General English: Active and Passive Voice, and Direct and Indirect Speech
Chapter Eighteen
Syllabus topic 2.4, "General English: ... rules of grammar Active-passive, direct and indirect speech, ..."
Pages 136 to 141 of 314
In one line
Voice tells you whether the subject of the sentence is doing the action or having it done to them; reported speech tells you whether you are quoting somebody's exact words or reporting them in your own.
In the wording a student can write in an exam: a verb is in the active voice when the subject performs the action and in the passive voice when the subject receives it, the passive being formed with the appropriate tense of the verb "to be" together with the past participle of the main verb; and speech is direct when the speaker's exact words are reproduced within inverted commas and indirect or reported when those words are given in the reporter's own words, with the necessary changes of pronoun, tense and words of nearness.
Why a law student is taught this
Two reasons, and the second is the one worth knowing.
The paper sets it. Transformation of sentences is a standing question, and the marks are given for accuracy, not for opinion.
The law is written in it. Statutes are drafted overwhelmingly in the passive: "no person shall be convicted", "the plaint shall be rejected", "bail may be granted". Judgments are full of reported speech: "the witness stated that he had seen the accused". A lawyer who cannot handle the passive cannot draft, and one who cannot handle reported speech cannot record evidence.
So this is not a detour from the syllabus. Section 3(2) of the General Clauses Act 1897 says "act" extends to illegal omissions; section 5(3) says an Act "shall be construed as coming into operation"; section 6 says the repeal "shall not affect". Every one of those is a passive construction, and reading them accurately is a skill this topic teaches.
Active and passive voice
The change, in three steps
To turn an active sentence into a passive one:
One, make the object of the active sentence the subject of the passive sentence.
Two, put the verb into the form: the correct tense of "to be" plus the past participle of the main verb.
Three, put the old subject after "by", or drop it if it does not matter.
Active: The Court dismissed the appeal. Passive: The appeal was dismissed by the Court.
The object "the appeal" has become the subject; "dismissed" has become "was dismissed"; "the Court" has moved behind "by".
The tense table
This is the part to memorise, and every question turns on it. The main verb stays in the past participle throughout; only the "to be" changes.
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Simple present | The Judge writes the judgment | The judgment is written by the Judge |
| Present continuous | The Judge is writing the judgment | The judgment is being written by the Judge |
| Present perfect | The Judge has written the judgment | The judgment has been written by the Judge |
| Simple past | The Judge wrote the judgment | The judgment was written by the Judge |
| Past continuous | The Judge was writing the judgment | The judgment was being written by the Judge |
| Past perfect | The Judge had written the judgment | The judgment had been written by the Judge |
| Simple future | The Judge will write the judgment | The judgment will be written by the Judge |
| Future perfect | The Judge will have written the judgment | The judgment will have been written by the Judge |
| Modal | The Judge may write the judgment | The judgment may be written by the Judge |
| Infinitive | The Judge wants to write the judgment | The Judge wants the judgment to be written |
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