[Grammar] Voice change help is needed

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paku5535

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Hello teachers and my friends,

I am an ESL speaker. In our field having good english speaking skill is of utmost important. So i started working on grammars again. like solving exercises from books. I dont have time to go for a professional guide right now.So i guess this forum can help me as a teacher by helping people.

I solved many voice changes from books out of which i am confused on few. So I want to post their answers to make sure they are correct. So if u find any mistakes please help me correcting the errors.

1. we agree to your proposal
Ans=> your proposal is agreed to by us.

2.we compelled him to surrendar
Ans=> he was compelled to surrendar

3.they took no notice of me.
Ans=> I was not noticed to them

4. I have gone through the book
Ans=> The book has been gone through by me.

5. he hurt himself
Ans=> he was hurt by himself

6. he marries her for money
Ans=> she is married to her for money

7. he was obliged to leave
Ans=> someone obliged him to leave.

8. he will lend me some money
Ans=> some money will be lent to me by him

9. he gave her a lift in his new car.
Ans=>she was given a lift by him in his new car.

10. tell him to see me
Ans=> he is told to see him

11. let our task be completed
Ans=>let us complete our task

12. what are you looking for?
Ans=> what is being looked for?

13. who chaired the meeting?
Ans=> By whom was the meeting chaired?

14. whom does she like most?
Ans=> whom is liked most to her?

15. why did you do it?
Ans=> why was it done by you?

16. do you know me?
Ans=> am i known to you?

17. does he do his homework daily?
Ans=> is his homework done by him daily?

18. did you see her before?
Ans=>was she seen to you before?

19. have you read my books?
Ans=> have my books been read by you?

20. shall i forget those dreadful days?
Ans=> shall those dreadful days be forgotten?

21. were you writing a report?
Ans=> was a report being written by you?

22. who told you so?
Ans=> by whom were you told so?

23. why should i be respected by you?
Ans=>why should you respect me?

24. where did you find it?
Ans=> from where was it found?

25. who is looking into the case?
Ans=> by whom is the case being looked into?

26. why did she slap on your face?
Ans=> why were you slapped on your face by her?

27. who do you want?
Ans=> who is wanted by you?

28. did i not tell you so?
Ans=>were you not told so?

29. people say that politics spoils the state
Ans=> it is said that politics spoils the state

30. i learnt how you did it.
Ans=> i learnt how it was done by you.

31. it is known that they will knock him down.
Ans=>we know that he will be knocked down by them.

32. it is time to say our prayer.
Ans=> it is time for our prayer to be said

33. the flask contains milk.
Ans=> milk is contained in the flask.

34. we were surprised at it.
Ans=> it surprised us.

35. may you live long.
Ans=> could not make any answer.

36. rose smells sweet.
Ans=> could not make any answer.

37. let us go together.
Ans=> let us be gone together.

38. seven days make a week.
Ans=> a week is made out of seven days.

39. the drum is beating.
Ans=> could not find any answer to that question.

Looking for your valuable feedback so that i can move onto another section.

regards
 

Barb_D

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Hellop paku, and welcome to Using English.
Thank you for telling us you are studying by yourself. This helps us know how to help you.

Your post is far too long. Asking us to review 40 questions is too much. Please don't do this in the future.

My best advice is to NOT WORRY about changing active voice to passive voice.

ESL text books and teachers seem to love these exercises. They result in sentences no native speaker would ever say. For example "The book has been gone through by me" and "Is his homework done by him daily?" are the correct transformations but completely unnatural. {NOTE: You do need to start your sentences with a capital letter.}

You clearly have the basic idea of creating passive sentences. Unless you need to do this for an exam, it's time to move on to the next section in your book.
 

emsr2d2

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Barb's advice is great and we look forward to helping you in some (shorter) future posts. It is important that you follow the rules of written English in future:

- Start every sentence with a capital letter.
- End every sentence with a single appropriate punctuation mark.
- Always capitalise the word "I" (first person singular).


Note that in your second sentence, you should have said "... of utmost importance" and in your third sentence "... so I started working on grammar" (it's generally an uncountable noun).
 

5jj

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I agree completely with the last two responses. There are situations in which the passive is appropriate, but many native speakers never use a passive in their lives.

When/if we use the passive, it is generally because:

- We don't know who the agent is, or the agent is not important:

Ruth Ellis was hanged in 1955. She was the last woman to be executed in Great Britain.

Here, the person who performed the execution is known to some (but not many) people, but he is unimportant. What is important is the hanging of this woman.


-We may wish not to place importance on the agent:
I'm afraid your application for a loan has been declined.

Possibly the speaker rejected it himself, but would rather not admit this.


- In academic writing, especially in scientific writing, the passive gives an impersonal, objective impression:

The passive is rarely used in informal conversation.


People who use the passive for one of these, or for some other reason, generally produce the sentences in the passive. They do not produce an active sentence and then transform it. I loathe transformation exercises in coursebooks. As Barb said, they often result in very unnatural sentences.

Good luck with your efforts. I hope this forum proves useful for you.
 
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paku5535

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Hello,

Thanks everyone for correcting me and telling me how to use this site in the future.

I am still dubious about my approach to improve mostly my speaking skills as you told me certain voice changes that I made was just for the sake of changing purpose and hardly useful for real verbal communication.

Can you show me a path through which I can progress to incorporate the important things that are necessary (in terms of speaking) . Then I can make a schedule balancing my actual studies and English learning side by side.

I will keep in touch with this website.
 

Barb_D

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Are you spending time every day listening to English-language broadcasts? Watching English-language television or videos?
 

paku5535

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Are you spending time every day listening to English-language broadcasts? Watching English-language television or videos?
hello, I don't listen to any English broadcast specific to English learning but i watch movies and listen to the music and watch assorted videos on YouTube and elsewhere.
 

emsr2d2

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Hello, I don't listen to any English broadcast specific to English learning but I watch movies and listen to the music and watch assorted videos on YouTube and elsewhere.

Please re-read my advice about correct written English in post #3.

Watching movies will help you with your comprehension although you will hear a lot of non-standard and slang English. I don't really recommend listening to music because lyrics are rarely grammatical and even when they are, they're not written in the same way that people speak. Watch English-speaking news broadcasts from good-quality broadcasters (the BBC, for example). Videos on TED are great too. Be careful with your choice of YouTube videos. If you are watching, for example episodes of TV shows (Life on Earth/Blue Planet etc by David Attenborough is a great one - good, well-enunciated English and they're educational at the same time), then they will help, but the videos uploaded by individuals of themselves speaking can actually serve to confuse you further.

If you have the radio on in the background all the time (well, whenever possible), that will help you get to grips with the rhythm and the cadence of the language. Choose a "talk radio" station (BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, Radio 5 if you like sport) so that you are surrounded by spoken English as much as possible. Don't actively listen and try to understand every word - you might just get frustrated.
 
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