THE PASSIVE

Mónica Redondo Arias

 Examples
Stonehenge was built
in prehistoric times

It was probably
constructed as a place
of worship

• Many of its stones have

been stolen over the
years

• It is visited by a lot of
tourists every year
FORM
to be + past participle
PRESENT She writes the The reports are
am/is/are + pp
SIMPLE reports written twice a year
PRESENT am/is/are being+ She is writing the The reports are
CONTINUOUS pp reports being written now
She wrote the The reports were
PAST SIMPLE was/were +pp
reports written last month
The reports were
PAST She was writing
was/were being+pp being written when I
CONTINUOUS the reports
went to the office
PRESENT have/has been + She has written The reports have
PERFECT pp the reports already been written
She must write The reports must be
MODALS modal + be+ pp
the reports today written today
 USES:
• when the person who carries out the action is unknown,
unimportant, or obvious from the context

• Mrs. smith’s ring was stolen from her house

last night (unknown)
• Rolls Royce are made in England (not
important)
• The cows are milked once a day (Obvious:
farmers)
1. When the action itself is more important
than the subject (news headlines,
newspaper articles, etc)
Two teenagers
were arrested in a
robbery last night.

teenagers
• When we want to make statements more polite.

• My new blouse is ruined!

• (more polite than: YOU ruined my

blouse!)
From active to passive
• The OBJECT of the active sentence
becomes the SUBJECT of the passive
sentence
• My father built this house in 1935.

• This house was built in 1935 by my

father.
 From active to passive

• The active verb remains in the same tense, but

changes into a passive form.

✴ My father built this house in 1935

✴ This house WAS BUILT by my father

 From active to passive
• The SUBJECT of the active sentence becomes the
AGENT (introduced by the preposition BY or
omitted)
• My father built this house in 1935
• This house was built by my father
• Somebody cleaned this room yesterday
• This room was cleaned (XXXX) yesterday
• NOTE: only transitive verbs (followed by an object) can be
changed into passive. (They leave very early= no passive)
From active to passive
• Some verbs can have 2 objects:
• Jessica showed Ted some
photos 1 2
• Ted was shown some photos
by Jessica
• Some photos were shown to
Ted by Jessica
Passive “GET”
• You can use GET instead of BE in the
passive (More informal use)

There was a fight at the party, but

nobody got hurt = nobody was
hurt
• I don’t often get invited to parties
(I’m not often invited)
Let’s practice!!!

• Exercise 1
• Exercise 2
Correct the mistakes
• lada cars made in Russia
• lada cars are made in Russia
• A new motorway is being build at the moment
• A new motorway is being built at the moment
• This programme were watched by millions of people
• This programme was watched by millions of people
• I couldn’t send you an email because my computer was
repairing
• I couldn’t send you and email because my computer was
being repaired
• Seat belts must wear at all times
• Seat belts must be worn at all times
Write the passive form
mistakes
• They sell Cold drinks here.
• Cold drinks are sold here
• They subtitle a lot of foreign films
• A lot of foreign films are subtitled.
Some people are painting my house
My house is being painted
• Somebody must pay this bill tomorrow
This bill must be paid tomorrow
• Someone threw the letters by mistake
• The letters were thrown by mistake