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.