Active and Passive Voice

Active and Passive Voice (কর্তৃবাচ্য ও কর্মবাচ্য)

Voice কী?

Voice verb-এর এমন grammatical feature যা sentence-এ action-এর doer এবং receiver-কে কীভাবে উপস্থাপন করা হচ্ছে তা দেখায়।

Active Voice

Subject কাজটি করে।

• Rina writes a letter.

Passive Voice

যার উপর কাজটি ঘটে তাকে subject position-এ আনা হয়।

• A letter is written by Rina.

দুই sentence-এর event একই, কিন্তু focus আলাদা।

কখন Passive ব্যবহৃত হয়

• doer অজানা: My bicycle was stolen.
• doer গুরুত্বপূর্ণ নয়: The road was repaired.
• process/result গুরুত্বপূর্ণ: The water is heated.
• formal/scientific style: The samples were tested.
• doer context থেকে স্পষ্ট: He was arrested.

Passive সবসময় active-এর চেয়ে ভালো নয়; focus অনুযায়ী voice নির্বাচন করতে হয়।

Basic Formula

Active: Subject + finite verb + object

Passive: Object + appropriate form of be + V3 + (by + agent)

• The teacher praised the child.
• The child was praised by the teacher.

মূল tense be auxiliary বহন করে; main verb সবসময় V3 হয়।

Transformation Steps

1. Active sentence-এর subject, verb ও object খুঁজুন।
2. Object-কে passive subject করুন।
3. tense ও নতুন subject অনুযায়ী be-এর form নিন।
4. Main verb-কে V3 করুন।
5. প্রয়োজন হলে by + agent যোগ করুন।
6. Pronoun case বদলান।

Pronoun Changes

• She helped me.
• I was helped by her.

Tense-wise Passive Forms

Simple Present

Active: S + V1/V5 + O

Passive: O + am/is/are + V3

• She writes a letter.
• A letter is written by her.

Present Continuous

Passive: am/is/are being + V3

• They are repairing the road.
• The road is being repaired.

Present Perfect

Passive: has/have been + V3

• She has completed the work.
• The work has been completed.

Simple Past

Passive: was/were + V3

• The police arrested the thief.
• The thief was arrested by the police.

Past Continuous

Passive: was/were being + V3

• They were painting the room.
• The room was being painted.

Past Perfect

Passive: had been + V3

• She had finished the task.
• The task had been finished.

Simple Future

Passive: will be + V3

• They will announce the result.
• The result will be announced.

Future Perfect

Passive: will have been + V3

• They will have completed the bridge.
• The bridge will have been completed.

Present Perfect Continuous, Past Perfect Continuous এবং Future Continuous-এর passive forms theoretically possible হলেও ordinary usage-এ খুব rare ও awkward; natural alternatives ব্যবহার করা ভালো।

Modal Passive

Modal + be + V3

• You must obey the rules.
• The rules must be obeyed.

• They can solve the problem.
• The problem can be solved.

Modal Perfect Passive

Modal + have been + V3

• They should have informed us.
• We should have been informed.

Negative Sentences

Not প্রথম auxiliary-এর পরে থাকে।

• She did not write the letter.
• The letter was not written by her.

• They have not completed the work.
• The work has not been completed.

Yes/No Questions

Passive auxiliary subject-এর আগে আসে।

• Did she write the letter?
• Was the letter written by her?

• Have they completed the work?
• Has the work been completed?

WH-questions

WH-word not the active subject

• Why did she close the door?
• Why was the door closed by her?

Who as active subject

• Who wrote this poem?
• By whom was this poem written?
• Who was this poem written by? — less formal but natural

Whom as object

• Whom did the teacher praise?
• Who was praised by the teacher?

Imperative Sentences

Common passive structure: Let + object + be + V3

• Open the door.
• Let the door be opened.

• Do not waste time.
• Let time not be wasted.

Natural instruction/request passive often অন্যভাবে লেখা হয়:

• Please keep the room clean.
• You are requested to keep the room clean.

• Follow the rules.
• The rules should be followed.

Sentences with Two Objects

Give, send, offer, teach, tell, show, award ইত্যাদির indirect ও direct object থাকতে পারে। দুটির যেকোনোটি passive subject হতে পারে।

• She gave me a book.
• I was given a book by her.
• A book was given to me by her.

