Passives 1

1 Introduction: active and passive structures

Compare:
- They built this house in 1486. (active) - A friend of ours is repairing the roof (active)
This house was built in 1486. (passive) The roof is being repaired by a friend of ours. (passive)
When “A” does something to “B”, there are often two ways to talk about it.
If we want “A” (the doer) to be the subject, we use an active verb: built, is repairing.
If we want “B” (the 'receiver' of the action) to be the subject, we use a passive verb: was built, is being repaired.
The object of an active verb corresponds to the subject of a passive verb.
Object Subject
Active: They built this house in 1486. Passive: This house was built in 1486.

2 Form of the passive

A/ Tenses and aspects in the passive
We form the passive using “be” in an appropriate tense or form + the past participle of a transitive verb.
The subject of the active verb becomes the ‘agent’ of the passive verb. The agent is very often not mentioned.
When it is mentioned, it is preceded by “by” and placed at the end of the clause.
Examples: Active: My grandfather planted this tree. Passive: This tree was planted by my grandfather.
Here is a list of all the passive forms of an ordinary English verb.
Tense Affirmative Negative Example

simple present am / is/are + pp am/is/are not + pp Large numbers of people are killed
on the roads.
present progressive am / is/ are being + pp am / is/ are not being + pp Excuse the mess; the house is
being painted.
present perfect have /has been + pp have /has not been + pp Cocaine has been seized by the
FBI.
simple past was/were + pp was/were not + pp The drugs were found by the
police.
past progressive was/were being + pp was/were not being + pp Three men were being questioned
by detectives last night.
past perfect had been + pp had not been + pp I knew why I had been chosen.

(simple) future will be + pp will not be + pp The drugs will be destroyed.

future perfect will have been + pp will not have been + pp Everything will have been done by
Tuesday.
going to be + going to be + pp be+ not going to be + pp The letters are going to be
delivered.
Conditional would be + pp would not be + pp Taxes would be paid.

Future progressive passives (will be being + pp) and perfect progressive passives (has/had been being + pp) are
unusual (the passive is not used in these tenses for reasons of style).

B/ Modal verbs in the passive

Passives 2

1. We can use the passive with a modal verb (or an expression like have to). The pattern is modal verb + be +
passive participle.
Examples: Stamps can be bought at any post office. The letters must be delivered.
Animals should really be seen in their natural habitat Meals have to be prepared every day.
The news might be announced soon Seats may not be reserved.
Many things that used to be done by hand are now done by machine.
2. A modal verb can also go with the perfect and the passive together. The pattern is modal verb + have been +
passive participle.
Examples: The plane might have been delayed by the fog. This bill ought to have been paid weeks ago.
I can't find that piece of paper. It must have been thrown away.
C/ Phrasal or prepositional verbs in the passive
Verbs made up of more than one word can have passive forms if they are transitive. The adverb or preposition (e.g.
down, for) comes after the passive participle.
Examples: The furniture was broken up for firewood. She likes being looked at. The tree was cut down last week.
He hates being made a fool of. I need to be taken care of. Has the doctor been sent for?
D/ Negatives and questions
We form negatives and questions in the same way as in active sentences. In the negative “not” comes after the
(first) auxiliary; in questions there is inversion of subject and (first) auxiliary.
Negative: The drugs were not found by customs officers. The law hasn't been changed.
Question: Where were the drugs found? Has the law been changed?
NOTE: We use by in a question about the agent.
Example: Who were the drugs found by?
E/ Passive infinitives and gerunds
Active Passive
Infinitive To do To be done
Perfect infinitive To have done To have been done
Participle and gerund Doing Being done
Perfect participle/gerund Having done Having been done

Examples of passive infinitives: (to) be taken; (to) have been invited.

