         If the Active Voice starts with ‘Whom’, Passive Voice starts with ‘Who’.

Example:

Active: Whom have you celled up?

Passive: Who has been called by you?

Rules for Converting Active Voice to Passive Voice in case of Past Perfect.

Active Voice Structure: Subject + had +Past Participle of the Verb+ Object.

Passive Voice Structure: Object of the active Voice sentence+ had+ been + past participle of the Verb + by + Subject of the Active Voice sentence.

Examples:

Active:                  I had finished the project.

Passive:               The project had been finished by me.

Active:                  He had given a speech.

Passive:               A speech had been given by him.

In case of Negative sentences:

Examples:

Active:                  I had never faced such wrath.

Passive:               Such wrath had never been faced by me.

Active:                  She had not received the telegram.

Passive:               The telegram had not been received by her.

In case of Interrogative sentences:

·   If the Active Voice starts with a question, the Passive Voice also follows suit.

Examples:

Active:                  Have you done your homework?

Passive:               Has the homework been done by you?

Active:                  Had she called them?

Passive:               Had they been called by her?

Active:                  Had he written the letter?

Passive:               Had the letter been written by him?

English Grammar and Composition

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