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Sentences can be active or passive. Therefore, tenses also have "active forms" and
"passive forms." You must learn to recognize the difference to successfully speak
English.

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In active sentences, the thing doing the action is the subject of the sentence and the
thing receiving the action is the object. Most sentences are active.

[Thing doing action] + [verb] + [thing receiving action]

Examples:

  

In passive sentences, the thing receiving the action is the subject of the sentence
and the thing doing the action is optionally included near the end of the sentence.
You can use the passive form if you think that the thing receiving the action is more
important or should be emphasized. You can also use the pa ssive form if you do not
know who is doing the action or if you do not want to mention who is doing the
action.

[Thing receiving action] + [be] + [past participle of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action]

Examples:

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 Active Passive

Simple Once a week, Tom  the Once a week, the house  
Present house.  by Tom.

Present Right now, Sarah  
 Right now, the letter  
Continuous the letter. 

 by Sarah.

Simple Past Sam  the car. The car   by Sam.

Past The salesman   The customer  

Continuous the customer when the thief  by the salesman when
came into the store. the thief came into the store.

Present Many tourists  
 That castle   
 by

Perfect that castle. many tourists.

Present Recently, John   Recently, the work  

Perfect  the work.  by John.
Continuous

Past Perfect George  many Many cars 
cars before he received his by George before he received
mechanic's license. his mechanic's license.

Past Perfect Chef Jones  The restaurant's fantastic

Continuous  the restaurant's dinners 
fantastic dinners for two years  by Chef Jones for two
before he moved to Paris. years before he moved to Paris.

Simple Future Someone   the work The work   by
º

by 5:00 PM. 5:00 PM.

Simple Future Sally  
 a A beautiful dinner  



 

beautiful dinner tonight.  by Sally tonight.

Future At 8:00 PM tonight, John  At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes

Continuous   the dishes.   by John.
º

Future At 8:00 PM tonight, John   At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes

Continuous 
  the 
 

 

dishes. by John.

Future Perfect They  
 the The project 
º

project before the deadline. 
 before the deadline.
Future Perfect They 
 The project  


 


 the project before  
 before the
the deadline. deadline.

Future Perfect The famous artist  The mural 
Continuous 
 the mural for 
 by the famous artist for
º

over six months by the time it over six months by the time it is
is finished. finished.

Future Perfect The famous artist  
 The mural  


Continuous 
 the mural 
 by the

 

for over six months by the time famous artist for over six months
it is finished. by the time it is finished.

Used to Jerry  
 the bills. The bills  
 by

Jerry.

Would Always My mother   The pies  

 the pies. by my mother.

Future in the I knew John   the I knew the work 
Past work by 5:00 PM.   by 5:00 PM.
º 


Future in the I thought Sally  
 I thought a beautiful dinner  

Past  a beautiful dinner 
 by Sally
º 
 

tonight. tonight.