PASSIVE VOICE

Passive Voice

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.

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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 calledImpersonal 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.

Komponen			Contoh Kalimat Passive Voice
Subject	Be	PP
I	Am	paid	I am paid in dollars. (Saya dibayar dalam dollar.)
the red velvet recipe	Is	used	The red velvet recipe is used by many people. (Resep red velvet tsb digunakan oleh banyak orang.)
all of my shoes	Are	washed	All of my shoes are washed every month. (Semua sepatu saya dicuci setiap bulan.)
large amounts of meat and milk	Are	consumed	Large amounts of meat and milk are consumed by many people in the countries. (Sejumlah besar daging dan susu dikonsumsi oleh banyak orang di negara-negara tsb.)
the book	Was	edited	The book was edited by Beatrice Sparks. (Buku tsb disunting oleh Beatrice Sparks.)
the books	Were	edited	The books were edited by Beatrice Sparks. (Buku-buku tsb disunting oleh Beatrice Sparks.)

Example :

Penggunaan	Contoh
	Active Voice	Passive Voice
digunakan ketika doer of action (pelaku aksi) tidak diketahui.	Someone knocked on your door last night.	Your door was knocked on last night.
	Somebody has used the computer without permission	The computer has been usedwithout permission.
digunakan ketika doer of action tidak penting untuk disebutkan. Misalnya karena pelaku aksi tersebut sudah jelas / bisa ditebak atau merujuk kepada orang secara umum.	You can view the results on the web.	The final results can be viewedon the web.
	People seldom do physical exercises regularly.	Physical exercises are seldomdone regularly.
	The teacher instructed the students to solve the math problem.	The students were instructedto solve the math problem.
digunakan untuk memberi penekanan pada object	Sunmark Press published The Enzyme Factor at the first time in 2005.	The Enzyme Factor was published at the first time in 2005 by Sunmark Press.
	I have to collect more than 20,000 dollars to buy the car.	More than 20,000 dollars haveto be collected** to buy the car.
digunakan sebagai variasi pada tulisan. Misalnya pelaku aksi telah disebutkan pada kalimat sebelumnya.	KPK investigators knew that Neneng Sri Wahyuni returned to Indonesia. They arrested the woman on June 13.	KPK investigators knew that Neneng Sri Wahyuni returned to Indonesia. The woman was arrested on June 13.

Tenses		Rumus	Contoh
Present	Simple	am/is/are + past participle	The crafts are made of wood.
	Continuous	am/is/are + being + past participle	The room is being cleaned.
	Perfect	has/have + been + past participle	Your requests have been approved.
Past	Simple	was/were + past participle	The mansion was built in 1990.
	Continuous	was/were + being + past participle	Your gown was being washed.
	Perfect	had + been+ past participle	The fence had been painted in green.
Future	Simple	will + be + past participle	The packet will be sent immediately.
	Perfect	will + have + been + past participle	The article will have been read ninety times.

Passive Voice pada Infinitive

(to) be + past participle

Example :

·         To be accompanied with him is a bad idea. (Subject)

·         Everyone needs to be loved. (Object)

·         He is the man to be trusted for all the things. (Modifier)

Passive Voice pada Gerund

being + past participle

Example :

·         Being accompanied with him is a bad idea. (Subject)

·         My brother enjoyed being taken to the beach. (Object)

·         My brother’s happy of being taken to the beach. (Object of preposition)

Rumus Prepositional Passive

Active Voice:

S + verbintransitive + preposition + object of preposition

Prepositional Passive*:

S (Object of Preposition) + auxiliary verb + past participleintransitive + preposition

*Berlaku untuk unergative verb (tipe intransitive verb)

Berikut beberapa contoh kalimat active voice dan prepositional passive.

No	Contoh Kalimat Active Voice	Contoh Kalimat Prepositional Passive
1	The man sometimes swims in the ocean. (Pria itu kadang berenang di laut.)	The ocean is sometimes swum in by the the man. (Laut kadang direnangi oleh pria itu.)
2	More than 200 million people live in Indonesia. (Lebih dari 200 juta orang tinggal di Indonesia.)	Indonesia is lived in by more than 200 million people. (Indonesia ditinggali lebih dari 200 juta orang.)
3	Everybody laughed at the scientist. (Setiap orang menertawai ilmuwan itu.)	The scientist was laughed at by everybody. (Ilmuwan itu ditertawai oleh setiap orang.)
4	He accidentally ran over my RC car. (Dia tidak sengaja melindas mobil RC saya.)	My RC car was accidentally run over by him. (Mobil RC saya tidak sengaja dilindasnya.)

Daftar pustaka

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_passive_voice

http://www.wordsmile.com/pengertian-rumus-contoh-passive-voice

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/passive