Unit 5.1
Active and Passive Adjectives
Introduction
Adjectives are determiners that can be placed in two different positions within a sentence to modify or describe a person or a thing.
Adjectives can be used with active or passive voice.
Form
The active and passive adjectives can be created as follows:
- active adjectives with suffix -ing;
- passive adjectives with suffix -ed.
Example
Active adjectives:
- I’ve got some exciting news for you.
- Her answer was amazing!
- The film is so boring!
- They found the topic very interesting.
Passive adjectives:
- I was surprised by her reaction to the news.
- Her mother was disappointed with him.
- We are tired of lying to our parents.
- They are worried about their economic situation.
Use
We use active adjectives to express that somebody or something is causing a particular effect.
We use passive adjectives to express that somebody or something is experiencing a feeling or emotion.
Summary
Adjectives can be used either in an active or passive voice, with a significant difference in meaning.
- Active adjectives, with suffix -ing, express the idea of something or someone causing a particular event or effect.
- Passive adjectives, with suffix -ed, express the idea of something or someone experiencing a particular event or effect.
For example:
— “This class was boring!” = We use the active voice because it is the class that causes the boring situation.
— “I was bored during the lesson.” = We use the passive voice because the subject (I) is the one who experiences the action and gets bored.
Let’s revise this content within the {Form} section. Take a look at the {Example} section that shows its use within a context.