1 Indirect objects are to be given importance in Voices.
Eg: They gave me a warm welcome. ( A.V) (Assertive sentence)
Here, in this active voice sentence, we can see the two objects; the indirect object ‘me’ and the direct object ‘a warm welcome’.
While changing into passive voice, the indirect object ‘me’ is given importance, as seen below.
I was given a warm welcome by them ( P.V )
Here, the object ‘me’ in active voice is changed into subject form ‘ I’ , as per the general rules discussed in the topic Active and passive voices .
Another examples,
How does Tom give you food ? ( A.V) ( Interrogative sentence)
How are you given food by Tom ? (P.V)
Serve them food (A.V ) ( Imperative sentence)
Let they be served food ( P.V )
If you treat them well, they will give you everything. ( A.V ) ( complex sentence )
If they are treated well by you, you will be given everything by them. (P.V)
2 Interrogative sentences are grouped into ‘Question word( QW.) beginning’ and ‘Auxiliary (Aux) beginning’.
i) When the ‘QW’ is avoided, its pattern becomes similar to that of ‘Auxiliary beginning Interrogative sentence’, as seen below,
Eg: Why do you make it ?
When the question word ‘why’ is avoided, the sentence becomes ‘an auxiliary beginning interrogative sentence’ as,
Do you make it ?
ii) The question word ‘Who’ stands for the ‘subject’ of an interrogative sentence. So the general pattern of the voices of the sentence are as shown below.
Active Voice: Who + Aux+V + O ?
Eg: Who wrote the letter ?
While being changed into Passive Voice, the sentence starts with the question word ‘ By whom’ as shown in the pattern below.
Passive Voice: By whom + Aux + O + V3 ?
Eg: By whom was the letter written?
iii) The question word ‘What/ (Which + noun)’ stands for the ‘object’ of an interrogative sentence. The general pattern of the voices of the sentence are as shown below,
Active Voice: What/ (Which + noun) + Aux + S + V?
Eg: What did he say ?
Which shirt did Tom give ?
Passive Voice: What/ (Which + noun) + Aux + V3 + by + S ?
Eg: What was said by him ?
Which shirt was given by Tom ?
3 The patterns of voices with modal Auxiliaries(M.Aux). ( here, ‘will’, ‘would’, ‘shall’, ‘should’, ‘can’, ‘could’, ‘may’, ‘might’, ‘must’ )
I A.V = S + ( M.Aux) + V + O
Eg: Tom can draw the picture.
P.V = O + ( M.Aux) + be + V3 + by + S.
Eg: The picture can be drawn by Tom.
II A.V. = S + ( M.Aux) + be + V + ing + O
Eg: They might be studying English.
P.V. = O + ( M.Aux) + be + being + V3 + by + S.
Eg: English might be being studied by them.
III A.V = S + ( M.Aux) + have + V3 + O
Eg: You could have thanked him.
P.V. = O + ( M.Aux ) + have + been + V3 + by + S
Eg: He could have been thanked by you
IV A.V = Q.W + ( M.Aux) + S + V + O ?
Eg: How can we make them happy?
P.V = Q.W + ( M.Aux) + O + be + V3 + by + S ?
Eg: How can they be made happy by us ?
V A.V. = Who + ( M.Aux) + V + O ?
Eg: Who might attend the part party ?
P.V = By whom + (M.Aux) + O+ be + V3 ?
Eg: By whom might the party be attended ?
VI A.V. = What/ ( which + noun) + (M.Aux) + S + V ?
Eg: Which jeans would you wear ?
P.V. = What/ (which + noun) + (M.Aux) + be + V3 + by + S ?
Eg: Which jeans would be worn by you ?
VII A.V. = (M.Aux) + S + V + O ?
Eg: Would you buy the car ?
P.V. = (M.Aux) + O + be + V3 + by + S ?
Eg: Would the car be bought by you?
4 The voices of imperative sentences showing ‘suggestion’ are to be changed differently from what we have studied in the topic Voices in imperative sentences.
Here, we can understand the pattern of the Active Voice of the following sentence expressing a suggestion,
Let us have coffee, as,
Let’s ( Let us) + V + O
The pattern of passive voice of the sentence expressing suggestion is,
(We are suggested to) / (it is suggested to) + V + O
That is we can write the passive voice of the above sentence as,
We are suggested to have coffee, or
It is suggested to have cofee.
In negative meaning
Active Voice: Let’s + not + V + O
eg : Let’s not drink the juice
Passive Voice: ( We are suggested) / (it is suggested) + not to + V + O
eg : We are suggested not to drink the juice, or
It is suggested not to drink the juice
5 The speaker of an imperative sentence is always first person ‘ I’ or ‘We’ and the hearer is the second person ‘You’ . That is, all imperative sentences are told by ‘the first person’ to ‘the second person’.
Let’s look at the following conversations between ‘Mary’ and ‘her teacher’.
Teacher : “Bring your note books tomorrow”
Mary : “of course..!”
Here, we have to concern only about teacher’s dialogue, because it is an imperative sentence.
As far as the teacher is concerned, she is the first person ( I ) and Mary is the second person (You) that is why, the teacher doesn’t mention the name Mary in her dialogue and also Mary understands it and limits her dialogue in a phrase.( of course..!)
So, here the action ‘bring’ is to be done by the second person ‘you’ ( Mary)
.
Hence, we can understand that the subject of every imperative sentence is ‘You’ ( the second person)
6 If there is no object in an imperative sentence sentence, the voices of the sentence can’t be changed. But, if asked in an exam , we will have to change voices by depending on the following patterns.
In positive meaning imperative sentence
Active Voice:
V + (Adverb/ phrase)
eg: Go slow. ( an advice )
Passive voice :
You are told / requested / warned / advised / ordered / commanded / suggested + to + V + ( Adverb/ phrase); ( in accordance with the situation)
eg: You are advised to go slow. ( since it is an advice )
In negative meaning imperative sentence
Active Voice:
Don’t + V + ( Adverb/ phrase )
eg: Don’t move ( warning )
Passive Voice:
You are told / requested / warned / advised / ordered / commanded / suggested + not + to + V + ( Adverb/ phrase); ( in accordance with the situation)
eg: You are warned not to move ( since it is a warning)
Another example,
You are ordered to come tomorrow at the earliest ( Passive Voice)
Come tomorrow at the earliest ( Active Voice )
Now let’s go to another important topic Reported speech