A passive sentence makes the object of the corresponding active sentence its subject. She repaired the engine becomes The engine was repaired by her. English normally forms this passive with be and a past participle. The original subject may appear in a by-phrase or be left unmentioned.
What does each structure make visible?
She is the subject, and the engine is the direct object of repaired.
The engine is the passive subject. Passive was and repaired form the predicate, and the by-phrase names an agent.
use several clues
Reconstruct the active relation when it fits
Does the reconstruction preserve the relation?
The harbour is the passive subject; the by-phrase names the dredgers.
In the active relation, the contractors is the subject and the harbour the object.
The active version makes the changed relationships easy to see. Its object, the harbour, becomes the passive subject. The form be plus a past participle is also important, though it can be ambiguous. The gates were closed may report an event or describe the gates’ continuing state.
What survives when an earlier object becomes subject?
The guest is the passive subject, while a key remains a direct object after given.
Reliable remains an object complement in the model, even though the driver is now the subject.
Ten sentences from this lesson, one decision at a time.