Practice and Improve Your Grammar part 2

• personal commands

You must remove your shoes before entering. => Shoes must be removed before entering.

• implying that we are only talking about ourselves or our personal actions:

I can’t do all these tasks in one day. => All these tasks can’t be done in one day.

► Unknown agent

The agent is not mentioned if unknown:

My car has been stolen. (In this case there is no point in adding “by somebody”.)

► Generalised agent

If the subject is “people in general” or “you”, the agent is not mentioned:

Bicycles are widely used in the city instead of public transport.

► Obvious agent

If the agent is obvious or has already been referred to, it is not mentioned.

He was arrested two days ago. (by the police)

► Unimportant agent

If the agent is not important to the meaning of the sentence, it is not mentioned.

We were advised to buy tickets in advance.

► Reporting

We can use reporting verbs in the passive in the following cases:

•when we don’t know or don’t want to mention the speaker of statements and questions or of orders and requests in infinitives:

I was told that everyone had passed the exam.

Some students were asked if they were interested in visiting London. We were told to wait here.

I was asked to work late the other day.

•after empty subject it to distance ourselves from the reported information:

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It is often said that children can learn foreign languages more easily than adults.

We use empty subject it with verbs such as claim or imply when we are not sure if the information is reliable:

It was claimed that Jim had taken the money.

These passive reporting verbs are followed by a that-clause.

It was reported a serious problem.

Other verbs used in this structure include: allege, assert, hint, report, state, suggest, suspect.

We use empty subject it before a reporting verb such as mention in the passive.

It was mentioned (to me) that he was a doctor. (I was mentioned that he was a doctor.)

•with verbs such as believe, know, say, think, which report people’s opinions in order to avoid a weak subject and give a generalised opinion:

The criminals are reported to be in the forest. (present reference) He was rumoured to have inherited a lot of money. (past reference)

•between There and to be to report the existence of something:

There are said to be many difficulties.

There were reported to be thousands of people in camps near the river.

The verb tell is not used in this way.

There were told to be thousands of people in camps near the river.

Formation: General Information

► Most verbs with an object (transitive verbs) can be made passive (e.g. drive is transitive because one can drive something (a car)).

He repaired the car. => The car was repaired.

However, a few transitive verbs may not be used in the passive. These include: become, fit (=be the right size), get, have, lack, let, like, resemble, suit.

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Verbs with no object (intransitive verbs) cannot be passive (e.g. fall is intransitive, you cannot “fall something”; therefore it is not possible to say “The tree was fallen”, instead the sentence must be active: The tree fell.)

I arrived early.

►Passives can be created from transitive phrasal verbs, not from intransitive ones:

Somebody broke into my house. => My house was broken into. My cold went away. (My cold was gone away.)

►Passive verbs or passives are formed with be plus the past participle of a transitive verb:

My wallet has been taken.

►The person who performs an action in a passive sentence is called the agent, introduced by by. The agent may or may not be mentioned.

My bag was found by my sister the other day. A new house has been built.

An object which causes something to happen is called an instrument, introduced by with.

The girl was hit on the head with a hammer.

With is used after participles such as filled, packed, crowded, crammed: The train was packed with people.

Some verbs (cover, surround, decorate) can be used with with or by. Cover can also be followed by in:

The furniture was covered in dust.

►Verbs which have two objects can be made passive in two ways (note, bring, give, hand, lend, pass, pay, promise, sell, send, show, tell, teach, throw, write, etc.).

I was given a book.

A book was given to me.

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The passive structure we choose depends on which person or thing we want to talk about.

Nobody taught us German. => German wasn’t taught there. / We weren’t taught German.

In the passive the indirect object is put as subject or after the preposition to, not after the verb.

He handed Jane a note. => Jane was handed a note. / A note was handed to Jane.

When a verb with two objects is used in only one active structure, only one passive can be created. If the indirect object can be put after the active verb, it can be used as subject of the passive:

The judge fined me $200. (The judge fined $200 to me.) => I was fined $200. ($200 was fined to me.)

If the indirect object can’t be put after the active verb, it can’t be used as subject of the passive:

Then they explained their solution to us. (Then they explained us their solution.) => Then their solution was explained to us. (Then we were explained their solution.)

Other verbs used like this include: demonstrate, describe, mention, present, report, suggest.

► Some verbs have a noun or adjective (a complement) which describes their object.

We elected Frank class representative. Everyone considered him a failure.

When these verbs are made passive, the complement goes directly after the verb.

Frank was elected class representative. He was considered a failure.

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We can use a direct object as subject of a passive, but not another noun that classifies it.

Class representative was elected Frank. A failure was considered him.

Formation: Tenses

► Present Simple: V(-e(s)) => am/is/are + V3

Computers control the machines. => The machines are controlled by computers.

► Present Continuous:

am/is/are + V-ing => am/is/are + being + V3

They are investigating the crime. => The crime is being investigated.

► Present Perfect:

have/has + V3 => have/has + been + V3

We have just finished the project. => The project has just been finished.

► Present Perfect Continuous:

have/has + been + V-ing => have/has + been + V3

Jim has been reading this book for two hours. => This book has been read by Jim for two hours.

