The PassiveUnit 10

What is the Passive

Verbs are also said to be either active or passive in voice.

In the active voice, the subject and verb relationship is straightforward: the subject is a be-er or a do-er and the verb moves the sentence along.

In the passive voice, the subject of the sentence is neither a do-er or a be-er, but is acted upon by some other agent or by something unnamed.

Use of Passive

Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known, however, who or what is performing the action.

We use the passive when: we want to make the active object more

important we do not know the active subject

Examples

My bike was stolen.

In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I do not know, however, who did it.

Examples

Sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than active voice, as the following example shows:

A mistake was made.

In this case, I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame anyone (e.g. You have made a mistake.).

Form of Passive

Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle

subject + auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (past participle)

The main verb is always in its past participle form.

Changing into passive

When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:1. the object of the active sentence

becomes the subject of the passive sentence

2. the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle)

3. the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped)

Changing into passive

Examples of the Passive

Examples of the Passive

Examples of the Passive

Examples of the Passive

Examples of the Passive

Present & Past Progressive

صورة إلضافة األيقونة فوق انقر

This tense is confusing because the verb "be" appears twice. This example uses the verb "tell" as the main verb: tell / told / told

Singular Plural

I am being told We are being told

You are being told You are being told

He is being told

She is being told They are being told

It is being told

The Present Continuous, Passive VoiceS + (be) + being + past participle

Examples of the Passive

Examples of the Passive

The Passive Present Progressive:

The book is being read by the boy.

Pancakes are being made in the kitchen.

Flowers are being grown in this garden. 

This tense is confusing because the verb "be" appears twice. This example uses the verb "teach" as the main verb:  teach / taught / taught

Singular Plural

I was being taught We were being taught

You were being taught You were being taught

He was being taught

She was being taught They were being taught

It was being taught

* This is similar to the causative form which we will look at in Lesson 15, Green Level.

The Past Continuous, Passive VoiceS + (be: was or were) + being + past participle

Examples of the Passive

Examples of the Passive

The Passive Past Progressive:

The book was being read by the boy.

Pancakes were being made in the kitchen.

Flowers were being grown in this garden.