He is hoping to be elected president.
Examples of passive -ing forms: being watched; having been invited.
F/ The passive with “get”
We sometimes form the passive with “get” rather than with “be”.
Examples: The vase got broken when we moved. If you don't lock your bike, it might get stolen.
We get paid monthly. It was so hot my shoulders were getting burnt.
We use the passive with get mainly in informal English, and it has a more limited use than be. The passive with get
expresses action and change, not a state. It often refers to something happening by accident, unexpectedly or
Passives 3

incidentally. (Note that the payment of salaries is a small, incidental part of a company's whole activities.) We do not
use get for a major, planned action.
NOT Wembley Stadium got built in 1923.
In simple tenses we use the auxiliary do in negatives and questions.
Examples: I forgot to leave the dustbin out, so it didn't get emptied. How often do these offices get cleaned?
We also use get + passive participle in some idiomatic expressions.
Example: There wasn't enough time to get washed. (= wash oneself)
Such expressions are: get washed, get shaved, get (un)dressed, get changed; get engaged, get married, get divorced;
get started (= start), get lost (= lose one's way).
Examples: Emma and Matthew might get married. Without a map we soon got lost.
The idioms get washed/shaved/dressed/changed are much more common than wash myself etc. But we can use
wash etc in the active without an object e.g. There wasn't much time to wash and change.
After get there can be an adjective in ed.
I'd just got interested in the film when the phone rang.(= I'd just become interested in the film ...)
Some other adjectives used after get are bored, confused, drunk, excited and tired.
3 Use of tenses
Passive tenses are normally used in the same way as active tenses. So for example the present progressive passive is
used, like the present progressive active, to talk about things that are going on at the time of speaking.
The papers are being prepared now. The secretary is preparing the papers now.
And the present perfect passive can be used, like the present perfect active, to talk about finished actions with
present consequences.
Alex has been arrested! The police have arrested Alex!
4 verbs not used in the passive
Not all verbs can have passive forms. Passive structures are impossible with intransitive verbs like die or arrive, which
cannot have objects, because there is nothing to become the subject of a passive sentence.
Examples: agree die look seem arrive fall occur sleep be go rain stay
become happen recover walk come live remain work
Some transitive verbs (verbs which are followed by an object), too, are seldom used in the passive. Most of these are
'stative verbs' (verbs which refer to states, not actions). Examples are fit, have, lack, resemble, suit.
They have a nice house. (BUT NOT A nice house is had by them.)
My shoes don't fit me. (BUT NOT I'm not fitted by my shoes.)
Sylvia resembles a Greek goddess. (BUT NOT A Greek goddess is resembled by Sylvia.)
Your mother lacks tact. (BUT NOT Tact is lacked... )
She was having a bath. (BUT NOT A bath was being had by her.) Verbs
Verbs which can be transitive or intransitive
 Leave: compare: a. Disney left Kansas City in 1923. b. The DVD was left in the DVD player.
Leave can be intransitive or transitive, depending on its meaning.
Passives 4

In sentence (a), leave means “go away from” It is an intransitive verb. It has no passive form.
In sentence (b), leave means “not taken” It is a transitive verb. It has a passive form.
 Change/move: Compare:
a. Cartoons have changed a lot over the years. b. The light bulb was changed by the janitor.
a. In a cartoon, it looks like the characters are moving, but they are not. b. The chairs were moved to another room.
Change and move can be intransitive or transitive.
When a change happens through a natural process (a), it is intransitive. When someone specific causes the change
(b), it is transitive.
Born/die: Compare:
Walt Disney was born in 1901. He died in 1966.
Notice that we use was/were with born, but we don’t use the passive voice with die.
Born is not a verb. It is a past participle used as an adjective
5 passives : agent
In a passive clause, we usually use by to introduce the agent - the person or thing that does the action, or that
causes what happens. (note, however, that agents are mentioned in only about 20 per cent of passive clauses) (the
use of by + agent places emphasis on the performer of the action).
All the trouble was caused by your mother. These carpets are made by children who work twelve hours a day.
Some past participles can be more like adjectives than verbs: for example shocked, worried, frightened. After these,
we often use other prepositions instead of by.
I was shocked at/by your attitude. We were worried about/by her silence. Are you frightened of spiders?
By or With? In the passive voice, we use:
by with the agent to refer to by whom the action is being done.
The door was opened by Mr Black. (Mr Black = agent)
with to refer to the instrument, object or material that was used for something to be done.
The door was opened with a key. (a key = the object that was used)
The omelette was made with eggs, cheese and peppers.(eggs, cheese and peppers = the material that was used)
He was shot (by the policeman) with a rifle.
We usually only refer to the agent when it gives us some important information which otherwise would be missing
from the sentence. (we mention the agent if it is important for the meaning of the sentence).
Our house was designed by a famous architect.
We don’t mention the agent:
1. if we don’t know who has done what we are talking about. (we don’t know the identity of the agent)
Our car was stolen last night. (We don’t know who stole it)
2. if we are not interested in who has done what we are talking about or it is not important to mention it.
He has been taken to hospital. (What we are interested in is the fact that he has been taken to hospital and not who
has taken him.)
3.if it doesn’t add any new information( if it is easy to understand who did something without it being mentioned).
Passives 5

