Essay On Passive Voice

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Structures
The common structure of forming a passive voice is: BE + P.P ( the combine of “to be verb” with the “past participle” (P.P) of the main verb). We call this as “Be passive”. Be passive can be used in various tenses.
Numbers Tenses Structure Example
1 Simple Present am/is/are + Past Participle (P.P) I am punished.
2 Simple Present Continuous am/ is/ are + being + P.P I am being punished.
3 Simple Past was/ were + P.P I was punished.
4 Past Continuous was/ were + being + P.P I was being punished.
5 Present Perfect has/ have + been + P.P I have been punished.
6 Present Perfect Continuous has/ have + been+ being + P.P I have been being punished.
7 Past Perfect had + been + P.P I had been punished.
8 Past Perfect Continuous had + been …show more content…

Not all the passive meaning sentences contain “bị/ được” (Bạn sinh ở đâu?/ Where were you born?) and not all the sentences contain “bị/ được” have passive meaning (Tôi bị bệnh/ I am sick).
Similarities and differences
Similarities
In both English and Vietnamese, we use passive voice to focus, to put more attention on the fact, the action or the result of the action. We want to focus more on the recipient than on the performer, and as a result, the doer or the agent is often omitted.
Differences
The frequency of using
Passive voice has a very important role in English, especially in some academic papers. According to some researchers, English speakers tend to use passive voice a lot in their daily conversation while Vietnamese tend to avoid it. Using passive voice in Vietnamese will cause unnaturalness. …show more content…

However in Vietnamese is : bị/được + verb. In English, “be” verb is changed depending on the subject and the tense of the sentences. However in Vietnamese, the form of “bị/ được” is constant. One more difference is in English, there is no change in the structure “be + past participle” no matter what the meaning is but in Vietnamese, passive voice with the word “được” is used with the positive meanings and the word “bị” is used with negative meanings.
Some common mistakes in translation
So many English – Vietnamese learners make mistakes in translation. One of the most common mistakes in English – Vietnamese translation is “bị/ được”. In some situations, we can omit it so that the sentence can be more logical and natural. For instance:
Anh ấy bị mất máy tính xách tay.
→ He was lost his laptop. (False)
→ He lost his laptop.

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