Active or Passive?

Many verbs in English can be written in two ways: active or passive.

Active Passive

J. K. Rowling The first Harry Potter

wrote the first Harry book was written in
Potter book in 1997. 1997.

J.K Rowling is important, so The book is important so

we say her name first. we say the book first.

How to make passives

We make passives using be + past participle (the third form of the verb, e.g. done,
gone, written ...). For example, with the verb "to make":

  Present Simple Past Simple

Positive It is made. It was made.
Negative It isn't made. It wasn't made.
Question Is it made? Was it made?

When to use passives

My favourite film is The Ring.
It was made in 1998.
My car was stolen last month.
Three robbers were arrested last
night.
The object is more important than the
person/thing who did it.
We don't know who did it.
It's obvious (here, it can only be the police) or not
important who did something.

Passives with "by"

Most of the time we don't need to say who did something when we use a passive. But,
if you want to add who did the action you can use "by".

• Romeo and Juliet was written by Shakespeare.

 Passives

Change these sentences from active to passive:

People all over the world drink Coca Cola. Coca Cola ____________ all over the world.

My dad gave me a new ipod for my birthday. I ___________ a new ipod for my birthday.

No one found my keys. My keys ________________________ .

Someone shot my great grandfather in the war. My great grandfather _________ in the war.

They make lots of cars in Germany. Lots of cars _______________ in Germany.

A dog bit me when I was a child. I _____________ by a dog when I was a child.

The restaurant serves breakfast from 7.30 to 10. _________________________from 7.30 to 10.

My parents didn't allow me to smoke when I was a _______________to smoke when I was a child.

child.

Did Simon borrow your dictionary? _____________________________by Simon?