Posts Tagged ‘voices’

Active and Passive Voice – Past Continuous and Past Perfect Tense

December 5th, 2009 in English Grammar, English Learning, ESL, Improve English

Past Continuous Tense

Active sentences in the past continuous tense have the following structure:
Subject + was/were + -ing form of the verb + object
Passive sentences in the past continuous tense have the following structure:
Object of the active sentence + was/were + being + past participle form of the verb + by + subject of the active sentence

Examples are given below:

Active: She was writing a novel.
Passive: A novel was being written by her.
Active: They were saying their prayers.
Passive: Their prayers were being said by them.
Active: He was giving a lecture.
Passive: A lecture was being given by him.

Changing a negative sentence into the passive

Active: She was not preparing dinner.
Passive: Dinner was not being prepared by her.
Active: He was not making a speech.
Passive: A speech was not being made by him.

Changing an interrogative sentence into the passive

Passive forms of these sentences begin with was or were. If the active sentence begins with a question word, the passive sentence will also begin with a question word.

Active: Is she writing a letter?
Passive: Is a letter being written by her?
Active: Why were you cheating me?
Passive: Why was I being cheated by you?
Active: Which book were you reading?
Passive: Which book was being read by you?
Active: Why was she beating the child?
Passive: Why was the child being beaten by her?
Active: For what were you making such a noise?
Passive: For what was such a noise being made by you?

Past perfect tense

Active voice: Subject + had + past participle form of the verb + object
Passive voice: Object of the active sentence + had + been + past participle form of the verb + by + subject of the active sentence

Active: I had never experienced such difficulty.
Passive: Such difficulty had never been experienced by me.
Active: I had not listened to him.
Passive: He had not been listened to by me.
Active: I had finished my work.
Passive: My work had been finished by me.
Active: I had written a letter.
Passive: A letter had been written by me.
Active: He had given a lecture.
Passive: A lecture had been given by him.

Changing an interrogative sentence into the passive

Active: Had she invited them?
Passive: Had they been invited by her?
Active: Had she prepared dinner?
Passive: Had dinner been prepared by her?
Active: Had he given a lecture?
Passive: Had a lecture been given by him?