PASSIVE VOICE

PASSIVE VOICE

Ø Definisi of passive voice

         

          Verbs are also said to be either active (The executive committee approved the new policy) or passive (The new policy was approved by the executive committee) in voice. In the active voice, the subject and verb relationship is straightforward: the subject is a be-er or a do-er and the verb moves the sentence along. In the passive voice, the subject of the sentence is neither a do-er or a be-er, but is acted upon by some other agent or by something unnamed (The new policy was approved). Computerized grammar checkers can pick out a passive voice construction from miles away and ask you to revise it to a more active construction. There is nothing inherently wrong with the passive voice, but if you can say the same thing in the active mode, do so (see exceptions below). Your text will have more pizzazz as a result, since passive verb constructions tend to lie about in their pajamas and avoid actual work.

            We find an overabundance of the passive voice in sentences created by self-protective business interests, magniloquent educators, and bombastic military writers (who must get weary of this accusation), who use the passive voice to avoid responsibility for actions taken. Thus "Cigarette ads were designed to appeal especially to children" places the burden on the ads  as opposed to "We designed the cigarette ads to appeal especially to children," in which "we" accepts responsibility. At a White House press briefing we might hear that "The President was advised that certain members of Congress were being audited" rather than "The Head of the Internal Revenue service advised the President that her agency was auditing certain members of Congress" because the passive construction avoids responsibility for advising and for auditing. One further caution about the passive voice: we should not mix active and passive constructions in the same sentence: "The executive committee approved the new policy, and the calendar for next year's meetings was revised" should be recast as "The executive committee approved the new policy and revised the calendar for next year's meeting."

The rules of Passive Voice such as :

1.      The sentence must have oject (transitive verb). It must have quesion word which asks object.

2.      Object in active will be subject in passive.

3.      Subject in active will be object in passive.

4.      We must use past participle (verb - III).

5.      The arrange of sentence depends on tenses.

Rumus Passive Voice

S + AUXILIARY + PAST PARTICIPLE

 

Keterangan :

o   Auxiliary verb can be either a primary auxiliary verb be (is, are, am, was, were, be, been, being) or a combination of the two primaries (is / are being, was / were being, has / have been) as well as between primary and capital auxiliary verb (will be, will not have been).

o   Kombinasi auxiliary used in the passive form of the tenses. Fuller explanation can be found in the Form of Passive tenses, Infinitive, and Gerund.

o   Past participle used a transitive verb (has a direct object).

There are some kinds of passive voice are :

A.    Present Passive Voice

1.      Simple Present Tense

·         Active            : Do / Does + Verb 1

I speak English every day.

·         Passive           : Is / Am / Are + Verb 3

English is spoken by me every day.

2.      Present Continous Tense

·         Active            : Is / Am / Are + Verb –ing

Tina is singing a song.

·         Passive           : Is / Am / Are + Being + Verb 3

A song is being sung by Tina.

3.      Present Perfect Tense

·         Active            : Have / Has + Verb 3

She have Written a novel.

·         Passive           : Have / Has + Been + Verb 3

A novel have been written by her.

B.     Past Passive Voice

1.      Simple Past Tense

·         Active            : Did + Verb 2

Susi studied English.

·         Passive           : Was / Were + Verb 3

English was studied by Susi.

2.      Past Continous Tense

·         Active            : Was / Were + Verb –ing

Rini was studying English.

·         Passive : Was / Were + Being + Verb 3

English was being studied by Rini.

3.      Past Perfect Tense

·         Active: Had + Verb 3

Reny had speak english.

·         Passive : Had + Been + Verb 3

English had been spoken by Reny

C.     Future Passive Voice      

1.      Simple Future Tense

·         Active            : Will / Shall + Verb 1

Fendi will study English.

·         Passive           : Will / Shall + Be + Verb 3

English will be studied by Fendi.

2.      Future Continous Tense

·         Active            : Will / Shall + Be + Verb –ing

Toni will  be reading a book.

·         Passive           : Will / Shall + Be + Being + Verb 3

A book will be being read by Toni

3.      Future Perfect Tense

·         Active            : Will / Shall + Have + Verb 3

Tian will have spoken English.

·         Passive           : Will / Shall + Have + Been + Verb 3

English will have been spoken by  Tian.

D.    Modal Auxiliary Passive Voice

·         Active            :

Can - Could               + Verb 1

May – Might             + Verb 1

Will – Would             + Verb 1

Must – Had to           + Verb 1

Shall – Should           + Verb 1

Ougth to                    + Verb 1

Toni  can speak  english

Rian may drink coffe.

·         Passive           :

Can – Could              + Be + Verb 3

May – Might              + Be + Verb 3

Will – Would             + Be + Verb 3

Must – Had to           + Be + Verb 3

Shall – Should           + Be + Verb 3

Ougth to                    + Be + Verb 3

English  can be  spoken  by Toni.

Coffe may be drank by Rian

Ø Passive Verb Formation

                The passive forms of a verb are created by combining a form of the "to be verb" with the past participle of the main verb. Other helping verbs are also sometimes present: "The measure could have been killed in committee." The passive can be used, also, in various tenses. Let's take a look at the passive forms of "design."

Tense	Subject	Auxiliary		Past Participle
		Singular	Plural
Present	The car/cars	is	are	designed.
Present perfect	The car/cars	has been	have been	designed.
Past	The car/cars	was	were	designed.
Past perfect	The car/cars	had been	had been	designed.
Future	The car/cars	will be	will be	designed.
Future perfect	The car/cars	will have been	will have been	designed.
Present progressive	The car/cars	is being	are being	designed.
Past progressive	The car/cars	was being	were being	designed.

                        A sentence cast in the passive voice will not always include an agent of the action. For instance if a gorilla crushes a tin can, we could say "The tin can was crushed by the gorilla." But a perfectly good sentence would leave out the gorilla: "The tin can was crushed." Also, when an active sentence with an indirect object is recast in the passive, the indirect object can take on the role of subject in the passive sentence:

Active	Professor Villa gave Jorge an A.
Passive	An A was given to Jorge by Professor Villa.
Passive	Jorge was given an A.

            Only transitive verbs (those that take objects) can be transformed into passive constructions. Furthermore, active sentences containing certain verbs cannot be transformed into passive structures. To have is the most important of these verbs. We can say "He has a new car," but we cannot say "A new car is had by him." We can say "Josefina lacked finesse," but we cannot say "Finesse was lacked." Here is a brief list of such verbs

resemble	look like	equal	agree with
mean	contain	hold	comprise
lack	suit	fit	become

Ø Verbals in Passive Structures

         

            Verbals or verb forms can also take on features of the passive voice. An infinitive phrase in the passive voice, for instance, can perform various functions within a sentence (just like the active forms of the infinitive).

·        Subject: To be elected by my peers is a great honor.

·        Object: That child really likes to be read to by her mother.

·        Modifier: Grasso was the first woman to be elected governor in her own right.

The same is true of passive gerunds.

·        Subject: Being elected by my peers was a great thrill.

·        Object: I really don't like being lectured to by my boss.

·        Object of preposition: I am so tired of being lectured to by my boss.

Sumber :

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/passive.htm

De potter, Bobby dan Mike Hernacki. 2001. Quantum Learning, Bandung. Kaifa.

Alwi, Hasan dkk., eds. 1998. Tata Bahasa Baku Bahasa Indonesia. Jakarta: Balai Pustaka.