Active and PassiveTopic:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Today we’re going to compare ACTIVE and PASSIVE forms.&nbsp;We use the passive when it’s not important to know WHO’S doing the action, or we&nbsp;DON’T&nbsp;KNOW who’s doing the action.&nbsp; Rather, it’s important WHO or WHAT is RECEIVING THE ACTION.&nbsp;&nbsp; So we’re going to look at some passive forms in the Present, Past and Future tenses, and which ones&nbsp;are most important to know.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Present Tenses<ol type="1" style="margin-top: 0in;"><li style="">Present Simple Active: The choir&nbsp;sings&nbsp;the song. Passive: The&nbsp;song&nbsp;is sung&nbsp;by the choir.</li></ol>Form:&nbsp;Object (now the subject)&nbsp;+&nbsp;is/are&nbsp;+ past participle<ol start="2" type="1" style="margin-top: 0in;"><li style="">Present Continuous Active: The choir&nbsp;is singing&nbsp;the song. Passive: The song&nbsp;is being sung&nbsp;by the choir.</li></ol>Form:&nbsp;is/are&nbsp;+&nbsp;being&nbsp;+ sung&nbsp;<ol start="3" type="1" style="margin-top: 0in;"><li style="">Present Perfect Active: The choir&nbsp;has sung&nbsp;the song.&nbsp;Passive: The song&nbsp;has been sung.</li></ol>Form: has/have +&nbsp;been&nbsp;+ past participle<ol start="4" type="1" style="margin-top: 0in;"><li style="">Present Perfect Continuous Active: The choir&nbsp;has been singing&nbsp;the song. Passive: (Rare and awkward) The song&nbsp;has been being sung.&nbsp;X Note: While grammatically possible, this form is rarely used in practice.&nbsp;&nbsp; Instead, use “The song&nbsp;has been sung.” OR “The song&nbsp;was being sung.”</li></ol>&nbsp;Past Tenses<ol start="5" type="1" style="margin-top: 0in;"><li style="">Past Simple Active: The choir&nbsp;sang&nbsp;the song. Passive: The song&nbsp;was sung&nbsp;by the choir.</li></ol>Form: was/were + past participle<ol start="6" type="1" style="margin-top: 0in;"><li style="">Past Continuous Active: The choir&nbsp;was singing&nbsp;the song. Passive: The song&nbsp;was being sung&nbsp;by the choir.</li></ol>Form: was/were +&nbsp;being&nbsp;+ past participle<ol start="7" type="1" style="margin-top: 0in;"><li style="">Past Perfect Active: The choir&nbsp;had sung&nbsp;the song. Passive: The song&nbsp;had been sung.</li></ol>Form: had +&nbsp;been&nbsp;+ past participle<ol start="8" type="1" style="margin-top: 0in;"><li style="">Past Perfect Continuous Active: The choir&nbsp;had been singing&nbsp;the song. Passive: (Rare and awkward) The song&nbsp;had been being sung.&nbsp;X Note: Like the present perfect continuous passive, this is technically correct but seldom used.</li></ol>&nbsp;Future Tenses<ol start="9" type="1" style="margin-top: 0in;"><li style="">Future Simple Active: The choir&nbsp;will sing&nbsp;the song. Passive: The song&nbsp;will be sung&nbsp;(by the choir).</li></ol>Form: will +&nbsp;be&nbsp;+ past participle<ol start="10" type="1" style="margin-top: 0in;"><li style="">Future Continuous Active: The choir&nbsp;will be singing&nbsp;the song. Passive: (Rare) The song&nbsp;will be being sung.&nbsp;X Note: This form is awkward and not commonly used.</li><li style="">Future Perfect Active: The choir will have sung the song. Passive: The song&nbsp;will have been sung.</li></ol>Form: will have +&nbsp;been&nbsp;+ past participle<ol start="12" type="1" style="margin-top: 0in;"><li style="">Future Perfect Continuous Active: The choir&nbsp;will have been singing&nbsp;the song. Passive: (Rare and awkward) The song&nbsp;will have been being sung.&nbsp;&nbsp;X&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Note: This is almost never used in practice.</li></ol>Key Observations<ul style="margin-top: 0in;"><li style="">The&nbsp;perfect continuous tenses&nbsp;in the passive voice&nbsp;(present perfect continuous, past perfect continuous, future perfect continuous)&nbsp;are grammatically possible but&nbsp;RARELY USED&nbsp;because they are cumbersome and awkward.</li><li style="">The passive voice&nbsp;includes&nbsp;a form of the verb “be”&nbsp;+ past participle of the main verb.</li><li style="">In practical communication, most passive constructions occur in the&nbsp;simple&nbsp;and&nbsp;perfect&nbsp;tenses.<ul style="margin-top: 0in;"><li style="">Used for:</li></ul></li></ul><ul style="margin-top: 0in;"><li style="">Facts</li><li style="">General statements,</li><li style="">Scheduled events</li><li style="">Official reports</li><li style="">News reports*</li><li style="">Instructions</li><li style="">Formal writing</li></ul><ul style="margin-top: 0in;"><li></li></ul><ul style="margin-top: 0in;"><li style="">Common in&nbsp;official reports,&nbsp;news reports, instructions, and formal writing.</li></ul>

Learn the difference between the active and passive forms and their tenses.

Active vs. Passive

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Active vs. Passive

Active vs. Passive

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