Passive Voice

Passive sentence or passive voice are used in writing much more often than in speech, and they are used in some types of writing much more often than in others. 
Passives are used more in journalism (newspapers, magazines) than in fiction (novels, stories), but most journalists and fiction writers use far more active than passive sentences. However, passives are very common in all types of scientific and technical writing. Scientific articles often contain more passive than active sentences. You should not use passive voice verbs unless you have a good reason.

Use of Passive

Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known, however, who or what is performing the action.

Example: My bike was stolen.

In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I do not know, however, who did it.

Sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than active voice, as the following example shows:

Example: A mistake was made.

In this case, I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame anyone (e.g. You have made a mistake.).

Form of Passive

Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle (3rd column of irregular verbs)

Example: A letter was written.

When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:

• the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence
• the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle)
• the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped)

Examples of Passive 

Tense		Subject	Verb	Object
Simple Present	Active:	Rita	writes	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	is written	by Rita.
Simple Past	Active:	Rita	wrote	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	was written	by Rita.
Present Perfect	Active:	Rita	has written	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	has been written	by Rita.
Future I	Active:	Rita	will write	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	will be written	by Rita.
Hilfsverben	Active:	Rita	can write	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	can be written	by Rita.

Examples of Passive 

Tense		Subject	Verb	Object
Present Progressive	Active:	Rita	is writing	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	is being written	by Rita.
Past Progressive	Active:	Rita	was writing	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	was being written	by Rita.
Past Perfect	Active:	Rita	had written	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	had been written	by Rita.
Future II	Active:	Rita	will have written	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	will have been written	by Rita.
Conditional I	Active:	Rita	would write	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	would be written	by Rita.
Conditional II	Active:	Rita	would have written	a letter.
	Passive:	A letter	would have been written	by Rita.

Passive Sentences with Two Objects 

Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that one of the two objects becomes the subject, the other one remains an object. Which object to transform into a subject depends on what you want to put the focus on.

	Subject	Verb	Object 1	Object 2
Active:	Rita	wrote	a letter	to me.
Passive:	A letter	was written	to me	by Rita.
Passive:	I	was written	a letter	by Rita.

.

As you can see in the examples, adding by Rita does not sound very elegant. That’s why it is usually dropped.

Personal and Impersonal Passive

Personal Passive simply means that the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. So every verb that needs an object (transitive verb) can form a personal passive.

Example: They build houses. – Houses are built.

Verbs without an object (intransitive verb) normally cannot form a personal passive sentence (as there is no object that can become the subject of the passive sentence). If you want to use an intransitive verb in passive voice, you need an impersonal construction – therefore this passive is called Impersonal Passive.

Example: he says – it is said

Impersonal Passive is not as common in English as in some other languages (e.g. German, Latin). In English, Impersonal Passive is only possible with verbs of perception (e. g. say, think, know).

Example: They say that women live longer than men. – It is said that women live longer than men.

Although Impersonal Passive is possible here, Personal Passive is more common.

Example: They say that women live longer than men. – Women are said to live longer than men.

The subject of the subordinate clause (women) goes to the beginning of the sentence; the verb of perception is put into passive voice. The rest of the sentence is added using an infinitive construction with 'to' (certain auxiliary verbs and that are dropped).

Sometimes the term Personal Passive is used in English lessons if the indirect object of an active sentence is to become the subject of the passive sentence.

Contrastive Conjunction and Modal Perfect

Types of conjunction

Different types of conjunctions link information in different ways. It is important to know which conjunctions establish which types of links.

There are five main types of conjunction in English.

1. Conjunctions of addition and replacement

Additive conjunctions simply add more information to what is already there. Examples of additive conjunctions include:

and, also, in addition, not only … but also, moreover, further, besides.

Example

The study used a small sample only and was strongly criticized for this reason. Furthermore, the initial premise of the research was considered questionable in the light of previous evidence.

Conjunctions of replacement replace one piece of information with another. That is, they offer an alternative. Conjunctions of replacement include the words:

or, or else, alternatively.

Example

The results could be interpreted to mean that high levels of protein are beneficial to diet generally. Alternatively, they could also mean that high protein levels are only beneficial to severely overweight males.

2. Conjunctions of comparison, contrast and concession

Comparative conjunctions are used to link two ideas that are considered to be similar. Comparative conjunctions include the terms:

in the same way, likewise, just as, both… and.

Example

Reading aloud to young children stimulates their interest in books. Similarly, visiting libraries or book fairs has been shown to increase children’s readiness to engage with print.

Contrastive conjunctions link two ideas that are considered to be different. Examples of contrastive conjunctions include:

but, however, in contrast, on the contrary, instead, nevertheless, yet, still, even so, neither …nor.

Example

This evidence points clearly to a fall in the number of unemployed. On the other hand, anecdotal evidence from reputable charities suggests that the number of people seeking financial support has increased.

Concessive conjunctions are a subgroup of contrastive conjunctions. They are used to contrast one idea with another where one piece of information appears to be surprising or unexpected in view of the other idea. Examples of concessive conjunctions include:

though, although, despite, in spite of, notwithstanding, whereas, while.

Example

Even though money has been poured into literacy programs, literacy levels among 12-15 year olds do not appear to be improving. 

Perfect Modal Verbs

modal verb + have + past participle

The Future Perfect Tense

Unlike all the other modals above, will is used for the future:

Subject + will + have + past participle

Singular	Plural
I will have lived	We will have lived
You will have lived	You will have lived
He will have lived
She will have lived	They will have lived
It will have lived

This is a difficult tense to use. It describes an action that will be completed in the future.