The murderer was arrested last night. (It is not necessary to mention that he has been arrested by the police because
it is self-evident.) “Hamlet” was written in 1601.
4. if the subject of the active voice sentence is something like somebody, someone, people, they, one, we, you, etc.
(vague and “empty” subjects)
Someone broke the window. → The window was broken.
6 When do we use passive structures?
1 the topic (what is the sentence about?)
We choose between active and passive because of the topic we are talking about, especially when reporting
information. Look at these two sentences.
ACTIVE Bell invented the telephone. PASSIVE The telephone was invented by Bell.
The two sentences have the same meaning, but they are about different things. One sentence is about Bell, and the
other is about the telephone. Each sentence begins with the subject. The subject is the starting point of the
sentence, the thing we are talking about. The new information about the subject comes at the end of the sentence.
We say Bell invented the telephone because we are We say The telephone was invented by Bell because
talking about Bell, and the new information is that he we are talking about the telephone, and the new
invented the telephone. When the subject is the information is that it was invented by Bell.
person or thing doing the action (the agent), then we When the subject is not the agent (is not doing the
use an active verb. action), then we use a passive verb.
2 Interest in the action
We often choose passive structures when we want to talk about an action, but are not so interested in saying who or
what does/did it.(As in processes, instructions, events, reports, headlines, news items, and advertisements)
Those pyramids were built around 400 AD. Very few typewriters are being sold these days.
Too many books have been written about the Second World War.
3 when the agent is unknown (the performer of the action is not someone specific, so the use of the passive avoids
sentences with a vague subject like “someone” or “some people”), unimportant, obvious from the context, or when
it is “people or things in general”.
Jane was shot. (We don’t know who shot her.) This church was built in 1815. (Unimportant agent)
He has been arrested. (Obviously by the police)
4 Avoiding placing responsibility
The use of the passive is a way of avoiding placing responsibility for a particular action on any specific person or
organization ( when we don’t want to mention the agent, it’s a way of not saying who is responsible)
Mistakes have been made (compare the active: I/ we have made mistakes).
I am sorry that your letter was mislaid (the speaker may prefer not to say: I am sorry that I mislaid your letter).
5 Avoiding references to ourselves and making a statement impersonal
We can’t complete this work overnight.
Becomes: this work can’t possibly be completed overnight. (= the work is the problem not us).
6 putting heavier expressions at the end (when the agent is a long phrase)
Passives 6

