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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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Jn 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:

 

Jn 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 passive 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:

Y
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Active Passive

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

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

 by Sarah.

Simple Past Sam  the car. The car   by Sam.

The salesman   the The customer  

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

Many tourists  
 that That castle   
 by

Present Perfect
castle. many tourists.

Present Perfect Recently, John   Recently, the work  

Continuous the work.  by John.

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

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

Simple Future Someone   the work The work   by 5:00
will by 5:00 PM. PM.

Simple Future Sally  
 a A beautiful dinner  


à
in

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.
will

Future At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes 

At 8:00 PM tonight, John  
Continuous 
  by

  the dishes.
à
in

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

They 

Future Perfect The project  


 the project before the
à
in


 before the deadline.
deadline.

The famous artist  The mural 

Future Perfect

 the mural for 
 by the famous artist for
Continuous
over six months by the time it is over six months by the time it is
will
finished. finished.

The famous artist  
 The mural  


Future Perfect

 the mural 
 by the famous artist
Continuous
for over six months by the time for over six months by the time it
à
in


it is finished. is finished.

Used to Jerry  
 the bills. The bills  
 by Jerry.

My mother   The pies  

Would Always
the pies. by my mother.

Future in the
J knew John   the J knew the work 
Past
work by 5:00 PM.   by 5:00 PM.
-ld

Future in the J thought a beautiful dinner  

J thought Sally  

Past 
 by Sally
 a beautiful dinner tonight.
-

in

tonight.