• The teacher taught us English.
• We were taught English by the teacher.
• English was taught to us by the teacher.

Object Complement

Object complement passive-এ subject complement থাকে।

• They elected him captain.
• He was elected captain.

• We found the room empty.
• The room was found empty.

Prepositional/Phrasal Verbs

Verb-এর সঙ্গে preposition/particle বজায় থাকে।

• She looked after the child.
• The child was looked after by her.

• They called off the match.
• The match was called off.

• Everyone laughed at him.
• He was laughed at by everyone.

Make, See, Hear and Other Perception Verbs

Active-এ make/see/hear + object + bare infinitive; passive-এ to-infinitive।

• The teacher made him rewrite the answer.
• He was made to rewrite the answer.

• They saw him cross the road.
• He was seen to cross the road.

Continuous perception:

• They saw him crossing the road.
• He was seen crossing the road.

Reporting Verbs

People say/think/believe/expect… ধরনের active-এর দুটি common passive।

• People say that she is honest.
• It is said that she is honest.
• She is said to be honest.

Past action হলে perfect infinitive:

• People believe that he stole the money.
• He is believed to have stolen the money.

Infinitive Passive

to be + V3

• She wants them to invite her.
• She wants to be invited.

• The work needs to be completed.

Gerund Passive

being + V3

• He dislikes people criticising him.
• He dislikes being criticised.

Perfect passive gerund: having been + V3

• She denied having been informed.

Get-passive

Informal English-এ unexpected event বা affected subject বোঝাতে get + V3।

• He got injured.
• They got married.
• The window got broken.

সব be-passive-কে mechanicalভাবে get-passive করা যায় না।

By-agent কখন বাদ যায়

Agent unknown, obvious, general বা unimportant হলে বাদ যায়।

• My phone was stolen.
• English is spoken worldwide.
• The criminal was arrested.

Specific/important agent হলে রাখা হয়:

• Gitanjali was written by Rabindranath Tagore.

By and With

• by = doer/agent
• with = instrument/material

• The letter was written by Rina.
• The bread was cut with a knife.

Verbs That Usually Cannot Be Passivised

Object না নেওয়া intransitive verb-এর passive হয় না।

• He slept.
• The baby cried.
• The accident happened.

এগুলির object নেই, তাই passive transformation সম্ভব নয়।

Have meaning possession, resemble, suit, lack ইত্যাদিও সাধারণত natural passive দেয় না।

• He has a car.
• She resembles her mother.

Cognate or Reflexive Objects

সব surface object সহজে natural passive হয় না।

• He slept a sound sleep.

Mechanical passive অস্বাভাবিক; usage ও meaning বিবেচনা করতে হবে।

Stative Passive vs Adjective

Be + V3 কখনও action passive, কখনও resulting state/adjective।

• The door was closed by the guard. — action passive
• The door is closed. — state; context-dependent

By-agent বা event context passive interpretation স্পষ্ট করে।

Voice and Meaning

Active ও passive-এর factual event একই হলেও information focus বদলে যায়।

• A storm damaged several houses. — storm-focused
• Several houses were damaged in the storm. — houses/result-focused

Transformation-এ unnecessary by-agent যোগ করলে sentence অস্বাভাবিক হতে পারে।

Common Errors

• Incorrect: The letter is wrote by her.

Correct: The letter is written by her.

• Incorrect: The road is repairing.

Correct: The road is being repaired.

• Incorrect: The work has been complete.

Correct: The work has been completed.

• Incorrect: He was made rewrite the answer.

Correct: He was made to rewrite the answer.

• Incorrect: The child was looked by her.

Correct: The child was looked after by her.

• Incorrect passive attempt: A bed was slept by him.

Correct active: He slept on a bed.

• Incorrect: The poem was written with Tagore.

Correct: The poem was written by Tagore.

A Reliable Transformation Method

1. Verb transitive এবং object আছে কি না নিশ্চিত করুন।
2. Tense/aspect/modal শনাক্ত করুন।
3. Object-কে নতুন subject করুন এবং pronoun case ঠিক করুন।
4. Appropriate be + V3 গঠন করুন।
5. Negative/question word order পুনর্গঠন করুন।
6. Phrasal verb-এর particle/preposition রাখুন।
7. Agent প্রয়োজনীয় কি না বিচার করুন।
8. Final sentence natural এবং meaning-equivalent কি না পড়ুন।