I. Active and Passive Voices
Active Voice
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Passive Voice
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Definition
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The active voice is the most frequent, and it is tipically chosen to state something about the agent of an action (that is who does what). The agent is expressed as the grammatical subject and normally initiates the action.
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The passive is a way of phrasing the sentence so that the subject does not refer to the person or thing responsible (directly or indirectly) for the action.
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Ø Be-Passive
The active and passive have different verb phrases, that is the passive has an additional auxiliary: a form of the auxiliary be followed by an –ed participle. Here are examples of corresponding active and passive verb phrases:
Active Passive
loves is loved
sold was sold
is fighting is being fought
has reconstructed has been reconstructed
will proclaim will be proclaimed
may have asserted may have been asserted
should be purifying should be being purified
Active : A team of detectives (S) is investigating the crime (dO)
Passive : The crime (S) is being investigated by a team of detectives.
Active : The new management (S) has offered employees (iO) a better deal.
Passive : Employees (S) have been offered a better deal by the new management.
Ø Passive without an Agent Phrase
Generally the passive sentence does not contain the by-phrase. Passives frequently occur without an agent phrase and are called agentless passives. The following is the example of this form:
The decision has already been taken.
He was immediately admitted to the hospital.
Ø Passive in Adjective Phrase
If we would like to change adjective clause into adjective phrase, we have to omit the relative pronoun (who/which/that) and be in the adjective clause, for example:
Adjective Clause: The ideas which are presented in the board meeting are very good.
Adjective Phrase: The ideas presented in the board meeting are very good. (Passive)
References:
R. Carter, M. McCarthy. 2006. Cambridge Grammar of English: A Comprehensive Guide Spoken and Written English Grammar and Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
S. Greenbaum, G. Nelson. 2002. An Introduction to English Grammar (2nd ed). London: Longman Group.
Lou, Robby. 2006. English Grammar and How to Use it. Jakarta:V-Print.
Sulastri, Nunung Dwi. 2003. Fokus Taklukkan Toefl. Yogyakarta: Setia Pustaka.
II. Discussion
I try to find out and analyze the active and passive voices in an article from Jakarta Post newspaper which is entitled Govt turns to private firms as PLN struggles. The analysis of active and passive voices will be discussed below:
Govt turns to private firms as
PLN struggles
The government has invited private companies to invest in the
power plant and power distribution business as state-owned electricity firm PT
Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) appears unable to cope with high demand. Energy
and Mineral Resources Ministry director general for electricity Jarman said his
office was considering a new plan that would ensure electricity supply,
including via developing integrated industrial zones. Under the new plan, a company can develop a
power plant in a specific area and then use the transmission network operated
by PLN to supply the industrial area.
“The model is called power wheeling. Under the model, the
private company must pay a leasing cost. It must also pay a ‘cost of
reliability’ to PLN, which will ensure the power supply if there’s problem with
the power plant [belonging to the private company],” Jarman said.
He added private electricity firms could also develop their
own transmission network, which could also be utilized by other companies (or
open access network). Jarman said the new model was expected to
encourage investors to build their own power generation capacity after the
government decided to stop its power subsidy for big consumers, thus increasing
electricity rates starting on May 1.
The rate adjustment will be made every two months until the
end of the year with an increase of 8.6 percent for industries with 200
kilovolt amperes (kVA) and 13.3 percent for industries with up to 30,000 kVA in
consumption. The gradual increases will be equal to 38.9 percent and 64.7
percent in total for respective industries. The new model will aim to meet
demand from industries.
“All this time, power generators have been built by PLN using
the state budget or other government funding. Later, this will be conducted by
private companies. The ability of PLN to develop power plant infrastructure is
very limited while demand is huge,” Jarman said.
The country’s electrification ratio reached 80 percent at the
end of last year. Meanwhile, the total electricity generation capacity touched
47,128 megawatts (MW) as of the end of 2013. Under PLN’s electricity
procurement plan, Java and Bali will see an average increase of 7.6 percent per
year in electricity demand during 2013 to 2022. The expected demand in the
areas is estimated to reach 275 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2022 compared to 144
TWh in 2013.
In the same period, the eastern part of Indonesia is expected
to report a demand of electricity of 46 TWh, up from last year’s level of 18.5
TWh, which is equal to an annual average growth of 11.2 percent. Meanwhile,
Sumatra will have a 65.7 TWh demand by 2022 from a level of 26.5 TWh in 2013,
equal to a 10.6 percent increase per year.
To
avoid any crisis, there should be an additional power plant capacity of 59.5
gigawatts (GW) in the period from 2013 to 2022. This means the country should
see around a 6 GW additional capacity per year nationwide. Under PLN’s plan,
the company will need to prepare US$125 billion in the next 10 years to meet
the demand and suitable transmission networks, according to the company’s
director for planning, Murtaqi Syamsuddin.
Source: Jakarta Post, Page 20 ‖
Business ‖ Monday, March 24th 2014
A. Active Voice
1) In paragraph
1, first sentence :
“The government has invited private companies to invest in the power plant and power
distribution business as state-owned electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik
Negara (PLN) appears unable to cope with high demand.”
Analysis
:
The
government has invited
private companies
S aux V-tr
DO
(V3)
The government
is the grammatical subject and also the agent of the action. That subject
actively performs the verb, and it actively “does” the verb invite to a direct object private companies. Besides, there is no be (been) either after auxiliary has
or before the past participle invited. Hence, this sentence is in active
voice. The tense which is used in the sentence is present perfect tense.
