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The passive voice
The exercises are at the end of this course. You may provide your answers, questions, or feedback in the comment section.
Form
The passive of an active tense is formed by putting the verb to be into the same tense as the active verb and adding the past participle of the active verb. The subject of the active verb becomes the 'agent' of the passive verb. The agent is very often not mentioned. When it is mentioned it is preceded by “by” and placed at the end of the clause:
This free was planted by my grandfather.
Examples of the present, past, and perfect passive tenses:
Active We keep the butter here.
Passive The butter is kept here.
Active They broke the window.
Passive The window was broken.
Active People have seen wolves in She streets.
Passive Wolves have been seen in the streets.
The passive of continuous tenses requires the present continuous forms of to be, which are not otherwise much used:
Active They are repairing the bridge.
Passive The bridge is being repaired.
Active They were carrying the injured player off the field.
Passive The injured player was being carried off the field.
Other continuous tenses are exceedingly rarely used in the passive, so that sentences such as:
They have/had been repairing the road and
They will/would be repairing the road are not normally put into the passive,
Auxiliary + infinitive combinations are made passive by using a passive infinitive:
Active You must/should shut these doors.
Passive These doors must/should be shut.
Active They should/ought to have told him.
(perfect infinitive active)
Passive He should/ought to have been told.
(perfect infinitive passive)
Tense | Active voice | Passive Voice |
Simple present | keeps | is kept |
Present continuous | is keeping | is being kept |
Simple past | kept | was kept |
Past continuous | was keeping | was being kept |
Present Perfect | has kept | has been kept |
Past perfect | had kept | had been kept |
Future | will keep | will be kept |
Conditional | would keep | would be kept |
Perfect conditional | would have kept | would have been kept |
Present infinitive | to keep | to be kept |
Perfect infinitive | to have kept | to have been kept |
Present participle/gerund | keeping | being kept |
Perfect participle | having kept | having been kept |
Examples:
Active He wants someone to take photographs.
Passive He wants photographs to be taken.
Active He invited me to go.
Passive I was invited to go.
Active He urged the Council to reduce the rates.
Passive The Council was/were urged to reduce the rates
or
He urged that the rates should be reduced.
Active He decided to sell the house.
Passive He decided that the house should lie sold.
Active He recommended using bullet-proof glass.
Passive He recommended that bullet-proof glass should be used.
ActiveI remember them taking me to the Zoo.
Passive/ remember being taken to the Zoo.
ActiveSomeone gave her a bulldog, could have two passive forms:
She was given a bulldog.
A bulldog was given to her.
ActiveWhat did they steal?
PassiveWhat was stolen?
ActiveWho painted it?
PassiveWho was it painted by?
Uses of the passive
The passive is used:
A When it is not necessary to mention the doer of the action as it is obvious who he is/was/will be:
The rubbish hasn't been collected.
The streets are swept every day.
Your hand will be X-rayed.
B When we don't know, or don't know exactly, or have forgotten who did the action:
The minister was murdered.
My cay has been moved!
You'll be met at the station.
I've been told that. . .
C When the subject of the active verb would be 'people':
He is suspected of receiving stolen goods. (People suspect him of . . ,)
They are supposed to be living in New York. (People suppose that they are living . . .)
D When the subject of the active sentence would be the indefinite pronoun one: One sees this sort of advertisement everywhere would usually be expressed:
This sort of advertisement is seen everywhere.
E When we are more interested in the action than the person who does it:
The house next door has been bought (by a M-r Jones).
A new public library is being built (by our local council)
Or They are building a new public library.
F The passive may be used to avoid an awkward or ungrammatical sentence. This is usually done by avoiding a change of subject:
ActiveWhen he arrived home a detective arrested him.
PassiveWhen he arrived home he was arrested (by a detective).
ActiveWhen their mother was ill neighbors looked after the children.
PassiveWhen their mother was ill the children were looked after by neighbors.
Prepositions with passive verbs
ActiveDufy painted this picture.
PassiveThis picture was painted by Dufy.
ActiveWhat makes these holes?
PassiveWhat are these holes made by?
ActiveSmoke filled the room.
PassiveThe room was filled with smoke.
ActivePaint covered the lock.
PassiveThe lock was covered with paint.
ActiveWe must write to him.
PassiveHe must be written to.
ActiveYou can play with these cubs quite safely.
PassiveThese cubs can be played with quite safely.
ActiveThey threw away the old newspapers.
PassiveThe old newspapers were thrown away.
ActiveHe looked after the children well.
PassiveThe children were well looked after.
Infinitive constructions after passive verbs
After acknowledge, assume, believe, claim, consider, estimate, feel, find, know, presume, report, say, think, understand etc,
Active People consider/know/think etc. that he is . . .
PassiveIt is considered/known/thought etc. that he is . ..
PassiveHe is considered/known/thought etc. to be . . .
Active People said that he was jealous of her.
PassiveIt was said that he was jealous of her.
or He was said to be jealous of her.
PassiveYou are supposed to know how to drive = It is your duty to know/Vim should know how to drive though
He is supposed to be in Paris = 'He ought to be there' or 'People suppose he is there'-
Exercises
Write your answer in the comment section:
Rewrite the sentences in the passive voice.
- John collects money. -
- Anna opened the window. -
- We have done our homework. -
- I will ask a question. -
- He can cut out the picture. -
- The sheep ate a lot. -
- We do not clean our rooms. -
- William will not repair the car. -
- Did Sue draw this circle? -
- Could you feed the dog? -
Rewrite the sentences in the passive voice.
- He opens the door. -
- We set the table. -
- She pays a lot of money. -
- I draw a picture. -
- They wear blue shoes. -
- They don't help you. -
- He doesn't open the book. -
- You do not write the letter. -
- Does your mum pick you up? -
- Does the police officer catch the thief? -
Write passive sentences (use the indications between brackets.)
- the picture / draw (Simple Present)
- the door / close (Simple Past)
- the house / steal (Present Continuous)
- the bike / repair (Past Continuous)
- the room/ clean (Present Perfect)
- the homework / do (Past perfect)
- the window / break (Simple future)
- the essay / write (Should + Verb)
Rewrite the following sentences as suggested:
- The boy writes poems.
- The girl drove the blue car.
- They have collected enough money.
- They will open a new restaurant.
- The little boy can draw pictures.
- The guard watched the prisoner.
- They will not play soccer.
- They believe that he writes good poems.
Rewrite these sentences starting with the words in bold:
- Her friend gave her a book.
- They offered him a job.
- The man showed us the house.
- My friend gave me a pen.
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