What is "Passive Voice of Past Indefinite" with its Uses, Structure and Examples
The past indefinite passive is a verb tense that is used to
describe actions that were completed in the past. In this tense, the subject of
the sentence is the recipient of the action, and the verb is conjugated to be
in the passive voice.
VERB: 3rd Form of Verb
Helping Verb: was, were
Structure of Sentence:
1) Simple: Subject + helping verb + verb + by + the actor
2) Negative: Subject + helping verb + not + verb + by + the actor
3) Interrogative: Helping verb + subject + verb + by + the actor
4) Negative Interrogative: Helping verb + subject + not + verb + by + the actor
Here is an example of a sentence in the Past Indefinite Passive:
"The letter was delivered yesterday."
In this sentence, the subject is "the letter" and
the verb is "was delivered." The verb is conjugated in the passive
voice, which means that the subject receives the action rather than performing
it.
The structure of a sentence in the past indefinite passive is:
Subject + auxiliary verb "be" (in the past tense)
+ past participle of the main verb
For Example:
1. "The house was cleaned yesterday." (Subject:
"the house"; auxiliary verb: "was"; past participle of main
verb: "cleaned")
2. "The cake was baked last week." (Subject:
"the cake"; auxiliary verb: "was"; past participle of main
verb: "baked")
There are several uses of the past indefinite passive. Here are a few:
1. To describe actions that were completed in the past:
"The garbage was collected yesterday."
2. To describe actions that were performed by an unknown or
unspecified person or thing in the past: "The window was opened every
morning."
3. To make the subject of the sentence more prominent or
important: "The award-winning novel was written by a young author."
4. To create a formal or impersonal tone: "The decision
was made by the board of directors."
5. To emphasize the action rather than the doer of the action:
"The experiment was conducted carefully."
6.To describe processes or systems that were ongoing or
automatic in the past: "The mail was sorted and delivered by the postal
service."