In Grammar 1-1, we saw that all Passive Voice sentences contain objects that move to the subject position of the sentence. But what happens when the Active Voice sentence contains two objects?
One object
- Active Voice
- My mom bought a car.
- Passive Voice
- A car was bought by my mom.
Two objects
- Active Voice
- My mom gave me a car for my birthday. (=My mom gave a car to me.)
- Passive Voice
- I was given a car by my mom for my birthday.
- A car was given to me by my mom for my birthday.
Possible Structures
Even if a sentence has two objects, both structures may not be possible.
Two possible structures
Two objects
- Active Voice
- Her aunt sent her a card for her graduation.
- Passive Voice
- She was sent a card by her aunt for her graduation.
- A card was sent to her by her aunt for her graduation.
Although a preposition is added (“to” her), both structures are possible.
Some verbs in this category are:
- allow
- ask
- bring
- deny
- excuse
- feed
- forgive
- give
- hand
- kick
- lend
- offer
- order
- owe
- pass
- permit
- promise
- refuse
- read
- sell
- send
- serve
- show
- teach
- tell
- throw
- wish
- write
One possible structure
Two objects
- Active Voice
- Last week, Sammy announced his retirement to his family.
- Passive Voice
- Last week, Sammy’s retirement was announced to his family.
- Last week, Sammy’s family was announced his retirement.
Some verbs in this category are:
- announce
- confess
- contribute
- declare
- describe
- deliver
- donate
- explain
- introduce
- mention
- refer
- prove
- return
- report
- say
- speak
- submit
- suggest
Another possible structure is possible with the example above - “Last week, it was announced to Sammy’s family that he was going to retire”. However, this impersonal structure will be studied later.