Speaker 1: Thanks for joining me for today's podcast English Lesson. Did
you know that this podcast was started in twenty fourteen.
On top of that, my company, Happy English was established
in twenty ten. Those two facts have been presented to
you using the passive voice, and that is the focus
of our lesson today.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael all Rye.
Speaker 1: Thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael here from
Happy English and I help people speak English better. This
is Happy English Podcast Episode seven forty three. The passive
voice for this podcast English Lesson. Let's look at what
the passive voice is and whent to use it. We'll
also go over some examples to help you understand this
concept better. Let's get started with this little story about
my friend Donna, which illustrates the active and passive voices
in English. Donna loves gardening and spends most of her
weekends working in her backyard. Last Saturday, she planted a
variety of flowers, including tulips, roses, and daisies. She carefully
watered each plant and added fertilizer to the soil to
help them grow. As she worked, she noticed a group
of butterflies fluttering around, attracted by the bright colors of
the flowers. Donna felt a deep sense of satisfaction as
she looked at the beautiful gardens she had created. By
the end of the day, the garden had been transformed
into a vibrant oasis. The flowers were planted in neat rows,
and the entire area was meticulously organized. The garden was
admired by all who passed by, and compliments were given
to Dinna for her hard work. The butterflies continue to
visit the garden, and their presence was enjoyed by everyone
who stopped to take in the view. In the evenings,
the garden was illuminated by soft lights, creating a peaceful
atmosphere that could be appreciated by all. You may have
already learned that in English we have two main voices,
active voice and passive voice. But do you know what
voice means in this context? Basically, the term voice in
language refers to how a sentence is made. The voice
shows us whether the subject of the sentence is doing
the action or receiving the action. When we use the
active voice, the subject of the sentence is doing the action.
For example, in the cat chased the mouse, the subject
is the cat and the cat is doing the action
of chasing. We know who the actor is. It's the cat.
So when we say the cat chased the mouse, the
cat is the actor. This is the active voice. On
the other hand, when we use the passive voice, the
subject of the sentence is receiving the action instead of
doing the action. For example, in the mouse was chased
by the cat, the subject is the mouse and the
mouse is receiving the action of the verb chase. We
know that the target of the action is the mouse.
So when we say the mouse was chased by the cat,
the mouse is the target. This is the passive voice.
So voice is just about who or what is the
focus of the action in a sentence, Whether the focus
is on the doer of the action active or on
the receiver of the action passive. Most sentences you come
across in English are in the active voice, where the
subject of the sentence performs the action. When we know
who or what is doing the action, we prefer using
the active voice. For example, the thief stole the car.
In this sentence, the subject is the thief, the action
is stole, and the object is the car. Now, let's
have a look at how this sentence changes when we
use the passive voice. The car was stolen by the thief.
In the passive voice, the focus shifts from who is
performing the action to the object that is receiving the action. Here,
the car becomes the focus of the sentence and the
thief is mentioned at the end. To be honest, when
we use the passive voice in everyday conversation, we generally
don't mention who did the action, because when we want
to talk about who did something, we prefer to use
an active voice. A natural way to speak would be
either to say the thief stole the car or the
car was stolen. The most important thing I want you
to get from today's lesson is when we typically use
the passive voice, and that's next. In everyday conversational English,
we generally use the passive voice when the actor or
the doer of the action is either unknown or unimportant.
For example, according to the news, the bank was robbed
sometime over the weekend. When I walked by that old house,
I noticed that some of the windows were broken. The
trees in this park were planted over one hundred years ago.
In each of these examples, the focus and the grammatical
subject of the sentence is the result of the action.
The bank was robbed, the windows were broken, and the
trees were planted. Who did the action is either unknown
or unimportant for the conversation. Okay, let's take a break there.
In the next episode, we'll take a look at how
the passive is used in three other situations and in
various verb tenses. Keep in mind, the best way to
remember this and any other word or phrase in English
is to take that word or phrase, write it in
a sentence that's true for you or true in your world,
and then memorize your sentences. Hey, did you know that
you can get the chance to practice this kind of
English with me directly? You can get more practice using
your English when you join my podcast Learner's Study Group.
There you can make new friends, join us for live
group lessons every week where we practice these podcast lessons together.
Plus you get access to the pdf, transcript and audio
download for every Happy English put in the past and
in the future. And on top of that, each episode
has exercises where you can practice this English point with
speaking and writing checked by me. To learn more, just
visit Myhappy english dot com and check podcast lesson seven
forty three. Remember, learning another language is not easy, but
it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you on
your journey.
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