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Dr. H. Zulkarnain: English for Students in Agriculture (PNU 122): A Resource Book
CHAPTER 6
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICES
Specific instructional aims
Students are able to understand, differentiate, and use the active and
passive sentences correctly.
Sub topics

Active voice (present, past, future, continuous, perfect)

Passive voice (present, past, future, continuous, perfect)
The voice of verb shows whether the sentence is active or passive. The
sentence is active if an action is performed by the subject, and the sentence is
passive if an action was performed on the subject. The active voice is used in
making a straight forward statement about an action, i.e. the “doer” of the action
is the subject of the sentence. In the passive voice, the “doer” of the action is
not important because the subject of the passive sentence generally obvious to
everyone.
Therefore, in a passive sentence the subject is often omitted.
However, when it is important to show the subject, a prepositional word “by” is
used.
Please notice on the use of the active and passive voice in some basic
sentences as indicated in the following sections.
Simple tenses
Active
: Subject + verb (type I)
Passive : Subject + verb to be + verb (type III)
Examples:
A : Jono grows some flowers in his garden.
P : Some flowers are grown by Jono in his garden.
A : We kill the weeds with a herbicide.
P : The weeds are killed with a herbicide.
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Dr. H. Zulkarnain: English for Students in Agriculture (PNU 122): A Resource Book
A : Farmers harvested their rice using “ani-ani”.
P : The rice were harvested using “ani-ani”.
A : Ali and Joko attended the agricultural extension yesterday.
P : The agricultural extension was attended by Ali and Joko yesterday.
A : Candra will present the agricultural research plan tomorrow.
P : The agricultural research plant will be presented tomorrow.
A : We are going to discuss the cause of production loss today.
P : The cause of production loss is going to be discussed today.
Continuous tenses
Active
: Subject + verb to be + verb (type I) + ing
Passive : Subject + verb to be + being + verb (type III)
Examples:
A : Santi is planting shallots in the glasshouse.
P : Shallots are being planted in the glasshouse.
A : Farmers are clearing weeds manually.
P : The weeds are being cleared manually.
A : Jono was climbing the tree when suddenly the branch broke.
P : The tree was being climbed by Jono when suddenly the branch broke.
A : The soil scientists were surveying the area when the landslide happened.
P : The area was being surveyed when the landslide happened.
Perfect tenses
Active
: Subject + have/has + verb (type III)
Passive : Subject + have/has + been + verb (type III)
Examples:
A : The young farmer has harvested his soybean two days ago.
P : The soybean has been harvested two days ago.
A : In order to increase soil fertility, farmers have used manure.
P : Manure has been used in order to increase soil fertility.
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Dr. H. Zulkarnain: English for Students in Agriculture (PNU 122): A Resource Book
A : Farmers in Java had used buffaloes for land cultivation since many years .
P : Buffaloes had been used for land cultivation since many years.
A : The local government had provided more funds for agricultural sector.
P : More funds had been provided for agricultural sector.
Sentence transformation
The negation in passive voice is performed in the usual manner, i.e. by
placing the word not after the verb to be (auxiliary verb).
Whereas the
interrogative form is performed by placing the verb to be at the beginning of a
sentence followed by the subject and past participle (verb type III).
Examples:
1. The area was covered by smoke from bush fire.
- The area was not covered by smoke from bush fire.
- Was the area covered by smoke from bush fire?
2. Plant pests and diseases can be prevented by spraying pesticide.
- Plant pests and diseases can not be prevented by spraying pesticide
- Can plant pests and diseases be prevented by spraying pesticide?
3. The new apple clones have been created via plant biotechnology.
- The new apple clones have not been created via plant biotechnology.
- Have the new apple clones been created via plant biotechnology?
4. Soil fertility is being investigated by soil scientists from Unja.
- The soil fertility is not being investigated by soil scientists from Unja.
- Is the soil fertility is being investigated by soil scientists from Unja?
5. The plant tissue culture technique is applied widely in plant breeding.
- The plant tissue culture technique is not applied widely in plant breeding.
- Is the plant tissue culture technique applied widely in plant breeding?
Students’ activity
Assignment 1
Change the following sentences into passive voice or active voice. Please
look carefully on the verbs used.
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Dr. H. Zulkarnain: English for Students in Agriculture (PNU 122): A Resource Book
1.
Teak (Tectona grandis) are planted in East Java.
2.
Scientists are studying agroforestry and its benefit to farmers in Jambi.
3.
The Department of Forestry grows iron wood (Eusideroxylon zwagerii) in
Senami restricted area.
4.
My tomato plants were attacked by root disease.
5.
Forty percent of rice field in Jambi have been destroyed by flood.
6.
In 2000, the CVPD disease had caused total production loss of
approximately 2 billions rupiah.
7.
Water in our area is contaminated by pesticide.
8.
The Agricultural Faculty Unja will open Forestry Department next year.
9.
Farmers in Tanjung Jabung has exported coconut oil to China since 1998.
10. During harvest time, birds eat the rice in the rice field.
Assignment 2
Read the following passage carefully and identify the verbs in passive
voice.
Crop Protection Using Chemical Dusts
The problem of applying chemicals for crop protection is greater than of spreading fertilizers.
This is because a very small amount of active ingredient has to be applied to a large crop area,
often to a particular part of the plant where it can be most effective. These active materials are
formulated for application in a number of ways. However, dusting is the method which will be
discussed in this passage. In dusting, the finely ground active ingredient, is blended down with
a local filler such as a talc or clay to give a dust, usually containing 2 – 4% of active ingredient.
This can be applied to the crops by hand dusters, tractor drawn dusters that blow the dust out
through a boom, aircraft, or by drift dusting. The characteristics of the finished blended dust
should be determined by the method of application. However, in the tropical area such as
Indonesia, there is a limited choice of fillers.
Vocabulary list
Active ingredient
= bahan aktif
Bush fire
= kebakaran hutan
Chemicals
= bahan-bahan kimia
Clay
= liat (tanah liat)
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Dr. H. Zulkarnain: English for Students in Agriculture (PNU 122): A Resource Book
Crop protection
= perlindungan tanaman
Department of Forestry
= Jurusan Kehutanan
Dusting
= penyemprotan partikel debu
Filler
= bahan pengisi
Glasshouse
= rumah kaca
Herbicide
= herbisida (racun pembasmi gulma)
Iron wood
= tanaman bulian (kayu bulian)
Landslide
= tanah longsor
Manure
= pupuk kandang
Root disease
= penyakit akar
Shallot
= bawang daun
Talc
= talek (bahan mineral pembuat tepung talek)
Teak
= tanaman jati (kayu jati)
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