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Aim:
This page is to explain and give practice on the passive voice.
On this page: Explanation | Exercise
Explanation:
It is common to use passive structures in academic writing because in many
cases, the agent (the person/people/organisation etc. who do/does the action) of an action is less important
than the action itself. You form the passive by using a form of the auxiliary
be (e.g. am, is, are, was, were, been, be) and the past participle of
a main verb (e.g. written, spoken, listened). Past participles are also
used in present perfect verbs; e.g. I have written an essay, and
are sometimes different from past tense verbs; e.g. I wrote an essay.
Passive structures are impossible with intransitive verbs (which do not take objects; e.g. arrive) as there is nothing to become the subject of the passive sentence (e.g. Wrong: The party was arrived at by me. Correct: I arrived at the party.). Stative verbs, which refer to states rather than actions, are also seldom used in the passive.
Some other stative verbs are: seem, have, suit and resemble.
Instructions:
Choose the correct option from the drop-down boxes, then click the 'Show
Answers' button below:
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hits since 23 September 2004.