Will
SIMPLE / In 1965, smoking caused cancer for the first time. / It’s a truth and a fact that Smoking causes cancer. / If we take preventive actions smoking will cause canceronly in a reduced amount of people.
Passive voice / In 1985, cancer was caused by smoking for the first time. / It’s a truth and a fact that cancer iscaused by smoking. / Cancer will becausedby smoking
CONTINUOUS / 20 years ago, smokingwas causingcancer in 22% of the male population. / As of today, smoking is causing cancer in 27% of the population. / If the present figures persist, smoking will be causing cancerto half the Costa Rican population in 10 years.
Passive voice / 20 years ago, cancer was beingcaused by smoking in 20% of the male population. / As of today, Cancer is beingcaused by smokingin 27% of the population. / Cancerwill be beingcaused by smoking
PERFECT / By the time the world understood the impact of cigarettes, smoking had alreadycausedcancerin children. / Historically, smoking has caused cancer in men more than in women. / By the year 2020 smoking will have caused cancer to another 2 million people in Costa Rica.
Passive voice / Cancer had beencaused by smoking / Cancer has beencaused by smoking / Cancerwill have beencaused by smoking
PERFECT CONTINUOUS / When the first strategies to stop cigarette habit were first proposed, smoking had already been causingcancer around the world. / Smoking has been causing cancer since massive production in the 70’s. / In 2025, smokingwill have been causing cancer for 60 years now.
Passive voice / Cancer had been beingcaused by smoking / Cancer has been beingcaused by smoking / Cancerwill have been beingcaused by smoking
Be Going to / When the cigar market was opened by the National Chamber of Commerce, experts predicted that Smoking was going to cause cancer in a vast population. / If the cigarettes industry is not stopped, Smoking is going to cause cancer, but also negative consequences in our social security services. / (redundant)
Passive voice / Cancer was going to be caused by smoking / …are going to be caused by smoking.
Legend: S= subjectV= verbDO= Direct ObjectDoer= he who does the action. Executor.
Formulas:
Active Voice: [ S + V + DO ]
Passive Voice [ DO + Be + Participle + by Doer ]
Passive Voice without By
Message is what really matters, not the subject.
The Congress passed a law to regulate the sale of cigarettes in 1992.
A law was passed by the Congress in 1992 to regulate the sale of cigarettes.
The hotel staff set up the place for the party yesterday.
The place for the party was set up by hotel staffyesterday.
The administration does not allow pets in the hotel.
Pets are not allowed by the administration in the hotel.
Pets are not allowed.
No pets are allowed.
No pets allowed.
No Pets. / No parking / No Smoking / No Cell Phones.
Passive Voice with a Direct Object [ S +V +DO ] [ DO +Be +V + by Doer]
The manager gave a speech. A speech was given by the manager.
S V DO DO Be Participleby Doer
Passive Voice with a Direct Object and an Indirect Object [ S +V +DO + IO] [ DO +Be +V + IO+ by Doer]
The manager gave a speech to the employees. A speech was given to the employees by the manager.
S V DO IO DO Be Participle Indirect Object by Doer
Subject: it’s the protagonist in the sentence.
Verb: it’s the action performed by the subject.
DO: It’s “the thing given”. The object that receives the action. It’s what the subject verbs.
IO: It’s who receives the DO.
“Jordan passed Pippen the ball.”Also “Jordan passed the ball to Pippen.”
“She told me the truth.”
Direct and Indirect Objects
What is an Object?
Anobjectin grammar is a part of a sentence, and often part of thepredicate. It refers to someone or something involved in thesubject's "performance" of the verb. It is what the verb is being done to. Example:
Subject / Verb / ObjectLeila / wrote / a poem.
- "Leila" is thesubject, the doer or performer,
- "wrote" is averbthat refers to the action,
- "a poem" is the object involved in the action.
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
A verb can be classified astransitiveorintransitiveaccording to whether it takes or doesn't take an object:
- If a verb takes objects, then it is atransitive verb.
Example:
They playedsoccer. → (The verbplaytakes ONE object 'soccer')
They senthima postcard. → (The verbsendtakes TWO objects'him'and'a postcard')
- If a verb doesn't take an object, then it isan intransitive verb.
Example:
She lies. → (The verb 'lie' doesn't take any object)
The building collapsed. → (The verb'collapse'doesn't take any object)
Types of objects
There are two types of objects:directandindirect objects:
Direct object
A direct object answers the question"what?" or "whom?"
Examples:
- Davidrepairedhis car→his caris thedirect objectof the verbrepaired.(What did David repair?)
- HeinvitedMaryto the party→Maryis thedirect objectof the verbinvited. (Whom did he invite?)
Indirect Object
An indirect object answers the question"to whom?", "for whom?", "for what?"...
An indirect object is the recipient of the direct object, or an otherwise affected participant in the event. There must be a direct object for an indirect object to be placed in a sentence. In other words, an indirect object cannot exist without a direct object.
Examples:
- They sent him a postcard -himis theindirect objectof the verbsent. (To whomdid they send a postcard?)
- He bought his son a bike -his sonis theindirect objectof the verbbought. (For whomdid he buy a bike?)