Class Notes

Class: VIII DATE: 16.09.2020

Subject: ENGLISH TOPIC: VOICE – INTERROGATIVE & IMPERATIVE

ONLY FOR UNDERSTANDING PURPOSE

Active And Passive Voice Of Interrogative Sentences

Here you are going to learn how to change voice of interrogative sentences.

Questions beginning with do/does

Normal structure of interrogative sentence in active voice starting with do/does is
Do/does + subject + verb + object ? (Active Voice)
Ex: Does she cook the food? (Active Voice)
(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cook’ is verb and ‘the food’ is object.)
While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes
Am/is/are + subject + V-3 + by + agent ? (Passive Voice)
Ex: Is the food cooked by her? (Passive Voice)
(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of
cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))
See some more examples to clarify this
 Does Shubham write homework? (Active Voice)
Is homework written by Shubham? (Passive Voice)
 Does Simran learn English? (Active Voice)
Is English learnt by Simran? (Passive Voice)
 Does Sachin play cricket? (Active Voice)
Is cricket played by Sachin? (Passive Voice)

Questions beginning with am/is/are

Normal structure of interrogative sentence in active voice starting with am/is/are is
Am/is/are + subject + verb + ing + object ? (Active Voice)
Ex: Is she cooking the food? (Active Voice)
(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cooking’ is verb and ‘the food’ is object.)
While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes
Am/is/are + subject + being + V-3 + by + agent? (Passive Voice)
Ex: Is the food being cooked by her? (Passive Voice)
(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of
cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))
Note: You might have noticed that whenever there is verb + ing in active voice, we are
using being + V-3 in passive voice.
See some more examples to clarify this
 Is Shubham writing homework? (Active Voice)
Is homework being written by Shubham? (Passive Voice)
 Is Simran learning English? (Active Voice)
Is English being learnt by Simran? (Passive Voice)
 Is Sachin playing cricket? (Active Voice)
Is cricket being played by Sachin? (Passive Voice)

Questions beginning with did

Normal structure of interrogative sentence in active voice starting with did is
Did + subject + verb + object ? (Active Voice)
Ex: Did she cook the food? (Active Voice)
(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cook’ is verb and ‘the food’ is object.)
While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes
Was/were + subject + V-3 + by + agent ? (Passive Voice)
Ex: Was the food cooked by her? (Passive Voice)
(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of
cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))
See some more examples to clarify this
 Did Shubham write homework? (Active Voice)
Was homework written by Shubham? (Passive Voice)
 Did Simran learn English? (Active Voice)
Was English learnt by Simran? (Passive Voice)
 Did Sachin play cricket? (Active Voice)
Was cricket played by Sachin? (Passive Voice)

Questions beginning with was/were

Normal structure of interrogative sentence in active voice starting with was/were is
Was/were + subject + verb + ing + object ? (Active Voice)
Ex: Was she cooking the food? (Active Voice)
(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cooking’ is verb and ‘the food’ is object.)
While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes
Was/were + subject + being + V-3 + by + agent ? (Passive Voice)
Ex: Was the food being cooked by her? (Passive Voice)
(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of
cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))
See some more examples to clarify this
 Was Shubham writing homework? (Active Voice)
Was homework being written by Shubham? (Passive Voice)
 Was Simran learning English? (Active Voice)
Was English being learnt by Simran? (Passive Voice)
 Was Sachin playing cricket? (Active Voice)
Was cricket being played by Sachin? (Passive Voice)

Questions beginning with have/has/had

Normal structure of interrogative sentence in active voice starting with have/has/had
is
Have/has/had + subject + V-3 + object ? (Active Voice)
Ex: Has she cooked the food? (Active Voice)
(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of cook and ‘the food’ is object.)
While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes
Have/has/had + subject + been + V-3 + by + agent ? (Passive Voice)
Ex: Has the food been cooked by her? (Passive Voice)
(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of
cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))
See some more examples to clarify this
 Has Shubham written homework? (Active Voice)
Has homework been written by Shubham? (Passive Voice)
 Has Simran learnt English? (Active Voice)
Has English been learnt by Simran? (Passive Voice)
 Had Sachin played cricket? (Active Voice)
Had cricket been played by Sachin? (Passive Voice)

