| Active Voice | Passive Voice |
|---|---|
| We allowed them their choice. | They were allowed their choice. |
| He allowed each speaker an hour. | Each speaker was allowed an hour. |
| They showed me the way. | I was shown the way. |
| Experience has taught me wisdom. | I have been taught wisdom by experience. |
The direct object after a passive verb is often called the retained object.
Note. This construction, though common, is avoided by many careful writers, except in a few well-established idioms. Its habitual use gives one’s style a heavy and awkward air. Instead of “He was given permission,” one may say “He received permission”; instead of “I was given this watch by my aunt,” either “It was my aunt who gave me this watch” or “This watch was a present from my aunt.”
254. The verb ask, which may take two direct objects,—one denoting the person, the other the thing,—sometimes retains its second object in the passive construction ([§ 103]).
- Active. We asked him his opinion.
- Passive. He was asked his opinion.
PROGRESSIVE VERB-PHRASES
255. In addition to the tense-forms already described, verbs have so-called progressive forms.
The progressive form of a tense represents the action of the verb as going on or continuing at the time referred to.
- I ate my dinner.
- I was eating my dinner.
- While I was quietly reading by my fireside, strange things were taking place in the square.
Both ate and was eating are in the past tense. But ate merely expresses a past action, whereas was eating describes this action as continuing or in progress in past time.