Longer and heavier expressions often go at the end of a clause, and this can also be a reason for choosing a passive
structure.
I was annoyed by Mary wanting to tell everybody what to do.
(More natural than Mary wanting to tell everybody what to do annoyed me - the phrase “Mary ... do” would make a
very long subject.)
7 Avoiding “you” in orders and rules
You must give in your application before the end of the week.
Becomes: all applications must be given in before the end of the week.
8 keeping the same subject
In order to keep talking about the same person or thing (to avoid a change of subject in a sentence), it may be
necessary to switch from active to passive and back.
He waited for two hours; then he was seen by a doctor; then he was sent back to the waiting room. He sat there for
another two hours - by this time he was getting angry. Then he was taken upstairs and examined by a specialist, after
which he had to wait for another hour before he was allowed to go home. (More natural than He waited for two
hours; then a doctor saw him ... )
I went by train and was met at the station by my aunt.
9 In order to put the new information at the end of the sentence to improve style
Three books are used regularly in the class. The books were written by Dr. Bell. ('Dr. Bell wrote the books' sound
clumsy)
10 In factual or scientific writing when the focus is usually on events, achievements, etc. rather than agents.
The chemical is placed in a test tube and the data entered into the computer.
11 In formal writing instead of using someone/people/they (these can be used in speaking or informal writing)
The brochure will be finished next month.
7 Change of voice from active form to passive form
To change a sentence from the active voice to the passive voice:
the object of the active voice sentence becomes the subject of the passive voice sentence;
we change the main verb of the active voice sentence into the passive voice. The tense remains unchanged;
the subject of the active voice sentence becomes the agent of the passive sentence. It is placed after the
past participle and it is preceded by the preposition by.
Example: Agatha Christie wrote this book. This book was written by Agatha Christie.
Leslie took this photograph yesterday.
SUBJECT ACTIVE VERB OBJECT TIME COMPLEMENT

This photograph was taken by Leslie yesterday.

SUBJECT PASSIVE VERB AGENT TIME COMPLEMENT

Present tenses:
A. Simple present: He teaches me --- I am taught by him.
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B. Present progressive: He is teaching me --- I am being taught by him.

C. Present perfect: He has taught me --- I have been taught by him.
Past tenses:
A. Simple past: He taught me --- I was taught by him.
B. Past progressive: He was teaching me --- I was being taught by him.
C. Past perfect: He had taught me --- I had been taught by him.
Future tenses:
A. Simple future: He will teach me --- I will (shall) be taught by him.
B. Future perfect: He will have taught me --- I will (shall) have been taught by him.
verbs with two objects
Many verbs, such as give, send, show, lend, pay, promise, refuse, tell, offer, can be followed by two objects, an
'indirect object' and a 'direct object'. These usually refer to a person (indirect object) and a thing (direct object). Two
structures are possible.
A. verb + indirect object + direct object
She gave her sister the car. I had already shown the policewoman Sam's photo.
B. verb + direct object + preposition + indirect object
She gave the car to her sister. I had already shown Sam's photo to the policewoman.
Both of these structures can be made passive.
A. indirect object becomes subject of passive verb
Her sister was given the car. The policewoman had already been shown Sam's photo.
B. direct object becomes subject of passive verb
The car was given to her sister. Sam's photo had already been shown to the policewoman.
We usually add a preposition before the personal object. The preposition is usually “to”, but we sometimes use
“for”.
A note was handed to the minister. A slice of cake was cut for him.
The choice between the two passive structures may depend on what has been said before, or on what needs to be
put last in the sentence. Structure A (e.g. Her sister was given the car.) is the more common of the two.
More examples:
I've just been sent a whole lot of information. You were lent ten thousand pounds last year.
The visitors were shown a collection of old manuscripts. We will never be told the real truth.
They are being paid a lot of money for doing very little. How much have you been offered?
He was refused a visa because he had been in prison.
In structure B (e.g. The car was given to her sister), prepositions are sometimes dropped before indirect object
pronouns. This watch was given (to) me by my father.
Explain and suggest cannot be used in structure A.
The problem was explained to the children. (BUT NOT The children were explained the problem.)
A meeting place was suggested to us. (BUT NOT We were suggested a meeting place.)
Passives 8

Active and passive Voice in Interrogative Sentences

1. Yes/ No Questions
A. Form
Tense Yes/ No Question Negative Short answers
simple present am / is/are + s + pp am/is/are not + s + pp To make short answers:
present progressive am / is/ are + s + being + pp am / is/ are not + s + being + pp we use the verb to be
(am/is/are/was/were) for
present perfect have /has + s + been + pp have /has + s + not been + pp
Present Simple, Past Simple,
simple past was/were +s + pp was/were + s + not + pp Present Continuous, Past
past progressive was/were + s+ being + pp was/were + s + not being + pp Continuous and Going To
past perfect had + s +been + pp had + s + not been + pp questions.
(simple) future will + s +be + pp will + s +not be + pp we use the verb have
(have/has/had) for Present
future perfect will + s +have been + pp will + s + not have been + pp
Perfect and Past Perfect
going to be + s + going to be + pp be + s + not going to be + pp questions.
we use will for Future Simple
questions.
Note: Perfect progressive tenses are rarely used.