2) In paragraph 1, third sentence:
“Under the new plan, a company can develop a power plant in a
specific area and then use the transmission network operated by PLN to supply
the industrial area.”
Analysis :
a company can develop a power plant in a specific area
a company can develop a power plant in a specific area
S aux V-tr DO ADV/P
(V1)
With referring to the sentence
pattern above, it is obvious that the sentence is in active voice. A company is the grammatical subject and
also the agent of the action. The subject actively performs the verb, and it
actively “undertakes” the verb develop to a direct object (a power
plant). This sentence uses simple present tense, and by using can as the modal auxiliary verb.
3) In paragraph 2, first sentence:
“Under
the model, the private company must pay
a leasing cost.”
Analysis :
the
private company must pay a leasing cost.
S aux V-tr DO
(V1)
The sentence is in active voice because the subject
actively performs the verb. The private
company is the grammatical subject and also the agent of the action. It
actively undertakes the verb pay to a direct object a leasing cost. The sentence uses simple
present tense with the verb using must
as the modal auxiliary verb.
4) In paragraph 4, last sentence:
The new model will aim to
meet demand from industries.
S aux V-intr Inf Object PP
(V1) (to+v1)
Analysis: The new model is
the grammatical subject. There is no object after the verb aim because it is
intransitive verb. Although there is no object after the main verb aim, the sentence keeps being said as
active voice. It is because the subject (the new model) actively performs the
verb which is followed by infinitive (to+V1)+Object. The tense which is used in
the sentence is simple future tense in the “will” form.
5) In paragraph 1, first sentence:
The
country’s electrification ratio reached 80 percent at the
end of last year.
S V-tr DO ADV/T
(V2)
Analysis: The sentence pattern above shows that it is an active voice.
There is no be (is/was) either after
the subject or before the verb in the sentence. The country’s electrification ratio is the grammatical subject and
also the agent of the action. The subject actively performs the verb, and it
actively “undertakes” the verb reached to a direct object 80 percent. Hence, the sentence is in
active voice, and it uses simple past tense.
B. Passive Voice
1) In paragraph 1, third sentence:
“Under the new plan, a company can develop a power plant in a
specific area and then use the transmission network operated by PLN to supply the industrial area.”
Analysis: In
this case, operated by PLN can be said as a passive voice although
there is no be (is/was) before
the verb operated. It is because if I
translate into Indonesian, the meaning of operated
by PLN is dikelola oleh PLN. In the grammatical structure of Indonesian,
passive voice is translated by using prefix di- or ter- (Lou, 2006:33). Besides
the agent phrase (by PLN) in the sentence shows that PLN performs the action of
the verb operated. Hence, it is obvious that operated by PLN is passive voice although there is no be before the verb operated.
In English, we can change adjective clause into adjective phrase with omitting
relative pronoun (who/which/that) and be in
the adjective clause. This sentence uses simple present tense, and the transmission network is a noun. Hence, if the sentence is
written in complete sentence, it becomes the
transmission network which is operated
by PLN.
2) In paragraph 2, first sentence:
The model is called power wheeling.
S be V-tr Object
(V3)
Analysis: The sentence
is passive voice because the subject of the sentence is passive grammatically. The model isn’t doing anything although
it is the grammatical subject of the sentence. Besides there is a be “is” before the past participle (V3) called. The sentence is called as agentless passive because it does not contain the by-phrase
(agent phrase). It uses simple present tense because be which is used in the passive voice is “is”.
3) In paragraph 4, first sentence:
“The
rate adjustment will be made every two months until the end of the year with an
increase of 8.6 percent for industries with 200 kilovolt amperes (kVA) and 13.3
percent for industries with up to 30,000 kVA in consumption.”
Analysis:
The rate adjustment will
be made every two months
S aux be V3 ADV/T
In
this case, the rate adjustment as the
subject of
the sentence does not perform the action of the verb. The
subject is the receiver of the action. Hence, the sentence is called as passive
voice. If we see the pattern of the sentence, it does not contain the agent
phrase (by-phrase). The
sentence therefore is called as agentless
passive. This
passive voice uses simple future tense.
4) In paragraph
5, first sentence:
“All
this time, power generators have been built by PLN using the state budget or
other government funding.”
Analysis:
power
generators have been built by PLN
S aux be V3 PP
With
referring to the pattern of the sentence above, it is obvious that the sentence
is passive voice. The subject power generators does not perform
the action of the verb. It is the
receiver of the action (PLN). In other words, the agent phrase in the sentence
is PLN that performs the action of the verb. This passive voice uses present
perfect tense.
5) In paragraph
5, second sentence:
Later,
this will be conducted by private companies.
S aux be V3 PP
Analysis: The sentence is obvious in passive voice.
The subject (this) is passive
grammatically. It is the receiver of the action (private companies). The
sentence cannot be said as the agentless passive because it has an agent phrase
(by private companies). Based on the sentence pattern above, the passive voice
uses simple future tense in the "will" form.
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NOTE:
S : Subject PP : Prepositional Phrase
V-tr : Verb Transitive V-intr : Verb Intransitive
DO : Direct Object Inf : Infinitive (to+V1)
ADV/PT: Adverbial of Place or Time Aux : Auxiliary Verb
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