We know that the sentences having the general pattern ‘S + V + O’ gives importance to the subject, and so this type of sentences can be said to be in Active Voice. That is, we can understand that the patterns of all the forms of tenses that we studied in the topic Tenses are in Active Voices. So in the topic, Voices of Assertive Sentences, we have to understand only the pattern of Passive Voices.
Let’s go through the pattern of ‘Active Voice’ and ‘Passive Voice’ of the ‘4’ forms of
Present tense.
1 Simple Present tense.
As per discussed in the first paragraph, the Active Voice of simple present tense has already been studied as,
A.V –> S + do/does + V + O
eg: Thomas paints a picture
P.V –> O + is/am/are + V3 + by + S
eg: A picture is painted by Thomas.
Here, the object ‘A picture’ is at first, then the singular ‘is’ (‘the simple present form’ of ‘be’) added with ‘painted’ ( the V3 form of the verb ‘paint’), after that, ‘by’ along with the subject ‘Thomas’
Another example,
She commences classes for Graduate students next monday (A.V)
Classes for Graduate students are commenced by her next monday. (P.V)
Here, the subject ‘she’ in ‘A.V’ is changed into ‘her’ in ‘P.V’ as per the rules in the voices.
Usually, the ‘by + S’ in the pattern of ‘passive voice’ is not written, especially when the ‘subject’ is an indefinite subject ( subject that can’t be identified as ‘who’ or ‘what’ ) like ‘somebody’, ‘everybody’, ‘nobody’ etc…
eg: Somebody gives us award for our best performance in the exams. ( A.V)
We are given award for our best performance in the exams. ( P.V )
Here, ‘by + S’ is not written, as the subject ‘somebody’ is ‘an indefinite one’.
Let’s look at the following questions and its answers.
1 John invites Mathew and his friends to his wedding anniversary. ( change the voice ).
As the given question is not said to be in which voice , at first, we have to find out its voice, that is whether it is Active Voice or Passive Voice.
From the pattern of the sentence, we can get the answer.
When we look at the pattern of the sentence, we can see, at first, ‘John’ as the ‘subject’, ‘invites’ as the ‘Verb’, then ‘Mathew and his friends’ as ‘object’. And again closely looking at the verb ‘invites’, we can understand the form of the verb is does+invite, that is ‘invites’, the simple present form of the verb ‘invite’.
Now, we can assume the pattern of the sentence as ‘S + does + V + O’, same to the pattern of simple present
S + do/does + V+O ,
and so the sentence as an ‘Active Voice’.
So, what we have to do here is, to change the sentence into ‘Passive Voice’.
The pattern of passive voice in simple present is
O + is/am/are + V3 + by + S.
Here, in the above sentence, as the object ‘Mathew and his friends’ is ‘plural’, the plural form ‘are’ is to be used with ‘the V3 form’ of the verb ‘invite’ (invited), then ‘the by + subject’( John).
Now, we can write the passive of the sentence as .
Mathew and his friends are invited by John to his wedding anniversary.
2 They are blamed by the Manager for not having arranged the programme as scheduled (change the voice )
we can assume the pattern of the sentence as ‘O + are + V3 + by + S’, same to the pattern of the passive voice in ‘simple present’,
O + is/am/are + V3 + by + S.
So, we have to change the sentence into ‘Active Voice’ in the pattern of ‘simple present tense’,
S + do/does + V + O
Now, we can assume the ‘Active Voice’ of the sentence as,
The Manager blames them for not having arranged the programme as scheduled.
As the subject ‘The Manager’ is ‘singular’, the singular ‘does’ is used with the verb ‘blame’ ( does + blame= blames)
2 Present continuous tense
The pattern of Active Voice ( A.V )
s + is/am/are + V+ing + O
eg: We are explaining the matter.
The pattern of Passive Voice (P.V)
O + is/am/are + being + V3 + by + S
The matter is being explained by us.
Let’s look at the following questions and answers.
1 The bill is being paid by my friend. (P.V)
Ans. My friend is paying the bill. ( A.V)
2 Ritu and her parents are inviting their relatives to the function.(A.V)
Ans. Their relatives are being invited to the function by Ritu and her parents.(P.V)
3 Present perfect tense.
The pattern of Active Voice
S + has/have + V3 + O
eg: Many of us have felt the taste of success. ( A.V)
The pattern of Passive Voice
O+ has/have + been + V3 + by + S.
eg: The taste of success has been felt by many of us.( P.V)
Let’s answer the following question.
John has called them.( change into Passive Voice)
Ans. They have been called by John.
4 Present perfect continuous tense.
The pattern of Active Voice.
S + has/have + been + V+ing + O
eg: We have been running a school for 6 years.
Normally the perfect continuous tenses don’t have its own passive voices.
But these tenses may be changed into Passive voice by borrowing the passive voice of their own perfect tenses.
So if we have to change the Active Voice of present perfect continuous tense into Passive Voice, borrow the Passive Voice of the present perfect tense, that is
O + has/have + been + V3 + by +S
Hence, we can write the passive voice of the above sentence as,
A school has been run for 6 years by us.
So we have studied the voices of assertive sentences in present tense.
Now, let’s try to solve the questions in the Practical Study of this topic.
Then go to the topic Voice of assertive sentences in past tense