Passive Voice
| The Passive is formed by using the appropriate tense of the verb to be + past participle. | ||
| Present Simple Present Continuous Past Simple Past Continuous Future Simple Present Perfect Past Perfect Future Perfect Present Infinitive Perfect Infinitive Gerund Perfect Gerund Modals + be + p.p. |
Active Voice | Passive Voice |
| They repair cars. They are repairing cars. 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. They will have to repair the car. She ought to have repaired the car. He likes people admiring his new car. Having repaired the car, … You must repair 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. The car will have to be repaired. The car ought to have been repaired. He likes his new car being admired. The car, having been repaired, … This car must be 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, advertisements 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) |
| 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. |
| Note: | 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. |
| 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.") |
| Changing from Active to Passive | |||||||||||||||
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| We use by + agent to say who or what did the action. We use with + instrument or material to say what instrument or material the agent used. He was knocked down by a lorry. (The lorry did the action.) The door was locked by a man with a key. (The key is the instrument the agent used.) The cake was made with flour, sugar and eggs. (Flour, sugar and eggs are the materials the agent used.) |
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| We put the agent (=person who does the action) into the passive only if it adds information. When the agent is unknown, unimportant, or obvious from the context, it is omitted. Macbeth was written by Shakespeare. (the agent is not omitted; it adds information.) Somebody took my pen. => My pen was taken (by somebody). (unknown agent; it is omitted.) |
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| After modal verbs (will, can, may etc) we use be + past participle or have been + past participle. They may close down the supermarket. => The supermarket may be closed down. They may have reported the bank robbery. => The bank robbery may have been reported. |
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| With verbs that take two objects it is more usual to begin the passive sentence with the person. They sent a letter to him. => He was sent a letter. (more usual) / A letter was sent to him. (less usual) |
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| Make, hear, see, help are followed by a to-infinitive in the passive. They made me apologize. => I was made to apologize. |
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The verbs believe, expect, feel, hope, know, report, say, think etc can be used in the following passive patterns:
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