The passive voice has a place in English speech, while it has some similarities with Russian. It is distinguished by a clear structure and subordination to the rules of use. Let's try to understand these rules.
What is this
As in Russian, English has an active and a passive voice. They determine whether the subject is the subject or object of the action performed by the predicate. In this case, the passive voice (in English Passive Voice) indicates that the subject is the object of the action, that is, it is played over it.
Example
Let's consider the offer in comparison with the actual one:
The example shows that in the first case the action is reproduced by Zoe, and this is the subject of the sentence. And in the second case, the subject is ball - the ball on which the action takes place, which is a form of the passive voice. In this case, the agent performing the action is at the end of the sentence, separated by the preposition by.
Education
Passion voice in English - Passive Voice. Formed with the helpthe verb to be in the correct tense, person and number, as well as the past participle (Participle II) of the main verb.
Let's consider an example:
- The task will be done in an hour. - The task will be done in an hour.
- The house has been sold last week. - The house was sold last week.
- My hart is broken. - My heart is broken.
- This beautiful building was build by famous architect. - This beautiful building was built by a famous architect.
In negative statements
To create sentences in the passive voice for negation, you need to put the particle not after the verb to be. And if there are several auxiliary words in the sentence, then this particle is placed after the first one. Consider examples:
- This book will not be read untill tomorrow. - The book will not be read until tomorrow.
- His reaserch work was not copmpleted. - His research work is not completed.
- The children have not been driven to the theater. - The children were not taken to the theatre.
In interrogative sentences
To ask about something in the passive voice, you need to form an interrogative sentence. To do this, you need to put the auxiliary verb before the subject, for example:
- Have you been tested already? - Have you been tested yet?
- Was it drown by Davinchi? - Is this drawn by da Vinci?
- Will this book be finished by Monday? -Will this book be completed by Monday?
Education of different times
The tenses of the passive voice can be different. Therefore, you need to be able to form them correctly, taking into account the peculiarities of each tense in English. The table shows the order in which words are used at different tenses.
The passive voice can be used in all tenses, except for the Perfect Continious and Future Continiuse groups. In English, transitive verbs are used for such statements, and only some intransitive ones, for example:
- A lot of famous book were written in the 20th century. - Many famous books were written in the 20th century.
- She is being evaluated right now. - She's being evaluated now.
- All our neighbors have been asked to help. - All neighbors were asked to help.
- My studing will have been finished by the first of june. - My studies will be completed by June 1st.
Features of translation into Russian
The passive voice of a verb can be translated into Russian in different ways. There are several options:
According to the English sentence, i.e. using the verb to be, for example:
- The house is build. - The house is built.
- It was done. - It was done.
- The article will be ready by now. - The article will be ready now.
For sentences from the Continious group, the translation will be carried out using a verb ending in -sya:
- The dinner is being prepared.- Dinner is being prepared.
- The vocation was being continued. - Vacation continued.
Indefinitely personal sentence in the active voice and 3rd person, for example:
- He was invited. - He was invited.
- They have been argued. - They were scolded.
- We were scared. - They scared us.
Usage rules
The use of the passive voice of a verb in writing requires special care and knowledge of special cases. This is especially true of the scientific style of presentation, where Passive Voice is often used. The following points should be considered separately:
- When the author\performer is not known or information about him is irrelevant at the moment: The experimental recycling plant will be built in our region. - An experimental processing plant will be built in our region. (We don't care who builds it/we don't know.)
- Responsibility for performing an action does not fall on a specific person: Everything is done - Everything is already done. (In the case of negative consequences, when one should not focus on the culprit.)
- It's about generally accepted norms, laws and rules: The Earth is illuminated by the Sun. - The earth is illuminated by the sun. (This is a generally accepted fact that requires no other confirmation.)
- In the case when you need to highlight the object or individual on which the action is performed: The telephone was invented in the last century - The telephone was invented in the last century. (In this case, it is important for us to emphasize the invention of the telephone).
- In writing research reportsand experiments, in their practical part, laboratory and practical work: The conclutions were made on the base of acurate envistigations - The conclusions were made on the basis of accurate research. (The passive voice often appears in scientific papers.)
Recently, there has been a tendency in scientific papers to move away from the use of the passive voice towards the use of Active Voice in utterances.
It is also important to take into account the peculiarities of this grammatical category, to use it correctly. At the same time, you also need to know in what situations it is better to avoid using it:
- In cases of concretization, when it is necessary to clearly indicate the person responsible for performing the action. This can introduce contradictions and fallacies in the statement, for example: The President and the government were discussing new bill. It was rejected. - The President and Parliament discussed the new bill. He was rejected. (In this case, it is very important to clearly define who is responsible for performing the action. And the use of the passive voice can lead to inaccuracies in the presentation, which is unacceptable in a scientific style.)
- Statements in such a structure can be misinterpreted by readers, which can provoke a conflict situation. Sample sentence: The research work was done to support the ideas. - Research work has been carried out to support ideas. (Without a specific context, it is impossible to understand who carried out this research, whose ideas needed support.)
- Very often Passive Voice helps to hide inaccuracies inwork, avoiding pointing to the action execution agent: The Internet was invented in the last century - The Internet was created in the last century. (It is not specified in which century specifically and who created it.)
Exercise
Like any other grammatical category, the passive voice must be automated at all levels of its use in speech. For this, special attention should be paid to the exercises:
You should also work hard on the past tense voice:
The passive voice in English occupies an important place in grammar, and its use determines the level of language proficiency. So don't avoid it.
