Passive Voice

Rita writes a letter \(\to\) A letter is written by Rita.

They build houses \(\to\) Houses are being built.

They say that women live longer than men. \(\to\) Its said that women live longer than men.

To transform a sentence to its passive version, the following has to be done:

1. The objects becomes the subject of the sentence
2. The verb is changed to to be + past participle (eg. was written)
3. The subject becomes the object of the passive sentence or can be dropped

Active Tens	Active Sentence	Passive Sentence
Simple present	Rita writes a letter.	A letter is written by Rita.
Present continuous	Rita is writing a letter.	A letter is being written by Rita.
Simple past	Rita wrote a letter.	A letter was written by Rita.
Past continuous	Rita was writing a letter.	A letter was being written by Rita.
Present perfect	Rita has written a letter.	A letter has been written by Rita.
Future I	Rita will write a letter.	A letter will be written by Rita.
Future II	Rita will have writing a letter.	A letter will be have been written by Rita.
Going-To	Rita is going to write a letter.	A letter is going to be written by Rita.
Conditional I	Rita would write a letter.	A letter would be written by Rita.
Conditional II	Rita would have written a letter.	A letter would have been written by Rita.