THE PASSIVE

STRUCTURE

am/is/are
was/were
Subject + has/ have been + past participle of main verb
will

E.g: English is spoken all over the world.

My car was stolen last night.
I have been robbed.
10000 cars will be produced next year.
NOTE:

The passive infinitive (to be + -ed) is used after modal auxiliary

verbs and other verbs which are followed by an infinitive.

E.g: Driving should be banned in city centres.

The house is going to be knocked down.

 USE
1. The rules for tense usage in the passive are the same as in
the active.
Present simple expresses habit:
E.g: My car is serviced regularly.
Past simple expresses a finished action in the past:
E.g: The well was drilled last week.
Present Perfect expresses an action which began in the past and
continues to the present:
E.g: Diet Coke has been made since 1982.
 USE
2. The object of an active verb becomes the subject of a passive
verb.
E.g: Tankers bring crude oil to the refinery.
Crude oil is brought to the refinery by tankers.
3. We use the passive to explain actions or processes. It
generally isn’t important who does the action. It is the action that
is the most important element.
E.g: The crude oil is stored in these tanks. (this is the process; it
doesn’t matter who stores them)
 USE
E.g: The refinery and pipes are hidden from the village by trees.

3. The passive is not just another way of expressing the same

sentence in the active. We choose the active or the passive
depending on what we are more interested in.
E.g: A bridge connects the refinery to the main road.
The refinery is connected to the main road by a bridge.
 NOTE
1. The subject of an active sentence is not mentioned in the
passive sentence if it is not really important.
Active: They built this house in 1937.
Passive: This house was built in 1937. NOT This house was built
by them.
2. Some verbs, for example, give, send, show, have two
objects, a person and a thing.
E.g: She gave me a book for my birthday.
 NOTE
In the passive, we often make the person the subject, not the
thing.
E.g: I was given a book for my birthday.
She was sent the information by post.
You’ll be shown where to sit.