Active and Passive Voice: MDCAT English notes
Active and Passive Voice MDCAT notes: forming the passive in every tense, the object-subject swap, modals, when passive is used, with worked examples.
What voice means
In the active voice the subject does the action: "Rashid wrote the letter." In the passive voice the receiver of the action becomes the subject: "The letter was written by Rashid." Only transitive verbs (verbs with an object) can be made passive.
How to change active to passive
- Make the object of the active sentence the new subject.
- Use the correct form of be in the same tense as the active verb.
- Add the past participle (V3) of the main verb.
- Put the original subject after by (or drop it if unimportant).
- Change pronouns: I to me, we to us, he to him, she to her, they to them.
Passive forms by tense
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Simple present | She writes a letter. | A letter is written by her. |
| Present continuous | She is writing a letter. | A letter is being written by her. |
| Present perfect | She has written a letter. | A letter has been written by her. |
| Simple past | She wrote a letter. | A letter was written by her. |
| Past continuous | She was writing a letter. | A letter was being written by her. |
| Past perfect | She had written a letter. | A letter had been written by her. |
| Simple future | She will write a letter. | A letter will be written by her. |
| Future perfect | She will have written a letter. | A letter will have been written by her. |
| Modals | She can/must write a letter. | A letter can/must be written by her. |
Perfect continuous tenses and future continuous are normally not used in the passive.
Other patterns
- Imperatives: "Open the door." becomes "Let the door be opened."
- Questions: "Did she complete the task?" becomes "Was the task completed by her?"
- Gerund passive: "I do not enjoy being laughed at." (being + V3; keep the preposition at.)
- Impersonal passive: "It was found that...", "It is said that..." when the doer is unknown or general.
When the passive is used
When the doer is unknown, obvious or unimportant, or when the action or its result matters more: "A white ball was used for the first time", "The patient was operated on this morning."
Worked examples
- Active: "They are building a new hospital." Passive: A new hospital is being built (by them).
- Active: "The doctor had examined the patient." Passive: The patient had been examined by the doctor.
- Passive: "The results were announced by the board." Active: The board announced the results.
- Active: "You should follow the rules." Passive: The rules should be followed.
Common MDCAT traps
- Keep the tense: simple past active gives was/were + V3, not has been or was being.
- "Was been" is never correct.
- Converting passive back to active, keep the tense: "was written" becomes "wrote", not "writes".
- Singular new subject takes was/is; plural takes were/are.
Quick revision
- Passive = be (in the right tense) + V3.
- Continuous passive uses being.
- Perfect passive uses been.
- Modal passive: modal + be + V3.
- Only transitive verbs have a passive.