passives – javier p & francisco s

Fran Santos Fco. Javier Palero

 USED WHEN THE FOCUS IS ON THE ACTION. WE DON’T KNOWN OR IT’S NOT IMPORTANT WHO OR WHAT IS PERFORMING THE ACTION Ex: My bike was stolen Focus on the action Don’t know who stole the bicycle

*If we want to say who or what causes the action, we use by.

 SOMETIMES, IT’S MORE POLITE TO USE PASIVE INSTEAD OF ACTIVE Ex:

A mistake was made

Instead of saying “You made a mistake”, we don’t blame anyone

 When we use an active verb, we say what the subject does: •My grandfather was a builder. He built this house in 1935. •It’s a big company. It employs two hundred people.  When we use a passive verb, we say what happens to the subject: •This house is quite old. It was built in 1935. •Two hundred people are employed by the company.

Be (is/was etc.) + past participle (done/cleaned/seen etc.) 

The objective of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence



The subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive one (or it’s eliminated)

PASSIVE

ACTIVE 



PRESENT SIMPLE



PRESENT SIMPLE

I write a letter

A letter is written by me

He writes two letters

Two letters are written by him

PRESENT CONTINOUS Somebody is cleaning the room at the moment



PRESENT CONTINOUS The room is being cleaned at the moment

PASSIVE

ACTIVE 

PAST SIMPLE



A letter was written by me

I wrote a letter



PAST CONTINOUS

PAST SIMPLE



Somebody was cleaning the room when I arrived

PAST CONTINOUS The room was being cleaned when I arrived

PASSIVE

ACTIVE 

PRESENT PERFECT



A letter has been written by me

I have written a letter



PAST PERFECT I had written a letter

PRESENT PERFECT



PAST PERFECT A letter had been written by me

ACTIVE •I •I •I •I •I •I •I •I •I

will write a letter can write a letter could write a letter may write a letter might write a letter should write a letter must write a letter have to write a letter ought to write a letter

PASSIVE •A letter •A letter •A letter •A letter •A letter •A letter •A letter •A letter •A letter

will be written can be written could be written may be written might be written should be written must be written has to be written ought to be written

PASSIVE

ACTIVE  I’m

going to write a letter

A

letter is going to be written

The passive of doing/seeing etc. is being done/being seen etc. Active: I don’t like people telling me what to do. Passive: I don’t like being told what to do. Steve hates being kept waiting.

You can use get instead of be in the passive:  There was a fight at the party, but nobody got hurt.  I’m surprised Liz didn’t get offered the job You can’t use get when things don’t happen:  Jill is liked by everybody  Very little was known about him

Used mainly in informal spoken English. Some expressions:  

 

Get married Get dressed Get lost Get changed

We can use the passive form of reporting verbs to give ideas or opinions without saying exactly where the ideas come from.



Verbs typically used in the passive voice for this purpose include:

Assume-Believe-claim-Consider-feel-hope-report-say-think.

• 



We can use it + passive (that)+ active clause, where it is the impersonal pronoun that does not refer to a real subject (like in It’s raining) 

It is said (that) most computer users are women



It is thought (that) most computer users surf the net.

We can use passive + t + infinitive. 



We can use there + passive + to + infinitive (usually be). 



Most computer users are said to be women.

There are believed to be more than 600 species of trees per hectare in tropical rain forests.

We can use passive + perfect infinitive, which indicates that the event has already occurred 

The president is known to have been involved in the incident.

 Subject

+have/get + object + past participle. We use this construction to say that the subject arranges for something to be done by someone else.  The same construction is used to say that something is done to a person or thing belonging to the subject of have/get. Although both structures can be used in the above examples, there are some differences in meaning when using have/get something done.



We use have something done to imply that the subject of the sentence is not responsible for or has no control over what it happens I had my passport stolen while I was away She had her wisdom teeth taken out last year. However, get can also be used in sentences like these in informal spoken English. We also tend to use have to focus on the result of an action. I will have the report finished by tomorrow morning



We use get something done to imply that the subject of the sentence causes something to happen (perhaps accidentally) or they are to blame for it.

I will get the letters sent out to you first class

Won’t have + object + present participle/past participle. This can be used to say that we will not allow someone to do something, or something to happen. I won’t have you watching TV all day. She won’t have her holiday ruined by them.

Want + object + past participle. This can be used to say that we would like someone to do something or we would like something to happen. I want the report finished by next Monday. Put your car in my garage. We don’t want it damaged in the street.

 Rewrite

the sentences in passive voice.

1. They wear blue shoes.

Blue shoes are worn by them.

 Rewrite

the sentences in passive voice.

2. I have opened the present The present has been opened by me.

 Rewrite

the sentences in passive voice.

3.Did he send the letter?

Was the letter sent by him?

 Rewrite

the sentences in passive voice.

4. You ought to wash the car. The car ought to be washed by you

 Rewrite

the sentences in passive voice.

5. Sheila is drinking a cup of tea. A cup of tea is being drunk by Sheila.

 Rewrite

the sentences in passive voice.

6. Jane will buy a new computer. A new computer will be bought by Jane.

 Rewrite

the sentences in passive voice.

7. We would have painted the walls green. The walls would have been painted green by us.

 Rewrite

the sentences in passive voice.

8. He was not feeding the dogs. The dogs were not being fed by him.

 Rewrite

the sentences in passive voice.

9. Had she solved the problem? Had the problem been solved by her?

 Rewrite

the sentences in passive voice.

10. They will not have trusted him. He will not have been trusted by them.