passive

«passive» in Mova's school dictionary: letting things happen to you without acting, reacting or… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (passive; adverb: passively; noun: passivity); noun (the passive, grammar)

meaning for a pupil

1) Passive means letting things happen to you without acting, reacting or taking part: «a passive audience». tree →

2) (grammar) The passive, or passive voice, is a way of making a sentence where the thing that something is done to comes first: «The window was broken by Sam», instead of the active «Sam broke the window». tree →

3) Passive smoking means breathing in smoke from other people's cigarettes. tree →

4) (science) Passive means working without extra power or effort, like a «passive house» that stays warm with no heaters. tree →

sense in the lessons

In English lessons (SATs grammar), pupils learn to change active sentences into passive ones; the passive uses «be» + past participle (was eaten, is made, were found) and is common in science reports: «The water was heated». It hides or lowers the doer: «Mistakes were made». In PSHE, being passive is the opposite of standing up for yourself (being assertive). Phrases: «passive voice», «passive smoking», «passive-aggressive» (being unkind in a hidden way).

examples

• «The cake was eaten by the dog» is in the passive. tree →
• Rewrite the sentence in the passive voice. tree →
• In science reports we write «The water was heated». tree →
• Don't just be passive — join in the discussion! tree →
• Passive smoking can harm children's lungs. tree →
• She gave a passive-aggressive smile and said «Fine». tree →
• Watching TV is passive; building a model is active. tree →

note

Opposite: «active». The passive is made with a form of «be» + past participle: «is cleaned», «was taken», «will be sent»; the doer can be added with «by». Trap: a sentence in the past tense is not automatically passive: «He ate the cake» is active, «The cake was eaten» is passive.

In the corpora

• In the passive voice the subject receives the action: "The cake was eaten by the dog."
• The passive can also hide who is responsible, as in "Mistakes were made."
• When you rewrite a sentence in the passive, keep the same tense: past stays past.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «passive» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.