Active and Passive Voice

Jan 10, 2011

Answer
by: Ola Zur

Hi,

The truth is that in this case you can't really turn this sentence into passive DIRECTLY. What I mean is that the action in the sentence ("left") doesn't have an OBJECT. In other words, The action doesn't affect something else.

Let's look at a few examples.

1) "I ate an apple."
Here the action ("ate") affects the apple. "Apple" is the object.
So you CAN turn this sentence into a passive one simply by turning the apple into the subject, like this:
"The apple was eaten by me."
Or simply:
"The apple was eaten."

2) "I ran home."
Here the action ("ran") doesn't have an object. I ran, I didn't do something to something/someone. So there isn't a direct passive form.

However, you COULD say something like this:
"The running was done by me."

But? why would you? ;)

So regarding your sentence: "The train left the station quickly":
You COULD say: "The train was driven by the train driver quickly."

But it sounds really awkward?.

For more data on the subject you can visit this page: Active and Passive Voice.

I hope this helps?

Ola Zur is the editor of www.really-learn-english.com, an illustrated guide to English.

Active and Passive Voice

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Active and Passive Voice

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