For example: I moved to Minnesota in 1991. The year now is 2008. By 2011, I will have lived in Minnesota for 20 years.

Direct and Indirect Speech

Direct and Indirect speech, we also known as Reported speech. Direct speech was a sentence that directly spoken by the speaker and if it was written it will use quotation marks. While Indirect speech was a sentence  that we reported to others indirectly and without any commas.

Direct Speech / Quoted Speech

Saying exactly what someone has said is called direct speech (sometimes called quoted speech)

Here what a person says appears within quotation marks ("...") and should be word for word.

For example:

She said, "Today's lesson is on presentations." Or "Today's lesson is on presentations," she said.

Indirect Speech / Reported Speech

Indirect speech (sometimes called reported speech), doesn't use quotation marks to enclose what the person said and it doesn't have to be word for word.

When reporting speech the tense usually changes. This is because when we use reported speech, we are usually talking about a time in the past (because obviously the person who spoke originally spoke in the past). The verbs therefore usually have to be in the past too.

or example:

Direct speech	Indirect speech
"I'm going to the cinema", he said.	He said he was going to the cinema.

Tense change

As a rule when you report something someone has said you go back a tense (the tense on the left changes to the tense on the right):

Direct speech		Indirect speech
Present simple  She said, "It's cold."	›	Past simple  She said it was cold.
Present continuous  She said, "I'm teaching English online."	›	Past continuous  She said she was teaching English online.
Present perfect simple  She said, "I've been on the web since 1999."	›	Past perfect simple She said she had been on the web since 1999.
Present perfect continuous  She said, "I've been teaching English for seven years."	›	Past perfect continuous  She said she had been teaching English for seven years.
Past simple  She said, "I taught online yesterday."	›	Past perfect  She said she had taught online yesterday.
Past continuous  She said, "I was teaching earlier."	›	Past perfect continuous  She said she had been teaching earlier.
Past perfect  She said, "The lesson had already started when he arrived."	›	Past perfect  NO CHANGE - She said the lesson had already started when he arrived.
Past perfect continuous She said, "I'd already been teaching for five minutes."	›	Past perfect continuous  NO CHANGE - She said she'd already been teaching for five minutes.

Modal verb forms also sometimes change:

Direct speech		Indirect speech
will  She said, "I'll teach English online tomorrow."	›	would She said she would teach English online tomorrow.
can  She said, "I can teach English online."	›	could She said she could teach English online.
must  She said, "I must have a computer to teach English online."	›	had to  She said she had to have a computer to teach English online.
shall  She said, "What shall we learn today?"	›	should She asked what we should learn today.
may  She said, "May I open a new browser?"	›	might She asked if she might open a new browser.

Note - There is no change to; could, would, should, might and ought to.

Direct speech	Indirect speech
"I might go to the cinema", he said.	He said he might go to the cinema.

You can use the present tense in reported speech if you want to say that something is still true i.e. my name has always been and will always be Lynne so:-

Direct speech	Indirect speech
"My name is Lynne", she said.	She said her name was Lynne. or She said her name is Lynne.

You can also use the present tense if you are talking about a future event.

Direct speech (exact quote)	Indirect speech (not exact)
"Next week's lesson is on reported speech ", she said.	She said next week's lesson is on reported speech.

Time change

If the reported sentence contains an expression of time, you must change it to fit in with the time of reporting.

For example we need to change words like here and yesterday if they have different meanings at the time and place of reporting.

Today	+ 24 hours - Indirect speech
"Today's lesson is on presentations."	She said yesterday's lesson was on presentations.

Expressions of time if reported on a different day
this (evening)	›	that (evening)
today	›	yesterday ...
these (days)	›	those (days)
now	›	then
(a week) ago	›	(a week) before
last weekend	›	the weekend before last / the previous weekend
here	›	there
next (week)	›	the following (week)
tomorrow	›	the next/following day

In addition if you report something that someone said in a different place to where you heard it you must change the place (here) to the place (there).

For example:-

At work	At home
"How long have you worked here?"	She asked me how long I'd worked there.

Pronoun change

In reported speech, the pronoun often changes.

For example:

Me	You
"I teach English online."	She said she teaches English online.

Reporting Verbs

Said, told and asked are the most common verbs used in indirect speech.

We use asked to report questions:-

For example: I asked Lynne what time the lesson started.

We use told with an object.

For example: Lynne told me she felt tired.

!Note - Here me is the object.

We usually use said without an object.

For example: Lynne said she was going to teach online.

If said is used with an object we must include to ;

For example: Lynne said to me that she'd never been to China.

Note - We usually use told.

For example: Lynne told me that she'd never been to China.

There are many other verbs we can use apart from said, told and asked.

These include:-

accused, admitted, advised, alleged, agreed, apologised, begged, boasted, complained, denied, explained, implied, invited, offered, ordered, promised, replied, suggested and thought.

Using them properly can make what you say much more interesting and informative.

For example:

He asked me to come to the party:-

He invited me to the party.

He begged me to come to the party.

He ordered me to come to the party.

He advised me to come to the party.

He suggested I should come to the party.

Use of 'That' in reported speech

In reported speech, the word that is often used.

For example: He told me that he lived in Greenwich.

However, that is optional.

For example: He told me he lived in Greenwich.

Note - That is never used in questions, instead we often use if.

For example: He asked me if I would come to the party.