The structure of the active voice of assertive sentence is:
Ø I write a letter.
Ø I am writing a letter.
Ø I have written a letter.
Ø I have been writing a letter.
Ø I wrote a letter.
Ø I was writing a letter.
Ø I had written a letter.
Ø I had been writing a letter.
Ø I will write a letter.
Ø I will be writing a letter.
Ø I will have written a letter.
Ø I will have been writing a letter.
The structure of the passive voice of assertive sentence is:
The object of the active voice + be verb + past participle of the main verb + by or other preposition + subject of the active voice
Ø A letter is written by me.
(Object of active voice + am/is/are + v3 + by or another preposition + sub. of active voice.)
Ø A letter is being written by me.
(Object of active voice + am/is/are + being + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.)
Ø A letter has been written by me.
(Object of active voice + have/has been + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.)
Ø A letter has been being written by me.
(Object of active voice + have/has been + being + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.)
Ø A letter was written by me.
(Object of active voice + was/were + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.)
Ø A letter was being written by me.
(Object of active voice + was/were + being + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.)
Ø A letter had been written by me.
(Object of active voice + had been+ v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.)
Ø A letter had been being written by me.
(Object of active voice + had been + being + v3 + by or another preposition + sub. of active voice.)
Ø A letter will be written by me.
(Object of active voice + will be + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.)
Ø A letter will be being written by me.
(Object of active voice + will be + being + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.)
Ø A letter will have been written by me.
(Object of active voice + will have been + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.)
Ø A letter will have been being written by me.
(Object of active voice + will have been being + v3 + by or another preposition + subject of active voice.)
Passive: It can be done by him.
Structure: Object of the active voice + can be
+ v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice
Active: You could do it.
Passive: It could be done by you.
Structure: Object of the active voice + could
be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice
Active: They may help us.
Passive: We may be helped by them
Structure: Object of the active voice + may be
+ v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice
Active: He might follow us.
Passive: We might be followed by him.
Structure: Object of the active voice + might
be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice
Active: You should write an email.
Passive: An email should be written by you.
Structure: Object of the active voice + should
be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice
Active: She would help the poor
Passive: The poor would be helped by her.
Structure: Object of the active voice + would
be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice
Active: We ought to help needy
people.
Passive: The needy people would be helped by us.
Structure: Object of the active
voice + ought to be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice
Active: We must follow the rules.
Passive: The rules must be followed by us.
Structure: Object of the active voice + must
be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice
Active: We should have done it.
Passive: It should have been done by us.
Structure: Object of the active voice + should
have been + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice
Active: We must have broken the rule.
Passive: The rule must have been broken by
us.
Structure: Object of the active voice + can be
+ v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice
Active: Students ought to have learned
ethics.
Passive: Ethics ought to have been learned
by students.
Structure: Object of the active voice + can be + v3 + by/another preposition + subject of the active voice
Note: preposition ‘by’ is not used all
the time. Look at the following examples.
Active: ATN Bangla telecast the
news.
Passive: The news was telecast(ed)
on ATN Bangla.
Active: I know him.
Passive: He is known to me.
Active: They annoyed him.
Passive: He was annoyed with them.
Active: The panic will surely seize
us.
Passive: We will surely be seized
with the panic.
Active: Her honesty has really
pleased me.
Passive: I have been pleased with
her honesty.
Active: The jar contains some water.
Passive: Some water is contained in
the jar.
Active: This work interests me.
Passive: I am interested in this
work.
Active: This news shocked her.
Passive: She was shocked at this
news.
Active: They surprised me.
Passive: I was surprised at them.
Active: Their situation alarmed us.
Passive: We were alarmed at their
situation.
Active: Their performance
disappointed us.
Passive: We were disappointed with their performance.
Active: The scenery completely
marveled us.
Passive: We were completely marveled at the scenery.
Rule Number One
If an interrogative sentence begins with “do” verb,” we have to begin the passive voice with “am,” “is,” “are,” “was” and “were.”
Present Indefinite:
Active: Do you play cricket?
Passive: Is cricket played by you?
Structure: Am/is are + subjective form of the object of the active voice + past participle of the main verb + by or another preposition + subject of the active voice
Past Indefinite:
Active: Did he play cricket?
Passive: Was he played by him?
Structure: was/were + subjective form
of the object of the active voice + past participle of the main verb + by or
any other preposition + subject of the active voice
Rule Number
Two:
Present continuous:
Active: Is she doing her homework?
