Grammar

Icono de iDevice The passive voice
Revise the structure of a passive sentence:

 

SUBJECT TO BE
P. PARTICIPLE
OBJECTS AND COMPLEMENTS
(AGENT)*

*The agent is not mentioned if it is not important or unknown.

PACO WAS
SHOWN
THE PARK
BY THE GUIDE

The active version would be: The guide showed Paco the park.

Transform the following sentences into active or passive:

ACTIVE SENTENCES PASSIVE SENTENCES
Paco chose Maasai Mara for his safari.
  
  This park is visited by many people every year.
A group of English-speaking people were going to experience the same safari.  
James told them about the schedules.
  
  A few rules were mentioned.
  Many National Geographic movies are recorded here every year.
Icono IDevice FORM

PASSIVE, FORM

  • The passive voice in English is composed of two elements:

- the correct form of the verb 'to be' + the past participle of the verb in question:

Subject
verb 'to be"
past participle

The house

These cars

The kitchen

was

are

hasn't been

built

made

painted

in 1992

in Italy

yet
  • We can use the passive in any tense. To make different tenses we change the verb to be:

Present simple: The information is sent to our main office

Present continuous: The house is being painted

Past simple: My bike was stolen

Past continuous: I felt as if I was being followed

Present Perfect: Three people have been robbed

Past perfect: I knew why I had been chosen

Future simple: You'll be told in advance

Going-to future: Who's going to be invited?

Modal verbs: The house should be cleaned
                     You might have been hurt

  • PASSIVE: by + agent.

In sentences like: The trouble was caused by your mother

the part of the sentence introduced by by is called the agent.

The agent is only expressed when it is important to say who or what something is done by. In most passive sentences, there is no agent.

A new bank has just been opened.
I'm always being asked for money.

  • PASSIVE: verbs with two objects.
Many verbs, such as give, send, show, lend, explain, invite, ask, tell, teach, pay, promise, offer, etc., can be followed by two objects, which usually refer to a person (indirect object) and a thing (direct object). When these verbs are used in the passive, there are two possibilities:

Her sister was given a book. (The person is the receiver and subject of the passive verb)

A book was given to her sister. (The object is the subject of the passive verb)

Most often in such cases the person becomes the subject of the passive verb:

I've been sent a lot of information.

You were lent ten thousand pounds last year.

We were shown all the different ways of making whisky.


Icono IDevice Important

Remember that in Spanish we do not use the passive voice as often as in English.

In English we have to use the passive when:

  • the emphasis is on the action rather than on the person or people who did the action: In 1992 the Olympic Games were held in Barcelona
  • the person who performed the action is unknown: My car has been stolen
  • the person who performed the action is irrelevant: A new hospital will be opened next week
When we mention the agent, it is introduced with the preposition by: The entrance to the stadium was controlled by the police

Icono de iDevice

Make passive sentences using the verb in brackets

Example: All the comics (already - sell) →  All the comics have already been sold 

1. Nowadays computers (use) in many fields

2. The missing girl (cannot - find) anywhere

3. The house (sell) when they retire

4. My car (steal) yesterday morning

5. I believe taxes (should - reduce)  

6. The child (give) a lot of presents for his birthday

7. The machine (must - repair)

8. The best oranges (export) to other countries

9. An ambulance (call) when the police arrived

10. Children under sixteen (not admit)

11. (A decision - take) yet? 

12. A new hotel (open) next year 

  

« Anterior | Siguiente »