TENSE TUESDAY: ACTIVE vs. PASSIVE SIMPLE PAST

Good morning everyone and welcome to Tuesday's Daily Vitamin!

Today we are looking at the ACTIVE and PASSIVE forms of the Simple Past.

Remember that the Simple Past form of a verb in English has the -ED ending (if it's a regular verb): loved, hated, locked, etc. Irregular verbs change form; consider the following irregular verbs.

-go (present) went (past)
-see (present) saw (past)
-take (present) took (past)
etc.

The Simple Past Passive uses the following form: 

was past participle

What's the difference between the ACTIVE and PASSIVE? Each one places a different emphasis on a different part of the sentence. With the ACTIVE sentence, the emphasis is on the subject. 

Example 1: Sarah planned the party.
(The emphasis is on Sarah.)

Example 2: The party was planned by Sarah.
(The emphasis is on the party.)

Notice that the form of the past participle (planned) and the simple past (planned) are the same. This happens often, although there are lots of exceptions.

That's all for today. Thank you for reading!