*Chapter 11: The passive voice.
Hi, my name is Andrea.

Today we’re going to learn about the passive voice.

The video will be divided in four parts:

In part one, we’re going to talk about the passive voice: Simple tenses. And the passive voice: Simple tense.

In part two, we’re going to see the passive voice: Perfect tenses.

In part three, we’re going to see the passive voice: Continuous tenses.

In part four, we’re going to see the passive voice: Modal auxiliaries.

Before to start, we’re going to talk about the passive voice, to understand better all the lesson of today, but before to see the concept of it, we’ll know some about the active voice.

In general, we can say that the active voice makes your writing stronger, more direct, and more active. The subject is something, or it does the action of the verb in the sentence. With the passive voice, the subject is acted upon by some other performer of the verb. (In case you weren’t paying attention, the previous two sentences use the type of voice they describe.)

But we have to know that thepassive voice is used to show interest in the person or object that experiences an action rather than the person or object that performs the action. In other words, the most important thing or person becomes the subject of the sentence

Now that we know both concepts, we’ll begin with the part one:

*Part one: The passive voice: Simple tenses
As we mentioned, we’ll begin with part one: The passive voice: Simple tenses.

First, we’re going to learn some theory, most transitive verbs (Verbs that take an object) can be used in the passive voice as well as in the active voice. In sentences in the active voice, primary focus is on the subject (the agent or doer of the action). To give primary focus to the object, use the passive voice. The passive voice occurs in both spoken and written English, and it is used frequently in technical writing. Let’s see some examples:

In active:   Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.

In passive:The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell.

In active:   Millions of people use telephones every day.

In passive:Telephones are used by millions of people every day.

In active:             TheUnited States gave Bell the patent for the telephone.

In passive: Bell was given the patent for the telephone by the United States.

The patent for the telephone was given to Bell by the United States.

We can see that the object in the active voice becomes the sub­ject in the passive. The agent (the active-voice, subject) is sometimes in­cluded in passive sen­tences to tell who or what did the action. The verb be is singular or plural to agree with the subject; it also tells the tense of the pas­sive.

And we see that in active-voice sentences with both a direct and an indirect object, either object may become the sub­ject of the corresponding passive sentence, but this occurs more frequently. with the indirect object than the direct object.

Now, let’s talk about by + Agent.

To start to explain it, we’re going to say that by + noun (or pronoun) can be used in passive sentences to tell who or what performed the action of the verb. However, most passive sentences in English do not contain these phrases. Use by + agent only if the phrase gives information, we can identify three cases:

First, important to the meaning of the sentence, for example:

The majority of overseas phone by + agent must be used calls are sent by satellite.

Now we’re going to see the sentence is meaningless without by + agent:

Second, a name or idea that is important in the context, let’s see an example:

The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell.

Telephones are made by people­ in factories.

Note: Don’t forget that proper names are often included because they give specific information. Other nouns and pronouns are often omitted.

And third, new or unusual information, for example:

Today, overseas calls are sent by satellite: The calls are beamed by satellite from one coun­try to another.

Note: remember that by + agent is normally in­cluded if the phrase introduces new or unusual information. After the agent is understood, the phrase is usually omitted to avoid repetition.

At this time, we’re going to talk about anticipatory h and the passive voice.

We can say that the passive voice is often used with it to avoid mentioning the agent or source. By + agent is rarely used with these constructions. For example:

In active:   People said, "The earth is flat."

It is often used with the pas­sive form of verbs such as be­lieve, confirm, deny, fear, hope, mention, report, say, and think. Past expressions like it were be­lieved also indicate that these ideas may have changed.

And in passive:     It was said, "The earth is flat."

It was said that the earth was flat.

We can see that is added when a direct quote is changed to reported speech. In reported speech, verbs often shift to past tenses.

*Part two: The passive voice: Perfect tenses.
Now, let’s see part two the passive voice: Perfect tenses.

We’re going to begin with the present perfect.

We can say that the present perfect is used to describe an action or situation that started in the past and continues in the present. Let’s see some examples:

In active:Technology has revolutionized the commu­nications industry.

In passive:           The communications industry has been revolutionized by technology.

We’re going to continue with the past perfect.

Here, we’re going to learn a concept about the past perfect, itrefers to a time earlier than before now. It is used to make it clear that one event happened before another in the past. We’ll see some examples:

In active:Before satellites, cables had transmitted telephone and telegraph communications.

In passive: Before satellites, telephone and telegraph communications had been transmitted by cables.

*Part three: The passive voice: Continuous tenses.
Now, let’s continue with part three the passive voice: Continuous tenses.

We’re going to begin with the present continuous.

We can say that the present continues is a verb tense which is used to show that an ongoing action in happening now, either at the moment of speech or now in a larger sense. It can also be used to show an action is going to take place in the near future. Let’s see some examples:

In active:Many companies are using computers for interoffice communication.

In passive:Computers are being used for interoffice comm unica Lion.

To finish, we’ll talk about the past continuous.

Here, we’re going to say that the past continuous describes actions or events in a time before now, which began in the past and were still going on when another event occurred. We’ll see examples:

In active:   Ten years ago, companies were using memos.

In passive:           Ten years ago, memos were being used.

*Part four: The passive voice: Modal auxiliaries.
Finally, we’re going to see part four the passive voice: Modal auxiliaries.

We’re going to start saying that the modal auxiliars are other helping verbs, such as can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will, and would, do not change form for different subjects. We’ll see some examples:

In active:Today, we can use lasers in many different fields.

A supermarket might use a laser to read food prices.

In passive: Today, lasers can be used in many different fields.

A laser may be used in an operation.

A laser might be used to read food prices.

That’s our lesson of today. Have a nice day and see you in a next class, your friend Andrea.