B. Changing an interrogative sentence into the passive

In the transformation of interrogative sentences with verbs in active voice form into interrogative sentences with
verbs in passive voice form, the same rules of voice will be applied, but there will be only positional differences as
per the structural design of interrogative sentences.
Interrogative sentence beginning with a helping verb
Examples:
Active Passive
Simple past: Did Alice invite you? Were you invited by Alice? (NOT Did you invited by
Alice?)
Past perfect: Had they helped the boy? Had the boy been helped?
Future perfect: Will he have finished the work? Will the work have been finished by him?
Notes:
The auxiliaries  do, does  and  did  are not used in the passive; they are replaced by “be”.
The auxiliaries has, have  and  had  are used in the passive, but they change their form according to the number
and person of the passive subject.
Active: Have you kept the secret? Passive: Has the secret been kept by you?
Active: Has the policeman caught the thief? Passive: Has the thief been caught by the policeman?
Modal verbs like can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, do not change their beginning position when
active voice is changed into the passive voice.
Active: Can anyone cure it?
Passive: Can it be cured?
Active: Will he accept our invitation? Passive: Will our invitation be accepted by him?
Active: Could you turn down the music please? Passive: Could the music be turned down please?
Passives 9

Have to Active : Do we have to write the letter again? (Str : aux-subject- have to –verb-object)
Passive: does the letter have to be written again?(Str:aux-active object-have to-pp of the active verb)

Interrogative Sentences beginning with question words (what, which, when, where, why, etc.)
When a question word is the subject of a verb
Active voice: Who wrote this letter? Passive: By whom was this letter written?
When a question word is the object of a verb
Active voice: Whom does he teach? Passive: Who is taught by him?
Active voice: What do you eat? Passive: What is eaten by you?
When a question word is neither the subject nor the object of a verb
Active: Why have you told a lie? Passive: Why has a lie been told by you?
Active: When did you post the letter? Passive: When was the letter posted by you?
Notes:
1/ The question words when, where, why, how and what do not change their beginning position when the sentence is
changed from the active to the passive.
2/ Who changes to by whom in the passive; (by) whom changes to who in the passive.
Active: Whom did you laugh at? Passive: Who was laughed at by you?
Active: Who killed the snake? Passive: By whom was the snake killed?

3/ When the verb is not transitive, Passive Voice is not possible.

e.g.       What is your name? ;             Where do you live? ;               When will you go?

Note: Verbs with tow objects

Active: Who taught you algebra?

Passive: By whom was Algebra taught to you?

By whom were you taught Algebra?

2. Passive voice: Imperative sentences

Changing an Imperative Sentence into the Passive
Sentences which express request, order, advice, suggestion, prohibition etc., are called imperative sentences.
An imperative sentence does not normally have a subject.
The imperative sentence in the passive voice takes the following form:
Let + object + be + past participle
Examples are given below:
Active: Bring it home. Passive: Let it be brought home.
Active: Do it at once. Passive: Let it be done at once.
Help him. (Active Voice) Let him be helped. (Passive Voice)
Finish the job at once. (Active Voice) Let the job be finished at once. (Passive Voice)
Carry him home. (Active Voice) Let him be carried home. (Passive Voice)
Close the window. (Active voice) Let the window be closed. (Passive voice)
Advice
Passives 10

We can also use “should be” + pp.

