“He gave it to me first!” (active) The active emphasises the action. → (passive) It was given to me first by him. “My necklace has been stolen,” said The passive emphasises the action, rather than the anonymous person Bobby thinks has stolen the necklace. → (active) Someone has stolen my necklace! “Someone has taken my necklace,” (active) The active emphasises the action rather than the end result. → (passive) My necklace has been taken. ‘Taken’ is a less emphatic word than ‘stolen’, so it works less well here in the passive. Who could have stolen them?” (active) The active emphasises the mysterious unknown person and the action, rather than the result. → (passive) Who could they have been stolen by? “I think (active) ‘Think’ is a stative verb giving Bobby’s opinion, so it is active. → (passive) is thought by me. This sounds strange, both because we do not usually say ‘thought by me’ and because ‘think’ is a stative verb and so it is usually used in the active. it was someone [who is] employed by the railway,” (passive) The passive emphasises the fact that the person is employed by the railway. We do not know his or her name. This is a shortened relative clause that leaves out the words ‘who is’. → (active) Someone the railway employs
and I was enjoying a book (active) This is active because it has the pronoun ‘I’. → (passive) A book was being enjoyed by me. This sounds very strange because we do not usually use the passive when we are the one the action. which discussed different people's use of the English passive. (active) The active emphasises what the book did. → (passive) A book in which different people's use of the English passive was discussed. This is possible, but there is a long distance between the subject, which is the book, and the verb ‘discussed’, so it is better to use the active. But Professor Grahamarian interrupted me. (active) The active emphasises the person (Professor Grahamarian) and his action. → (passive) But I was interrupted by Professor Grahamarian your presence is required,” (passive) The passive is unusual in a sentence like this, but Professor Grahamarian is speaking in a very formal way. → (active) We require your presence. It be more normal to use the active here, and to use less formal words and say something like ‘We need you’. “What has happened?” → This is intransitive, so it cannot be made passive “Someone has my necklace,” (active) The active emphasises the action rather than the end result. → (passive) My necklace has been
‘Taken’ is a less emphatic word than ‘stolen’, so it works less well here in the passive. “My necklace has been stolen!” (passive) The passive emphasises the action, rather than the anonymous person Kareena thinks has stolen the necklace. → (active) Someone has stolen my necklace! “And Prince Wolfgang gave it to me!” (active) The active emphasises the action and the person who gave the necklace. → (passive) It was given to me by Prince Wolfgang. “He has stolen my necklace,” (active) The active emphasises the action and the person rather than the end result. → (passive) My necklace has been stolen by him. “I have been called many things in this job, (passive) The railway employee uses the passive to emphasise the fact that he has been accused of many things before. We do not need to know the details of the people who have previously accused him. → (active) People have called me many things in this job. but I’ve never been called a thief!” The railway employee uses the passive to emphasise the fact that no one has called him a thief before. We do not need to know the details of the people who might previously have accused him. → (active) No one has called me a thief before. The active would be possible here, to emphasise the words ‘no one’, but the employee uses the passive because he used a passive earlier in the sentence.