AULA 6

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Língua Inglesa - estrutura sintática I
Aula 06: Vozes Verbais - Voz Ativa e Voz Passiva
Apresentação
Hello everybody! In this lesson, we will study the concept of Active and Passive Voice.
Objetivos
Study the concept of Active and Passive Voice;
Analyze the Syntactic, Semantic and Stylistic forms of the Active and Passive Voices.
Initial Considerations
In  grammar, the voice (also called diathesis) of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state) that the verb
expresses and the participants identi�ed by its arguments (subject, object, etc.).
When the subject is the agent or doer of the action, the verb is in the active voice.
When the subject is the patient, target or undergoer of the action, the verb is said to be in the passive voice. For example, in
the sentence:
 Motimo (Fonte: Shutterstock).
The cat ate the mouse, the verb "ate" is in the active voice.
In the sentence: The mouse was eaten by the cat, the verbal
phrase "was eaten" is passive.
In: The hunter killed the bear, the verb "killed" is in the active
voice, and the doer of the action is the "hunter".
Making this passive: The bear was killed by the hunter, the
verbal phrase "was killed" is followed by the word "by" and
then by the doer "hunter".
 GraphicsRF (Fonte: Shutterstock).
In a transformation from an active-voice clause to an equivalent passive-voice construction, the subject and the direct object
switch grammatical roles.
The direct object gets promoted to subject, and the subject demoted to an (optional) complement.
Examples
See more examples
Active
The active voice is the most commonly used in many languages and represents the "normal" case, in which the subject of the
verb is the agent. The thing doing the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing receiving the action is the object. [Thing
doing action] + [verb] + [thing receiving action]
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 Monkey Business Images (Fonte: Shutterstock).
The professor (subject doing action) teacher  (active verb)
the students (object receiving action).
John (subject doing action) washes (active verb) the dishes
(object receiving action).
 Bignai (Fonte: Shutterstock).
Passive
The passive voice is employed in a clause whose subject expresses the theme or patient of the verb.That is, it undergoes an
action or has its state changed.  [Thing receiving action] + [be] + [past participle of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action]
 Monkey Business Images (Fonte: Shutterstock).
The students (subject receiving action) are taught  (passive
verb) by the professor (object doing action).
The dishes (subject receiving action) are washed  (passive
verb) by John (object doing action).
 Bignai (Fonte: Shutterstock).
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.
 Vladimir Wrangel (Fonte: Shutterstock).
The tin can was crushed by the gorilla.
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.
Examples
See more examples examples Passive Verb Formation
Verbals in Passive Structures
Verbals or verb forms can also take on features of the passive voice. An in�nitive phrase in the passive voice, for instance, can
perform various functions within a sentence (just like the active forms of the in�nitive).
Subject: Being elected by my peers is a great honor.
Object: That child really likes to be read to by her mother.
Modi�er: Grasso was the �rst 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.
 
With passive participles , part of the passive construction is often omitted, the result being a simple modifying participial
phrase. [Having been] designed for off-road performance, the Pathseeker does not always behave well on paved highways.
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Passive Sentences with Two Objects
Somente título e texto
Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that one of the two objects becomes the subject, the
other one remains an object. Which object to transform into a subject depends on what you want to put the focus on.
Subject Verb Object 1 Object 2
Active Rita wrote a letter to me.
Passive A letter was written to me by Rita.
Passive I was written a letter by Rita.
Examples
As you can see in the examples, adding by Rita does not sound very elegant. That’s why it is usually dropped.
Personal Passive
Simply means that the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. So every verb that needs an
object (transitive verb) can form a personal passive.
 
They build houses. – Houses are built.
 
Verbs without an object (intransitive verb) normally cannot form a personal passive sentence (as there is no object that can
become the subject of the passive sentence). If you want to use an intransitive verb in passive voice, you need an impersonal
construction – therefore this passive is called Impersonal Passive.
 