► Past Simple:

V2 => was/were + V3

They cancelled our flight the other day. => Our flight was cancelled the other day.

► Past Continuous:

was/were + V-ing => was/were+ being + V3

I was washing the windows. => The windows were being washed.

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► Past Perfect:

had + V3 => had + been + V3

Everyone had warned me about the weather before I went to England. => I had been warned about the weather before I went to England.

► Past Perfect Continuous:

had + been + V-ing => had + been + V3

Betty had been washing the dishes for an hour when Kate came home. => The dishes had been washed by Betty for an hour when Kate came home.

► Future Simple:

will + V => will + be + V3

I will sell this house soon. => This house will be sold soon.

► Future Continuous:

will + be + V-ing => will + be + V3

We will be cleaning the rooms at this time next week. => The rooms will be cleaned at this time next week.

► Future Perfect:

will + have + V3 => will + have + been + V3

Fanny will have watched an interesting film by tomorrow. => An interesting film will have been watched by Fanny by tomorrow.

► Future Perfect Continuous:

will + have + been + V-ing => will + have + been + V3

By this time next month Harry will have been repairing this car for a year. => By this time next month this car will have been repaired by Harry for a year.

Passive Infinitives and Gerunds

We use to be + V3 for the passive infinitive and to have been + V3 for the perfect passive infinitive:

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I expect most of the work to be finished before the weekend. Kate is really excited to have been elected class representative.

We use being + V3 for the passive gerund and having been + V3 for the perfect passive gerund:

She doesn’t like being asked about her private life.

Max didn’t mention having been promoted during our last conversation.

We put not before passive infinitives and passive gerunds to form negatives:

They didn’t invite us. But it was good not to be invited because we didn’t like them. (They didn’t invite us. But it was good to be not invited because we didn’t like them.)

Nobody had informed me about that. I resented not having been informed. (Nobody had informed me about that. I resented having not been informed.)

■ The passive forms of make are followed by to-infinitive:

They made Harry take the exam again. => Harry was made to take the exam again.

■ When see and hear + bare infinitive are changed to a passive, the verb is followed by to-infinitive:

I saw her leave. => She was seen to leave. (complete)

I saw her leaving. => She was seen leaving. (incomplete)

Ergatives

Ergatives are transitive verbs that are used without an object. Ergatives are used to say that an action simply happens, without an agent. Ergatives are sometimes used instead of passives.

The museum closes at seven. The museum is closed (by the guard) at seven. The door suddenly opened. The door was suddenly opened.

Ergatives can be used when we want to describe natural processes and changes or to describe actions, but not mention a cause.

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The snow is melting.

The river dries up every summer. The situation stabilized yesterday.

We don’t use reflexive pronouns with ergatives.

The string broke itself.

Other verbs used like this include: burst, crack, crash, grow, increase, shake, start.

Passives with Get

We can use get + V3 instead of be + V3 as a passive, usually in informal situations.

He’ll get paid on Friday. He’ll be paid on Friday.

We use auxiliary do in passives with get when we form questions or negatives:

Why does Kate get invited to all the parties? I didn’t get asked to go there.

We often use passives with get for unexpected events and difficult or bad experiences:

I got stuck in a traffic jam. Did anyone get injured?

Others like this include: get arrested, get broken, get caught, get divorced, get hurt, get killed, get smashed.

Causative Form

We use have/get something done for a service performed for us by someone else or something unfortunate that happens to someone:

I’ve just had/got my car repaired.

We had/got our car broken into last week.

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Get is more likely to be used than have when:

•there is a feeling that something must be done:

We really must get (have) my hair cut.

•there is a feeling of eventually managing to do something:

I eventually got (had) the car repaired at the Fast Service garage.

• in orders and imperatives:

Get your hair cut!

Get should not be used in the present perfect passive, where it would be confused with have got.

Active Voice

Some verbs in the active voice are used in a passive meaning (deserve, need, require, want).

This car needs repairing. You deserve praising.

EXERCISE 55. Complete each sentence with a passive so that it has a similar meaning to the one above.

1.You can’t see the museum from the street. The museum …

2.“They won’t read your papers before Wednesday.” She said my papers …

3.Someone must have taken the money. The money …

4.Nobody’s going to steal your documents from this safe. Your documents …

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5.People were telling me what to do all the time and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like …

6.The boss promised me a pay-rise.

…by the boss.

7.They sent me the letter the next day. The letter …

8.A big corporation is taking over our firm. Our firm …

9.Several people noticed the boy trying to climb in the window.

…by several people.

10.They awarded Henry a medal for bravery.

Henry …

11.They made Kate do the task again. Kate …

12.An elderly uncle gave Sam the paintings. Sam …

13.The police are going to look into this case.

…by the police.

14.They considered any further rescue attempts pointless. Any further …

15.They elected him president for a second term.

He …

EXERCISE 56. Rewrite each sentence in the passive, omitting the words underlined.

1.Someone left the phone off the hook all night.

2.The government has announced that petrol prices will rise tomorrow.

3.A burglar broke into my house last month.

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