Questions beginning with modals

Normal structure of interrogative sentence in active voice starting with modals is
Modal + subject + verb + object ? (Active Voice)
Ex: Can she cook the food? (Active Voice)
(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘cook’ is V-3 verb and ‘the food’ is object.)
While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes
Modal + subject + be + V-3 + by + agent ? (Passive Voice)
Ex: Can the food be cooked by her? (Passive Voice)
(Here ‘The food’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘cooked’ is V-3 (past participle) of
cook, and ‘her’ is agent (doer))
See some more examples to clarify this
 Should Shubham write homework? (Active Voice)
Should homework be written by Shubham? (Passive Voice)
 Would Simran learn English? (Active Voice)
Would English be learnt by Simran? (Passive Voice)
 May Sachin play cricket? (Active Voice)
May cricket be played by Sachin? (Passive Voice)

‘Wh’ questions
Questions starting with what, why, where, when, who, whom etc are known as ‘wh’
questions
Normal structure of ‘wh’ questions in active voice is
‘Wh’ word + auxiliary + subject + verb + object ? (Active Voice)
Ex: Why did she punish you? (Active Voice)
(Here ‘she’ is subject, ‘punish’ is verb and ‘you’ is object.)
While changing the sentence into passive, this structure becomes
‘Wh’ word + auxiliary + subject + V-3 + by + agent ? (Passive Voice)
Why were you punished by her? (Passive Voice)
(Here ‘you’ becomes subject in passive voice, ‘punished’ is V-3 (past participle) of punish,
and ‘her’ is agent (doer))
See some more examples to clarify this
 Why have you bought this ticket? (Active Voice)
Why has this ticket been bought by you? (Passive Voice)
 When will you return the book? (Active Voice)
When will the book be returned by you? (Passive Voice)
 What did she buy? (Active Voice)
What was bought by her? (Passive Voice)

Questions beginning with ‘who’

In such kind of sentences who acts as subject.
See some examples to clear this
 Who wrote this letter? (Active Voice)
By whom was this letter written? (Passive Voice)
 Who will call him? (Active Voice)
By whom will he be called? (Passive Voice)
 Who painted this beautiful painting? (Active Voice)
By whom was this beautiful painting painted? (Passive Voice)
 Who invited you? (Active Voice)
By whom are you invited? (Passive Voice)
 Who can break Sachin’s record? (Active Voice)
By whom can Sachin’s record be broken? (Passive Voice)

Questions beginning with ‘whom’

 Whom has the principal honoured? (Active Voice)
Who has been honoured by the principal? (Passive Voice)
 Whom has the police arrested? (Active Voice)
Who has been arrested by police? (Passive Voice)
 Whom have the people elected? (Active Voice)
Who has been elected by the people? (Passive Voice)
 Whom have the selectors selected? (Active Voice)
Who has been selected by the selectors? (Passive Voice)
 Whom has she called? (Active Voice)
Who has been called by her? (Passive Voice)

Changing an imperative sentence in the active

voice to passive
An imperative sentence in the passive voice has the following form: Let + object + be +
past participle.
  Active: Carry it home.
 Passive: Let it be carried home.
 Active: Do it at once.
 Passive: Let it be done at once.
 Active: Open the door.
 Passive: Let the door be opened.
 Active: Throw the ball.
 Passive: Let the ball be thrown.
When the active voice is in the negative, the passive voice takes the form: Let + object +
not + be + past participle.

 Active: Do not beat the dog.

 Passive: Let the dog not be beaten.
Note that do is not used in the passive form.

We can begin the passive sentence with you if we want to put emphasis on the person
addressed to.

Compare:

 Active: Help me.

 Passive: Let me be helped.
 Passive: You are requested to help me.

 Active: Learn the poem.

 Passive: Let the poem be learned.
 Passive: You are asked to learn the poem.

 Active: Don’t touch it.

 Passive: Let it not be touched.
 Passive: You are warned not to touch it.
Note that the passive form has to begin with you when the object of the active verb is not
mentioned.

 Active: Work hard.

Here the active verb does not have an object. Therefore the passive form should begin
with you.
  Passive: You are advised to work hard.

 Active: Get out.

 Passive: You are ordered to get out.

More examples are given below:

Active: Please lend me some money.

Passive: You are requested to lend me some money.

Active: Kindly do this work.

Passive: You are requested to do this work.

Active: Get me a glass of water.

Passive: You are ordered to get me a glass of water.

Active: Let us go for a walk.

Passive: It is suggested that we should go out for a walk.

Note that suggest is followed by a -that clause and not an infinitive.

Sentences with modals

Active: You ought to respect your parents.

Passive: Your parents ought to be respected by you.

Active: You should learn your lessons.

Passive: Your lessons should be learned by you.

In sentences where God is invoked the passive voice will be as follows:

Active: May God bless you!

Passive: May you be blessed by God!

CONTENT PREPARED AT HOME.