Active vs Passive

[Barbara Yanez <BarbaraYanez -at- cogentsystems -dot- com>]

Jane S writes:

What is an example of passive voice in the passage below is:
> 
> needs to be unnamed
> 
> Any 'to be' verb tense with a past tense verb is an
> example of passive
> voice. It is also tough to eliminate, even ambiguous
> as to why you really
> want to when it is so common in plain speech.
> 
> Correct me if I'm wrong
> 
> Jane S.

Hi Jane

Sorry, - The passive voice is formed with   SUBJECT  +  VERB TO BE  +  PAST
PARTICIPLE

So, what you have there in the "unnamed" example is NOT the past tense of
the verb. It is the past participle, which, in English - is identical to the
past tense for regular verbs but not for irregular ones. 


Examples OF IRREGULAR VERBS: (present  /past / past participle)

go went gone
be was/were been
come came come
eat ate eaten
write wrote written
sit sat sat
sing sang sung

The middle word is the simple past; the last word in these is the past
participle. The passive voice is formed with the past participle, NOT the

past tense.

However, for REGULAR verbs, the past tense and past participle are the same:

study studied studied
name named named
push pushed pushed
add added added

etc.  So it is easy to think that the word used to form the passive is the
past tense; it is not - it is the past participle.

You can see this difference with IRREGULAR verbs:

Ex: John ate the soup. (Active voice - in the simple past)

The soup was eaten (by John) (Passive voice uses the participle 'eaten' NOT
the simple past 'ate. You don't say "The soup was ate by John." 

Again, most of the time you are 'safe' because for regular verbs the past
tense and past participle are identical: 

Ex: Everyone loved the movie.  (Active sentence - regular verb) 

The movie was loved by everyone. (Passive sentence - regular verb)   This is
a passive voice sentence; the word 'loved' LOOKS like the past tense, but it
is really the past participle, which for regular verbs is identical to the
past tense.


I also speak Spanish, and the grammar is exactly the same for active and
passive voice constructions. However, in Spanish it is a little less
confusing (deciding what word is what) because they are always different
(the past tense and the past participle). 

HTH

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Barbara Yanez - Sr. Technical Writer
Cogent Systems, Inc., World Leader 
in Biometric Identification 
(fingerprint, palm print) 
and Other Law Enforcement Technology 

209 Fair Oaks Avenue
South Pasadena, CA  91030
(626) 799-8090 x 419
http://www.cogentsystems.com
byanez -at- cogentsystems -dot- com
--------------------------------------------------
Editor - Inkspot Technical Writer's Resource
http://www.inkspot.com/genres/tech/
barbara -at- inkspot -dot- com
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