Passive Voice in Simple Present Tense: Explained with Ease
Original EnglishLamp lesson with a visual learning surface.
VISUAL EXPLAINER · ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE
Keep the action. Change the focus.
Active and passive voice can describe the same event while giving different prominence to the doer or the receiver of the action.
01 · ACTIVE FOCUS
Begin with who does the action.
In an active sentence, the subject typically performs the action. This is often the most direct way to describe an event.
EXAMPLERiya writes the letter.
02 · FIND THE OBJECT
Identify what receives the action.
When the verb takes an object, that object can often become the subject of a passive sentence.
EXAMPLEThe letter …
03 · BUILD THE PASSIVE
Use be plus the past participle.
Choose the form of be that matches the tense and the new subject, then use the past participle of the main verb.
EXAMPLEThe letter is written.
04 · KEEP THE AGENT IF NEEDED
Add the doer only when useful.
A by-phrase can name the agent, but it is often omitted when the doer is unknown, obvious or less important than the result.
EXAMPLEThe letter is written by Riya.
05 · CHECK THE MEANING
Preserve the tense and the event.
The focus changes, but the event should remain the same. Check the form of be, the participle and agreement with the new subject.
EXAMPLEActive: Riya wrote the letter. Passive: The letter was written by Riya.
Continue below for the full EnglishLamp lesson, its original examples and reference material.
Original EnglishLamp lesson•Reference learning mode
In the passive voice in the simple present tense affirmative sentence, we use the auxiliary verb am/is/are with the past participle, which is the third form of the verb. In this topic, we will discuss how to form and change the active voice to the passive voice in the simple present tense.
Passive Voice of Simple Present Tense – Formation
In this, we use the helping verb according to the subject, that is,
If the subject of the passive voice is first person singular, that is ‘I’, we use the helping verb ‘am’.
For the third-person singular subject, that is ‘he, she or it’, the helping verb ‘is’ is used
If the subject is plural or second person, we use the helping verb ‘are’.
In the passive voice of the simple present tense, we use the past participle (third form) of the verb for positive, negative, interrogative, and negative interrogative sentences.
Keep in mind that we should arrange the sentence in the following form:
Active sentence: subject + am/is/are/base form of the verb + object
Passive sentence: object of the active sentence + am/is/are + past participle (third form) of the verb + by + subject of the active sentence
Example of Simple Present Tense – Transformation
Now we shall take an example of the simple present tense and transform it into the passive voice.
Have a look.
Active: She draws a picture today. (draw – base form)
First, you should learn how to form the simple present tense so that you can become proficient in the passive voice.
The above sentence is in the form-
Subject + verb (base form) + object + remaining word
Passive: A picture is drawn by her today. (drawn – past participle of draw)
The passive voice of this sentence is in the form-
Object in active + is + past participle of ‘draw’ + by + subject in active + remaining word.
In the above sentence, we can see the changes that occur when transforming from active to passive voice as follows:
The object of the active form (picture) became the subject.
The subject ‘she’ became the object ‘her’.
The form ‘to be- is’ is added
The past participle of the verb ‘draw’, which is ‘drawn’, is taken.
More Examples
All of these sentences are affirmative.
Have a look.
Active: They watch a movie.
Passive: A movie is watched by them.
Active: A mason builds a wall.
Passive: A wall is built by a mason.
Active: A teacher delivers a lecture.
Passive: A lecture is delivered by a teacher.
Active: The students obey orders of their physical trainer.
Passive: Orders of their physical trainer are obeyed by the students.
