6. Make questions from the following table.

electricity the film The Birds Hamlet penicillin Antarctica

radio the planet Neptune the film Casablanca the novel Anna Karenina television

discover direct invent write

→ Who was electricity discovered by?

We use by + agent to say who or what carries out the action. We use with + instrument / material / ingredient to say what the agent used.

7. Fill in "by " or "with”.

1. The window was broken ____________ a hammer.

2. That novel was written ____________ D. H. Lawrence.

3. The garden was dug ____________ a spade.

4. The city was attacked ____________ the enemy.

5. The pudding was made ____________ fruit and chocolate.

6. He was hit ____________ a handbag.

7. The tiger was shot ____________ a gun.

8. Claire was shouted at ____________ her teacher.

9. Who was the radio invented ____________?

10. Soup is eaten ____________ a spoon.

11. Music will be played ____________ the local band.

12. The glass was cut ____________ a special tool.

13. She was woken up ____________ a loud noise.

14. John was told off ____________ his mother.

15. This picture was painted ____________ a famous artist.

16. The chair was covered ____________ a woolen blanket.

17. The walls were decorated ____________ posters.

The verbs hear, help, see and make are followed by the bare infinitive in the active but by the to-infinitive in the passive.e.g. active: They saw him leave the building. → passive: He was seen to leave the building.

We can’t use let + infinitive without to in the passive, we use allow + to infinitive.

e.g. active: They didn’t let me go out. → passive: I wasn’t allowed to go out.

8. Re-write the underlined parts of the sentences. Use the passive. Do not include the agent unless it is necessary.

1. The children have to be in bed by ten and their parents don't let them use the computer after eight.

2. I felt so ill that I took a taxi to the hospital but they made me wait for hours to see a doctor.

3. She attended the party but they saw her leave shortly after her arrival.

4. My grandfather has difficulty walking but a kind passer-by helped him cross the street.

5. We won’t let the children to come inside with their shoes on because they’ll get the carpet dirty.

6. The minister was criticised after people heard him swear during a live TV debate.

With verbs which take two objects such as bring, tell, send, show, teach, promise, buy, throw, write, award, hand, sell, owe, grant, allow, feed, pass, post, read, take, offer, give, pay and lend we can make two different passive sentences.

active: Patrick gave Laura some flowers.

passive: a) Laura was given some flowers by Patrick. (more usual)

b) Some flowers were given to Laura by Patrick. (less usual)