Past Participles just have to be memorized, but luckily,
many of them fall into groups. Here is
a group of common verbs that have irregular
Past Participles, grouped by spelling:
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Some of the sentences in the Passive Voice have
“agents” (the “doers” of the action) which look
like this:
by (someone or something)
by the
Nabataeans
by Johann
Burckhardt
by the
Wadi
Musa
River
by Alexander the Great
If the “agents” are the doers of the
action, then the grammatical subjects of the sentence receive
the action.
Petra was constructed by the Nabataeans.
Petra “received” the construction.
The Nabataeans were the “doers”
of the construction.
In other words, the Nabataeans constructed
Petra.
The Petra ruins were discovered by Johann Burckhardt.
The Petra ruins “received” the discovering.
John Burckhardt was the “doer” of the discovering.
In other words, John Burckhardt discovered
the Petra ruins.
When do you use the Passive
Voice?
English speakers usually use the Active Voice
. Here are some examples:
John cooked dinner. He put the food on the table. Then
Sally sat on a chair at the table and ate dinner.
She liked the food so much that she thanked
John for the good meal.
Notice that John and Sally
did things. John
cooked food and
then
put it somewhere.
Sally
sat down and
ate . She
liked the food
and
thanked John.
John and Sally were the "doers" and they
were the grammatical subjects of the sentences.
But there is another way to
give the information, a way that is
not really good in English:
The dinner was cooked by John.
The food was put on the table by John.
The chair was sat upon by Sally. The dinner
was eaten by Sally. The food was liked so much by
Sally that John was thanked for the good meal by
Sally.
Doesn't this sound strange? The
grammar is OK. It's all Passive Voice,
but English speakers don't usually use the Passive
Voice. It really sounds strange.
But there are times that the
Passive Voice is the
correct grammatical structure to use. Here
are the reasons for using the Passive Voice, and
some examples:
1. When you don't know who did the action.
The building was built many years ago. (You don't know exactly
who built the building.)
2. The "doer" is obvious or not important to
mention.
Many great buildings were built in Petra. (Obviously, the people
who lived in Petra built the buildings.
Their names really aren't important
right now.)
3. When someone doesn't want to take responsibility
for an action.
This ancient dish was destroyed! (Maybe I know who did it, but I
don't want to tell you who.)
4. In scientific and official writing, the Passive
sounds objective and formal.
Five buildings were discovered and
surveyed in Petra last year.(This is scientific or official-sounding
report.)
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NOW LET’S PRACTICE:
Please answer these questions, according to what you read about
Petra. Please write full sentences, using the PASSIVE VOICE.
1. Where is Petra situated?
________________________________________________________________________
2. In pre-historic times, was the Petra area covered
with thick forests?
________________________________________________________________________
3. Now, is the Petra area covered with thick forests?
________________________________________________________________________
4. What was the wood used for?
________________________________________________________________________
5. What was built to bring water to Petra?
________________________________________________________________________
6. Over the years, was Petra held only by the Nabataeans?
________________________________________________________________________
7. When was Petra occupied by the Romans?
________________________________________________________________________
8.When was Petra occupied by the Muslims?
________________________________________________________________________
Please change the following sentences into the Passive Voice. Decide
if you need to write the agent. (Remember: Don’t mix up your tenses!)
1. Johann Burckhardt discovered the ruins.
________________________________________________________________________
2. Someone destroyed the forests.
________________________________________________________________________
3. Thousands of tourists visit the ruins every
week.
________________________________________________________________________
4. Alexander the Great brought Hellenism to
the area.
________________________________________________________________________
5. They will open a new section of the ruins
tomorrow.
________________________________________________________________________
6. Someone transformed the desert into fertile
ground.
________________________________________________________________________
7. The Romans conquered Petra in 106 A.D.
________________________________________________________________________
8. They supply water to the city.
________________________________________________________________________