Active: Give the order. Passive: the order should be given. OR : Let the order be given.
Active: Feed the baby. Passive: The baby should be fed. OR : Let the baby be fed.
 You can begin the sentence with you if you want to put emphasis on the person addressed to. In such cases, the
passive voice takes the following form:
Active: Please help me. Passive: Let me be helped. Passive: You are requested to help me.
Active: Don’t touch it. Passive: Let it not be touched. Passive: You are warned not to touch it.
The passive form has to begin with you, when the object of the verb in the active voice is not given.
Active: Work hard. (No object) Passive: You are advised to work hard.
Active: Get out. (No object) Passive: You are ordered to get out.
More examples are given below:
Active: Please lend me some money. Passive: You are requested to lend me some money.
Active: Kindly do this work. Passive: You are requested to do this work.
Active: Let us go for a walk. Passive: It is suggested that we should go out for a walk.
Note that suggest is followed by a -that clause and not an infinitive.
Complex passive structures
A Verbs with prepositions
In passive structures, verb + preposition groups stay together.
1 look at, listen to, pay for etc.
The objects of prepositional verbs can become subjects in passive structures.( It is possible to end a sentence with a
preposition in a sentence where a prepositional verb is made passive.)
We have looked carefully at the plan. The plan has been carefully looked at.
Nobody listens to her. She is never listened to.
Somebody has paid for your meal. Your meal has been paid for.
Somebody broke into our house our house was broken into.
Note the word order. The preposition cannot be dropped:I don't like to be shouted at. (NOT I don't like to be
shouted.)
2 throw stones at, steal a bicycle from, give flowers to etc.
If there is already a direct object, the second object (after the preposition) cannot become a passive subject.
They threw stones at him. Stones were thrown at him. (BUT NOT He was thrown stones at.)
They stole a bicycle from him. A bicycle was stolen from him. (BUT NOT He was stolen a bicycle from.)
They poured water on us. Water was poured on us. (BUT NOT we were poured water on.)
Note that possessive nouns or pronouns cannot become passive subjects, either.
They called Mr Archer's name. Mr Archer's name was called. (BUT NOT Mr Archer was name called.)
I broke her mirror. Her mirror was broken. (BUT NOT She was mirror broken.)
3 give, send etc.
Verbs like give, send, lend can have two objects with no preposition.
e.g. They gave him a gold watch. He was given a gold watch.
Passives 11

(the structure with the person as subject is very common)

B Passive of verbs followed by that-clauses
1 clause objects: It + passive verb + clause
Some sentences have clauses as their objects. These cannot normally become the subjects of passive sentences.
Someone reported that the president had suffered a heart attack. (BUT NOT: That the president had suffered a heart
attack was reported...)
The newspapers say that his company is in trouble. (BUT NOT: That his company is in trouble is said ... )
However, passive structures are often possible with preparatory “it”.
(When the subject of a sentence is a clause, we generally use “it” as a preparatory subject, and put the clause later).
It was reported that the President had suffered a heart attack.
It is said that his company is in trouble.
Examples: It is thought that the Minister will resign. It was reported that the army was crossing the frontier.
It is expected that the company will become profitable in the New Year.
It has been shown that the theory is correct. It is proposed that prices should increase next year.
These structures are mostly rather formal, but common in news reports.
Here are some verbs we can use in this structure:
admit declare hope propose show agree discover intend prove state allege establish know recommend suggest
announce estimate mention regret suppose assume expect notice report think believe explain object request
understand claim fear observe reveal consider feel presume say decide find promise see
2 Subject + passive verb + to-infinitive:
Another way of expressing the same ideas is with subject+ passive verb + to-infinitive. This structure is also used in
news reports.
Examples: United were expected to win. (= People expected that they would win.)
The company is thought to be planning a new advertising campaign.
(= Someone thinks that it is planning a new advertising campaign.)
The President was reported to have suffered a heart attack.
(= Someone reported that he had suffered a heart attack.)
He is known to be in Wales. They are said to own several houses.
She is understood to have left home.
Example: They know that he is abroad.
Pattern 1: It is known that he is abroad.
Pattern 2: he is known to be abroad.
In Pattern 2 we can use these verbs:
allege declare find presume see assume discover intend prove show believe estimate know report suppose claim
expect mean reveal think consider feel observe say understand
perfect, progressive and passive infinitives
The infinitive can also be perfect or continuous, or it can be passive.
Passives 12

