The passive sentence from the active sentence above is: 5.
The Monalisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci. Passive sentence can contains of two objects, these are the example of passive
sentence with two object:
Table 2. 2 Active sentence with two objects:
Subject Verb 2 Object 1 Object 2 Noneng
sent an email to me
Adapted from www.umw.edu and modifying by the writer
Table 2. 3 Passive sentence with two objects:
Subject To be Past
participle Object 1 Object 2
An email
was sent
to me by
Noneng
Adapted from www.umw.edu and modifying by the writer
In passive sentence with two objects, one object act as subject and another remained as object.
3. The Usage of Passive Voice
Unless the passive voice is less usual and less used than the active one, but the student should know how to construct a passive sentence, because sometimes the
student will need it. Here are some situations when the passive voice is chosen in a sentence:
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1. When the Doer is not known
Example: My laptop was stolen. If the Doer is known it is better to choose active voice.
18
Elaine Kirn, et. al., Interactions 1 Grammar 4
th
Edition, McGraw Hill, New York, 2002, p. 249
2. When it is not important to know, who is the doer of the action, because the
doer is obvious. Example: He was arrested.
People already know that someone who has right to arrest somebody is police, so it is not necessary to mention it.
3. When the action is more interested than the doer
Example: A computer was bought by my father a week ago.
The speaker wants to focus on the computer than his father in the
sentence. 4.
To avoid placing ‘direct blame’ on the Doer Example: Too many long - distances calls were made this month.
Instead of: You made too many long - distance calls this month. In most passive sentences, the speaker does not have to mention the doer, but
if necessary, shehe may mention it.
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The form of passive voice grammatical
object is preposition by + a noun or pronoun the doer. It is better for speaker to
not including them in a passive sentence when the information is unimportant.
Here are some situations when the prepositional by + noun or pronoun is
necessary to mention in a passive sentence:
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1. When the phrase is necessary to the meaning of the sentence
Example: TV signals are carried to homes by radio waves.
If the radio wave is implied in the sentence, the information wants to
be given by the speaker become unclear. 2.
When the phrase includes a name or idea that is important in the context Example: JFK was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.
3. When the phrase introduces new or unusual information.
Example: Many sales calls are made by computers. The speaker wants to inform unusual information that is sales calls are
made by computers.
19
Elaine Kirn, et. al., Interactions 1 Grammar 4
th
Edition, …, p. 249
20
Elaine Kirn, et. al., Interactions 1 Grammar 4
th
Edition, …, p. 249
Generally, active voice is more used than passive voice in the sentences because it is need less word, less ambiguous, more active because the doer of the
action is the focus of the attention, and easier to read than the passive one.
C. Passive Voice in the Simple Past Tense
