Passive Voice

Konu Anlatımı

Passive Voice — Edilgen Yapı

Eylemi kimin yaptığı önemli değilse ya da bilinmiyorsa edilgen (passive) yapı kullanılır. Özne, eylemi yapan değil eylemden etkilenen olur.

Aktif → Edilgen Dönüşüm

Edilgende Zaman Seçimi: Adım Adım

Edilgen cümleyi kurmak üç adımda yapılır. Önce aktif cümledeki nesne bulunur, sonra bu nesne cümlenin öznesi yapılır, en sonda zaman bilgisi be fiiline taşınır: They built the house in 1990. → The house was built in 1990. Kalıp her zaman be + V3 biçimindedir.

Zaman be fiilinde değişir: present için is/are + V3 (The app is updated every month.), past için was/were + V3 (The website was created in 2010.), future için will be + V3 (The results will be announced tomorrow.), perfect için has/have been + V3 (The rules have been changed.).

Soru ve olumsuz kurulumlarda yalnız be fiili yer değiştirir: Was the telephone invented in 1876? ve The data isn't shared with third parties. Cümlede V-ing veya yalın fiil görmek, yapının bozulduğunu gösterir.

By Edatı, Belirsiz Özne ve Sınav Tuzakları

By yalnızca eylemi yapan belirtilmek istenirse kullanılır: The novel was written by George Orwell. Yapan önemsizse ya da bilinmiyorsa tamamen atlanır: Mistakes were made., The road is being repaired. Bu iki örnek sınavda sıkça tekrarlanır.

En sık yapılan hata, yapanı eklerken yapıyı bozmaktır. The letter was send by her yanlıştır; was sent olmalıdır. Aynı şekilde The house built in 1990 cümlesinde be fiili yoktur, doğrusu was built olmalıdır.

Her fiil edilgen yapı kuramaz. Geçişli olmayan fiiller (arrive, go, sleep, happen) nesne almadığı için pasife çevrilemez: He arrived late. cümlesinin edilgen hâli yoktur. Bu ayrım, şıkları eleme yoluyla hızlı çözmenizi sağlar. Yapıyı görür görmez önce be fiilini, sonra V3'ü kontrol edin.

Ne Öğreneceğiz

In this lesson you will learn the passive voice and when English prefers it to the active form. You will study the basic pattern be + past participle and see how the tense is carried by be, not by the main verb: is made, was made, has been made, will be made.

You will learn to transform an active sentence into a passive one: the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive one, and the original subject is either dropped or introduced with by.

You will also learn which verbs cannot be made passive. Intransitive verbs such as arrive, go, sleep, happen have no object, so no passive form exists. Recognising that saves time in multiple-choice tasks, because options with those verbs in the passive can be eliminated immediately.

Ön Bilgi

You need three things before the lesson.

First, the past participle of common verbs. The passive is impossible without it: written, built, invented, produced, stored, discovered.

Second, the verb be in all the tenses you have studied, because the passive uses them all: am/is/are, was/were, has/have been, will be, is being. If the form of be is wrong, the whole sentence is wrong.

Third, the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs. Only verbs that take an object (make, write, build, send) can be passive. A quick test: if you can ask what? after the verb, it can probably be made passive.

Basit Örnek ve Günlük Yaşam

Read this short text and underline the passive verbs.

Smartphones are produced in several countries, and most of the parts are manufactured in Asia. The first mobile call was made in 1973. Today, more than six billion devices are used around the world. New models are announced every year, and old ones are replaced quickly. Recycling programmes are organised in many cities, because electronic waste is not easily broken down.

Not one sentence names the person or company that produces or announces anything. That is exactly why the passive is used: the action matters more than the agent.

Now write three sentences about a product you know, using is, was and are in the passive.

İleri Örnek

Compare two descriptions of the same discovery.

Active: Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928. He noticed that mould had killed the bacteria in one of his dishes.

Passive: Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928. It was noticed that mould had killed the bacteria in one of his dishes.

The first version names the scientist and is natural in a biography. The second puts the discovery first and is natural in an encyclopaedia. Both are correct, but the exam tells you which one it wants: if the task begins with the name of a thing, use the passive.

Note also the impersonal pattern It was noticed that..., which is common in formal scientific English.

Karşılaştırma Tablosu

The passive is built by combining a tense of be with a past participle.

Active and passive: People use smartphones → Smartphones are used. The meaning is the same; the focus is different.

Özet

The passive moves the focus from the doer to the action.

• Form: the right tense of be plus the past participle.
• Use: when the agent is unknown, unimportant, or when the thing is more important than the person.
• Agent: introduce it with by only when it matters: written by a young poet.
• Transformation: the active object becomes the passive subject; the rest of the sentence stays in place.
• Limit: intransitive verbs (arrive, go, sleep, happen, die) have no passive.

Kendini Dene

Answer in full sentences and then check the key.

1. Change into the passive: They produce these chips in Taiwan.
2. Which sentence is correct? (a) The poem was wrote by a young poet. (b) The poem was written by a young poet. (c) The poem written by a young poet.
3. Put into the passive, present perfect: Someone has changed the rules.
4. Why is no passive possible in He arrived late?
5. Change into the passive with a modal: We can store the data in the cloud.
6. Write four sentences about how a product is made. Use four different passive tenses.

Answer key: 1) These chips are produced in Taiwan. — the object becomes the subject and the tense is present simple. 2) (b) — the passive needs be plus the past participle written. 3) The rules have been changed. 4) Arrive is intransitive: it has no object, so there is nothing to become the subject of a passive sentence. 5) The data can be stored in the cloud. — a modal is followed by be and then the participle. 6) Any four correct sentences, e.g. The parts are manufactured in Asia. They are shipped by sea. Finally, the phones are assembled in a large factory. A quality check is carried out before they are sold.

Sık Yapılan Hatalar

<b>"The app is update every week."</b> → Doğrusu: <em>is updated.</em> (be + V3)

<b>"The phone was invent in 1973."</b> → Doğrusu: <em>was invented.</em>

<b>"The data are protect."</b> → Doğrusu: <em>The data are protected.</em>

<b>Sadece V3 kullanmak:</b> <em>The song sang by her</em> yanlış → <em>was sung.</em>

<b>by gereksiz kullanımı:</b> eylemi yapan bilinmiyorsa by eklenmez.