Passive voice

TENSES	INDEFINITE	CONTINOUS	PERFECT
PRESENT	am is + V3 are Usually watches are mended here. Usually the house is built for 2 years.	am is + being + V3 are My watch is being mended now.	have has + been + V3 My watch has been already mended.
PAST	was were + V3 My watch was mended yesterday.	was were + being + V3 My watch was being mended when I arrived.	had + been + V3 My watch had been mended by six o’clock yesterday. This house had been built before I arrived.
FUTURE	will + be + V3 My watch will be mended tomorrow. This house will be built next year.		will + have + been + V3 My watch will have been mended by Tuesday. This house will have been already built by January.

We use the passive:

• When the person who does the action is unknown, unimportant, or obvious from the context

• When the action itself is more important than the person who does it, as in news headlines, newspaper articles, formal notices, advertisements, instructions, processes, etc.

The seeds are planted months before the year’s wheat is harvested (process).

• When we want to avoid taking responsibility for an action or when we refer to an unpleasant event and we refer to an unpleasant event and we do not want to say who or what is blame.

The window has been smashed (instead of “You have smashed the window”).

Changing from active into passive:

• The object of the active sentence becomes the subject in the passive sentence.

• The active verb remains in the same tense but changes into a passive form.

• The subject of the active sentence becomes the agent, and is either introduced with the preposition by or is omitted.

	Subject	Verb	Object
ACTIVE	My sister	was driving	the car.
PASSIVE	The car	was being driven	by my sister.
	Subject	Verb	Agent

• Only transitive verbs, i.e. verbs that take an object, can be changed into the passive.

Note: some transitive verbs such as have, fit, suit, resemble, etc., cannot be changed into the passive.

• By + agent is used to say who or what carries out an action.

With + instrument/material/ingredient is used to say what the agent used.

The walls were covered with posters.

• The agent can be omitted when the subject of the active sentence is one of the following words: people, one, someone/somebody, they, he, etc.

Somebody locked the front door → The front door was locked.

• The agent is not omitted when it is a specific or important person or when it is essential to the meaning of the sentence.

This novel was written by Leo Tolstoy.

• When we want to find out who or what did something, the passive question from is: who/what…by?

• With verbs which take two objects such as bring, tell, send, show, teach, promise, buy, sell, read, offer, give, lend, we can form two different passive sentences.

• In the passive, the preposition that follows a verb is placed immediately after the verb.

• The verbs hear, help, see and make are followed by the bare infinitive in the active but by the to-infinitive in the passive.

But: hear, see, watch, + ing form(active and passive)

Active: They saw him swimming across the lake.

Passive: He was seen swimming across the lake.

• Let becomes be allowed to in the passive.

Active: He lets me drive his car.

Passive: I am allowed to drive his car.

APPENDIX 4