| The Passive is formed by using the appropriate tense of the verb to be + past participle. | |||
| Present Simple Present Continouous Past Simple Past Continuous Future Simple Present Perfect Past Perfect Future Perfect |
Active Voice | Passive Voice | |
| They repair cars. They are repairing the car. They repaired the car. They were repairing the car. They will repair the car. They have repaired the car. They had repaired the car. They will have repaired the car. |
Cars are
repaired. The car is being repaired. The car was repaired. The car was being repaired. The car will be repaired. The car has been repaired. The car had been repaired. The car will have been repaired. |
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| The passive is used: | |||
| 1. when the
agent (the person who does the action) is unknown, unimportant or
obvious from the context. My car was stolen yesterday. (unknown agent) The road repairs were completed last week. (unimportant agent) The kidnappers have been arrested. (by the police - obvious agent) |
3. when the action is more
important than the agent - as in news reports, formal notices,
instructions, processes, headlines, etc. Taking pictures is not allowed. (written notice) The local bank was robbed this morning. (news report) Bread is baked in an oven for about 45 minutes. (process) |
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| 2. to make
statements more polite or formal. My new suit has been burnt. (It's more polite than saying "You've burnt my new suit".) |
4. to put
emphasis on the agent. The Tower of London was built by William the Conqueror. |
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| We use the Passive only with
transitive verbs (verbs which take an object). They built that castle in 1600. That castle was built in 1600. |
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| In colloquial English
get can be used instead of
be to express something happening by
accident. She got sunburnt last week. (more usual than "She was sunburnt last week.") |
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