+142.+ So we have thus changed the verb form from _struck_ to _was struck_ to indicate that the subject of the verb is the receiver of the action. _Struck_ is called the active form of the verb because the subject of the verb is the actor. _Was struck_ is called the passive form of the verb because the subject receives the action. Passive means _receiving_. In the passive form the subject is the receiver of the action expressed in the verb.
+143.+ You remember that complete verbs have no object or complement, therefore it would follow that they cannot be put in the passive form for there is no object to become the receiver of the action. Take the complete verb, _sleep_, for example. We do not _sleep_ anything, hence _sleep_ has no passive form for there is no object which can be used as the subject, the receiver of the action.
+Only transitive verbs can be put into the passive form.+ Remember that a transitive verb in the passive form is one that represents its subject as receiving the action.
The present, past, future and all the perfect time forms of transitive verbs can be changed from active to passive. The progressive time forms can be changed into the passive, but it makes an awkward construction and should be avoided as much as possible. Occasionally, however, we find it worth our while to use these forms, as for example:
This is the passive form of the present progressive, _The man is writing a book_.
This is the passive form of the past progressive, _The man was writing the book_.
+144.+ The future progressive passive is awkward, and the present and past progressive forms are the only forms we find used in the passive. The best writers use them sparingly for we can usually say the same thing by using the active form of the verb and have a sentence which sounds much better.
All the verbs in the following sentences are _transitive_ verbs in the _active_ form. Rewrite each sentence, putting the verb into the _passive_ form and making the _object_ of the _active_ verb the _subject_ of the _passive_ verb; as, for example, the first sentence should be rewritten as follows:
_War on Russia was declared by Germany on August 1, 1914._
1. Germany declared war on Russia, August 1, 1914. 2. Who will sign the Emancipation Proclamation of the Proletariat? 3. Marx and Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto. 4. Spain murdered Francisco Ferrer, October 13, 1909. 5. We celebrate the first of May as International Labor Day. 6. The people of Paris stormed the Bastille, July 14, 1789. 7. Wat Tyler was leading the English workers in rebellion against the King when the Mayor of London stabbed him in 1381. 8. The Inquisition burned Bruno at the stake for heresy in 1600. 9. The Paris Commune followed the German siege of Paris in 1871.