How do you turn an active sentence into a passive sentence? Written description after video.
Example:
The Athenians defeated the Persians .
- Identify the subject, verb and object
The Athenians defeated the Persians.
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Subject verb object
- Write the original object ( the Persians) as the new subject :
The Persians
- Add the correct form of the verb to be:
The Persians were
| The to be verb | |
| Present
I am You are She/ he is It is We/they are |
Past
I was You were She/he was It was We/they are |
- Add the original verb (but in the past tense – well, it’s actually the past participle)
The Persians were defeated
- If you want to you, you can add the original subject at the end with the word ‘by’
The Persians were defeated by the Athenians .
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In a Passive voice, the thing or person who does the action is known as the agent (I bet you’re glad that you asked). In this case the athenians are the agent.