Passive: Is her homework being done by
her?
Structure: Am/is are + subjective form
of the object of the active voice + being + past participle of the main verb +
by or any other preposition + subject of the active voice
Active: Was she writing a book?
Passive: Was a book being written by
her?
Structure: Was/were + subjective form of the object of the active voice + being + past participle of the main verb + by or any other preposition + subject of the active voice
Rule Number Three
If the interrogative sentence begins with have/has/had, the passive voice should begin with have/has/had in response to tense, number, and person. Then we need to add “been” after the subjective form of the object of the active voice
Present Perfect Tense
Active: Have I broken the glass?
Passive: Has the glass been broken by
me?
Structure: Have/has in response to
number and person + subjective form of the object of the active voice + been +
v3 + objective form of the subject of the active voice.
Past Perfect Tense:
Active: Had they played football?
Passive: Had the football been played
by them?
Structure: Had + subjective form of the object of the active voice + been + v3 + objective form of the subject of the active voice.
Present Perfect Continuous Tense
Active: Have I been driving a car?
Passive: Has a car been being driven
by me?
Structure: Has/have in response to number and person + subjective form of the object of the active voice + been + being + v3 + by or any other preposition + objective form of the subject of the active voice.
Past Perfect Continuous Tense:
Active: Had I been driving a car?
Passive: Had a car been being driven
by me?
Structure: Had + subjective form of
the object of the active voice + been + being + v3 + objective form of the
subject of the active voice.
Rule Number Four:
If the interrogative sentence begins with “shall” or “will,” the Passive voice of the interrogative will also begin with “shall” or will
Future Indefinite Tense:
Active: Will you buy a car?
Passive: Will a car be bought by
you?
Structure: Will + subjective form of
the object of the active voice + be + v3 + by or any other preposition
Future
Continuous Tense:
Active: Will you be reading this
book?
Passive: Will this book be being
read by you?
Structure: Will + subjective form of
the object of the active voice + be + being + v3 + by or any other preposition
Future Perfect Tense
Active: Will he have bought this
house?
Passive: Will this house be bought
by him?
Structure: Will + subjective form of
the object of the active voice + have been + v3 + by or any other preposition
Future Perfect Continuous Tense:
Active: Will he have been saving some
money?
Passive: Will some money have been
bought by him?
Structure: Will + subjective form of
the object of the active voice + have been + being + v3 + by or any other
preposition
Rule Number Five
If an interrogative sentence begins with who/why/when, starting of the passive voice will also be who/why/when.
Who
Active: Who has broken the glass?
Passive: By whom has the glass been
broken?
Structure: “by who” sits in the place of “who” + auxiliary verb (am, is, are, was, were, shall, will, have, has and had) + subjective form of the object of the active voice + been (for perfect tense) (for perfect tense) or being (for continuous tense) or been being (for perfect continuous tense) + past participle form of the verb (v3) +
Why
Active: Why did you do this?
Passive: Why was this done by you?
Structure: Why + auxiliary verb (am, is, are, was, were, shall, will, have, has and had) subjective form of the object of the active voice + been (for perfect tense) or being (for continuous tense) or been being (for perfect continuous tense) + past participle form of the verb (v3) + by or any other preposition + objective form of the subject of the active voice
When
Active: When are you doing this?
Passive: When is this being done by
you?
Structure: When + auxiliary verb (am, is, are, was, were, shall, will, have, has and had) subjective form of the object of the active voice + been (for perfect tense) or being (for continuous tense) or been being (for perfect continuous tense) + past participle form of the verb (v3) + by or any other preposition + objective form of the subject of the active voice.
Rule Number One:
Try to find out whether the sentence is carrying out any advice or order
or request or command. Then you should use “you are ordered”, “you are
requested”, “you are advised” in response to your finding.
Active: Do your job seriously.
(advice)
Passive: You are advised to do your job
seriously.
Structure: “You are ordered”, “you are
requested”, “you are advised” in response to your finding + preposition “to” +
main verb + rest of the sentence.
Active: Please open the door.
(request)
Passive: You are requested to open the
door.
Rule Number Two
If the imperative sentence begins with “let”, passive voice should also begin with “let” followed by the object of the active voice + be + past participle form of the verb + by or any other preposition + object
Active: Let me eat something.
Passive: Let something be eaten by me.
Active: Let her finish the work.
Passive: Let the work be finished by
her.
Positive, Comparative & Superlative Degree
Assertive to Exclamatory Sentence
Imperative to Assertive Sentence