Lesson on Passive Voice

Introduction

• Today's lesson focuses on the passive form of the verb.
• Aim: Understand the construction and reasons for using the passive voice.

Passive Voice Basics

• Active Voice Example: "The cat ate the rat."
  • Subject: The cat (doing the action)
  • Verb: ate
  • Object: the rat
• Passive Voice Construction:
  • The object becomes the subject:
  • Example: "The rat was eaten by the cat."
  • Structure: Be verb + past participle (Verb 3)

Reasons for Using Passive Voice

1. Unknown, Obvious, or Unimportant Subject

   • Use passive when the doer is unknown or irrelevant.
   • Example: "The building was vandalized." (Who did it is not important.)
   • Example: "The flowers were delivered on time."
   • Example: "The airplane was invented in the early 20th century."

2. Shift Focus

   • Use passive to change focus in a sentence.
   • Example: "Coca-Cola was invented by a pharmacist named John Pemberton." (Focus on Coca-Cola, not the inventor.)

3. Sentence Variety

   • Avoid repetitive sentence structures to keep writing engaging.
   • Example of variety:
     • Active: "He did A. Then, he did B."
     • Passive: "Same start. C wasn't done until he had completed B."
   • Important for essays (IELTS/TOEFL) to enhance readability.

4. Coherence and Flow

   • Help ideas connect logically and smoothly.
   • Example:
     • "Coca-Cola is a global brand consumed by millions of people." (Focus on brand, not consumers.)
   • Brings related ideas closer together for better understanding.

Conclusion

• Passive voice is powerful for creating sentence variety, flow, and focus in writing.
• Practicing passive constructions can improve writing quality, especially for formal tests like IELTS and TOEFL.
• Reminder to visit www.engvid.com for quizzes and more lessons.