Active and Passive Voice

Active / Passive Verb Forms

Sentences can be active or passive. Therefore, tenses also have “active forms” and “passive form”.

Active Form

STRUCTURE [Subject (thing doing action)] + [verb] + [Object (thing receiving action)]

Examples:

Subject (doing action)	Verb	Object (receiving action)
The teacher	teaches	the students.
Tayyab	washes	the dishes

 

Passive Form

STRUCTURE

[Object (thing receiving action)]] + [be] + [past participle of verb] + [by] + [Subject (thing doing action)]

Examples:

Subject (doing action)	Verb	Object (receiving action)
The students	are taught	by the teacher
The dishes	are washed	by the tayyab.

Active / Passive Voice

A student must know the following Passive form tenses for good preparation of examination.
TENSE	ACTIVE	PASSIVE
Present Indefinite/ Simple Present	Shan cleans the house. subject + v1(s/es) + object	The house is cleaned by Shan. object + is/am/are v3 + by + subject
Past Indefinite/ Simple Past	Asif repaired the car. subject + v2 + object	The car was repaired by Asif. object + was/were v3 + by + subject
Future Indefinite/ Simple Future	Saadia will finish the work. subject + will/shall +v1 + object	The work will be finished by Saadia. object + will/shall +be+v3 + by + subject
Present Continuous/ Present Progressive	Farha is writing the letter. subject + is/am/are + v1+ing + object	The letter is being written by Farha. object + is/am/are+being+v3 + by + subject
Past Continuous/ Past Progressive	The salesman was helping the customer. subject + was/were + v1+ing + object	The customer was being helped by the salesman. object + was/were+being+v3 + by + subject
Future Continuous	Iqra will be washing the dishes. subject + will/shall be + v1+ing + object	The dishes will be being washed by Iqra. object + will/shall be+being+v3 + by +subject
Present Perfect	Many tourists have visited that castle. subject + has/have+v3 + object	That castle has been visited by many tourists. object + has/have+been+v3 + by + subject
Past Perfect	Ahmad had repaired many cars. subject + had + v3 + object	Many cars had been repaired by Ahmad. object + had + been + v3 + by + subject
Future Perfect	They will have completed the project. subject + will/shall have+v3 + object	The project will have been completed by them. object + will/shall have+been+v3 +by+ subject
Imperative Sentences (Commands and Requests)	Cut your nails. Open the door. verb + v1 + object	Let your nails be cut. Let the door be opened. let + object + be + v3
A student should also know about the following Passive form tenses.
Present Perfect Continuous	Farhan has been doing the work. subject + has/have+been+v1+ing+ object	The work has been being done by Farhan. object + has/have+been+being+v3+subject
Past Perfect Continuous	Saad had been preparing the restaurant for two years. subject + had been+v1+ing+ object	The restaurant had been being prepared by Saad for two years. object + had been+being+v3+ subject
Future Perfect Continuous	Arsalan will have been polishing the shoes for over two hours. subject + will/shall have been +v1+ing object	The shoes will have been being polished by Arsalan for over two hours. object + will/shall have been+being+v3 +by+ subject
SUMMARY
When we change a sentence from Active to Passive form; following changes take place which are common in all type of Passive Form Tenses: 1). Subject and Object will replace each other. 2). 3rd form of Verb will be used. 3). Addition of By before object (almost all time).
TENSE	ACTIVE	PASSIVE
Present Indefinite	verb with 1st form (s/es)	is/am/are
Past Indefinite	verb with 2nd form	was/were
Future Indefinite	will/shall	will/shall + be
Present/Past/Future Continue	is/am/are – was/were – will/shall be	is/am/are – was/were – will/shall be + being
Present/Past/Future Perfect	has/have – had – will/shall have	has/have – had – will/shall have + been
Present/Past/Future Perfect Continues	has/have been – had been – will/shall have been	has/have been – had been – will/shall have been + being
ADDITIONAL GUIDELINE FOR ADVANCE LEARNERS
Simple Future be going to	Saira is going to make a beautiful dinner tonight. subject + is/am/are+ going to +v1+ object	A beautiful dinner is going to be made by Saira tonight. object + is/am/are+ going to be +v3+ by + subject
Future Continuous be going to	Asma is going to be washing the dishes. subject + is/am/are+ going to be +v1+ing object	The dishes are going to be being washed by Asma. object + is/am/are+ going to be + being +v3+ by + subject
Future Perfect be going to	They are going to have completed the project before the deadline. subject + is/am/are+ going to have +v3+ object	The project is going to have been completed before the deadline. object + is/am/are+ going to have + been + v3+ subject
Future Perfect Continuous be going to	The famous artist is going to have been painting the mural for over six months by the time it is finished. subject + is/am/are+ going to have been +v1+ing+ object	The mural is going to have been being painted by the famous artist for over six months by the time it is finished. object + is/am/are + going to have been+being+v3 +by+ subject
Used to	Jerry used to pay the bills. subject + used to + v1 + object	The bills used to be paid by Jerry. object + used to be + v3 + by + subject
Would Always	My mother would always make the rice. subject + would always + v1 + object	The rice would always be made by my mother. object + would always be + v3 + by + subject
Future in the Past Would	I knew Faizan would finish the work. v2(past) + subject +  would + v1 + object	I knew the work would be finished by Faizan. v2(past) + object + would be + v3 + subject
Future in the Past Was Going to	I thought Misbah was going to make a beautiful dinner tonight. v1(future) + subject +  was/were going to+ v1 + object	I thought a beautiful dinner was going to be made by Misbah tonight. v1(Future) + object + was/were going to be + v3 + by +subject

From the desk of Mian Irfan Ali