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Glossary of Grammatical Terms
The use of a tense in a passive sentence must be the same as that in the active sentence.
Simple present
Examples:
- Active: The big monkey scratches the small monkey.
- Passive: The small monkey is scratched by the big monkey.
Simple present continuous
Examples:
- Active: Their dog is chasing my cat.
- Passive: My cat is being chased by their dog.
Present perfect
Examples:
- Active: The men have loaded sacks of potatoes onto trucks. Active: The men have loaded the sheep onto trucks.
- Passive: Sacks of potatoes have been loaded onto trucks (by the men).
Simple past
Examples:
- Active: That kid kicked me on my knee.
- Passive: I was kicked on my knee by that kid.
Past continuous
Examples:
- Active: We were discussing climate change last evening.
- Passive: Climate change was being discussed by us last evening. .
Past perfect
Examples:
- Active: The hunter had shot two wild boars.
- Passive: Two wild boars had been shot by the hunter.
Simple future
Examples:
- Active: The children will blow up these balloons.
- Passive: These balloons will be blown up by the children.
Future continuous
Examples:
- Active: She will be painting her husband's grave.
- Passive: Her husband's grave will be being painted by her.
Future perfect
Examples:
- Active: The police will have questioned the suspects.
- Passive: The suspects will have been questioned by the police.
Modal
Examples:
- Active: He should sell his old car.
- Passive: His old car should be sold.
- Active: We must pay the bills.
- Passive: The bills must be paid (by us).
Modal continuous
Examples:
- Active: We may be building a giant sandcastle. .
- Passive: A giant sandcastle may be being built by us.
Modal perfect
Examples:
- Active: The robbers could have shot their victims.
- Passive: The victims could have been shot by the robbers.
