will you give me your pens? (voice change)
Answers
Answer:
When you transform a verb from active to passive or vice versa, it must be kept in the same mood. That is, if your original phrase is in, say, the conditional, the transformed version must also be in the conditional. For example:
“He would read this book”
becomes
“This book would be read [by him]”
(“by him” can sometimes left out.)
The verb in your example (“Give me a pen”) is in the imperative mood, so when it is transformed into the passive, it should still be in the imperative. The problem is, in modern English we only have simple imperative verb forms for the second person, not the first or third person. But in the passive, one of the objects in your phrase (“me” or “a pen”) will become the subject, which means the verb will have to be in the first or third person.
The solution is to use a modal verb which implies a command, like “may”, “let” or “should”. (“May” and “let” come before the subject, while “should” comes after the subject.)
(One other point: Because you have TWO objects in your sentence, there are TWO passive versions of it. The new subject will be either “I” or “a pen”.)
So here are my suggestions:
ORIGINAL ACTIVE VERSION:
“Give me a pen”
FIRST PASSIVE VERSION (third-person subject):
“May a pen be given to me [by you]”
“Let a pen be given to me [by you]”
“A pen should be given to me [by you]”
SECOND PASSIVE VERSION (first-person subject):
“May I be given a pen [by you]”
“Let me be given a pen [by you]”
“I should be given a pen [by you]”