He says – it is said
They say that women live longer than me.
 AnutaBerg (Fonte: Shutterstock).
They build houses.
Impersonal Passive
Is not as common in English as in some other languages (e.g. Portuguese, German). In English, Impersonal Passive is only
possible with verbs of perception (e. g. say, think, know).
They say that women live longer than men. – It is said that women live longer than men.
Although Impersonal Passive is possible here, Personal Passive is more common.They say that women live longer than men. –
Women are said to live longer than men.
The subject of the subordinate clause (women) goes to the beginning of the sentence; the verb of perception is put into passive
voice. The rest of the sentence is added using an in�nitive construction with 'to' (certain auxiliary verbs and that are dropped).
Dynamic and Static Passive
Some languages draw a distinction between static (or stative) passive voice, and dynamic (or eventive) passive voice.
Duas colunas com seta
"Static" means that an action was done
to the subject at a certain point in time
resulting in a state in the time focused
upon. Static passive auxiliary verb: be
(the "be-passive").
The grass is cut (static).
 
 
 
 
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"Dynamic" means that an action takes
place. The grass is being cut (dynamic).
Dynamic passive can also use the
auxiliary verb get (the "get-passive").
The grass gets cut or Note that for some
speakers of English this is not accepted
and is considered colloquial or sub-
standard.
The grass is being cut (dynamic).
How to Identify a Sentence in the Passive Voice
Ask yourself whether there is an action going on in the sentence. If so, what is at the front of the sentence? Is it the person or
thing that does the action? Or is it the person or thing that has the action done to it?
Examples
The �sh was caught by the seagull.
How to Identify a Sentence in the Passive Voice
In a passive sentence, the object of the action will be in the subject position in front of the sentence. As discussed above, the
sentence will also contain a form of be and a past participle. If the subject appears at all, it will usually be at the end of the
sentence, often in a phrase that starts with “by.”
If we ask ourselves whether there’s an action, the answer is yes: a �sh is being caught. Ifwe ask what’s at the front of the
sentence, the actor or the object of the action, it’s the object: the �sh, unfortunately for it, got caught, and there it is at the front
of the sentence. The thing that did the catching—the seagull—is at the end, after “by.” There’s a form of be (was) and a past
participle (caught). This sentence is passive.
Learn more
Using active versus passive voice.
Myths
01
Use of the passive voice constitutes a grammatical error.Use of the passive voice is not a grammatical error. 
It’s a stylistic issue that pertains to clarity—that is, there are times when using the passive voice can prevent a reader
from understanding what you mean.
02
Any use of “to be” (in any form) constitutes the passive voice. 
The passive voice entails more than just using a being verb. Using “to be” can weaken the impact of your writing, but it
is occasionally necessary and does not by itself constitute the passive voice.
03
The passive voice always avoids the �rst person; if something is in �rst person (“I” or “we”) it’s also in the active
voice. 
On the contrary, you can very easily use the passive voice in the �rst person. Here’s an example: “I was hit by the
dodgeball.”
04
You should never use the passive voice. 
While the passive voice can weaken the clarity of your writing, there are times when the passive voice is OK and even
preferable.
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Activity
1. Which sentence is in the personal passive?
a) The window was opened by Anna.
b) Money is collected by John.
c) She is known to be a good swimmer.
d) The question was answered by Julie.
e) They did not offer her a seat.
Notas
Título modal 1
Lorem Ipsum é simplesmente uma simulação de texto da indústria tipográ�ca e de impressos. Lorem Ipsum é simplesmente
uma simulação de texto da indústria tipográ�ca e de impressos. Lorem Ipsum é simplesmente uma simulação de texto da
indústria tipográ�ca e de impressos.
Título modal 1
Lorem Ipsum é simplesmente uma simulação de texto da indústria tipográ�ca e de impressos. Lorem Ipsum é simplesmente
uma simulação de texto da indústria tipográ�ca e de impressos. Lorem Ipsum é simplesmente uma simulação de texto da
indústria tipográ�ca e de impressos.
Referências
QUIRK, R. & GREENBAUM, S.. A University Grammar of English. London: Longman, 1973.
CELCE-MURCIA, Marianne & FREEMAN, Diane Larsen. The Grammar book, 2ª ed., Editora Thomson Heinle, 2008.
LANE, Janet & LANGUE, Ellen. Wrinting clearly. Editora Thomson Heinle, 2008.
Bibliogra�a complementar
COLLIE, J.. Double take. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
GILBERT, J. B.. Clear Speech the start. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Próxima aula
The concept of Reported Speech;
The Syntactic, Semantic and Stylistic forms of the Reported Speech.
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