The army was reported to be crossing the frontier. (progressive)

The prisoner is known to have behaved violently in the past. (perfect)
Stonehenge is thought to have been built over a period of 500 years. (perfect passive)
He is believed to have crossed the frontier . The hostages are expected to be released today. (passive)
I was told to be waiting outside the station at 6 o'clock.
Infinitives
Simple (to) write Passive (to) be written
Progressive (to) be writing Perfect passive (to) have been written
Perfect (to) have written Negative not(to) write, be writing etc.
Perfect progressive (to) have been writing

 Present reference: With present reference, the passive is followed by the present infinitive.
The criminal is thought to be in hiding in the London area. Vitamin C is known to be good for treating colds.
• Past reference: With past reference, the passive is followed by the past infinitive.
Smith is believed to have left England last week.
• Past reporting verb: If the reporting verb is in the past, the past infinitive tends to follow, though not always if the
verb be is used.
People thought Sue had paid too much.---- Sue was thought to have paid too much.
The police thought that the thief was still in the house.---- The thief was thought to still be in the house.
• Continuous infinitive: Past and present continuous infinitives are also used.
Mary is thought to be living in Scotland. The driver is thought to have been doing a U-turn.
NOTE
This structure is also possible with preparatory there.
With some verbs (e.g. say, think, feel, report, presume, understand), the passive structure is possible with there as a
'preparatory subject'.
There are thought to be more than 3,000 different languages in the world. (= It is thought that there are ... )
There was said to be disagreement between Ministers.
There are believed to be many thousands of homeless teenagers living on the streets of the capital.
There is considered to be little chance of the plan succeeding.
C Passive of verbs followed by infinitives
Infinitive objects: (It + passive verb + to-infinitive) They decided to ...
A few verbs that are followed by infinitives (most commonly decide, agree and propose) can also be used in passive
structures beginning with “it”.
They decided to meet at twelve. It was decided to meet at twelve.
We agreed to open a new branch. It was agreed to open a new branch.
However, most verbs cannot be used in this way.
We hope to make a profit this year. (BUT NOT it is hoped to make ... )
Another example:
Active: The committee agreed to support the idea.
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Passive: It was agreed to support the idea.

D Passive of verbs followed by object + infinitive
1 object + infinitive: He asked me to send ...
Many verbs that are followed by object + infinitive (e.g. tell, ask, persuade, warn, advise, expect, choose) can be
made passive structures with infinitives.
They asked me to give my name. ---I was asked to give my name.
We chose Felicity to be the Carnival Queen.---Felicity was chosen to be the Carnival Queen.
Examples: We were told not to come back. They are allowed to visit Harry once a week.
You are not expected to work on Sundays. Ann was chosen to represent our street.
We were told to take the 9.15 train.
2 verbs of thinking, feeling and saying
With verbs like think, feel, believe, know etc, the object + infinitive structure is rather formal and often unusual.
They believe him to be dangerous. (more normal: They believe that ... )
However, the passive structure (e.g. He is believed to be ... ) is common, and often occurs in news reports.
He is believed to be dangerous. Moriarty is thought to be in Switzerland.
She is known to have been married before. It is considered to be the finest cathedral in Scotland.
Note that with say, the infinitive structure is only possible in the passive.
His company is said to be in trouble. (BUT NOT They say his company to be in trouble.)
3 hear, see, make and help
These verbs can be followed, in active structures, by object + infinitive without to. In passive structures to-infinitives
are used. Compare:
- I saw him come out of the house. He was seen to come out of the house.
- They made him tell them everything. He was made to tell them everything.
- They helped him (to) get out of the country. He was helped to get out of the country.
exceptions: wanting and liking
Verbs that refer to wanting, liking and similar ideas cannot usually be used in passive structures with following
infinitives.
Everybody wanted Doris to be the manager. (BUT NOT Doris was wanted to be the manager.)
We like our staff to say what they think. (BUT NOT Our stuff are liked to say what they think.)
E Passive of verbs with object + noun/ adjective complement
Passives : he was considered a genius
After some verbs the direct object can be followed by an 'object complement' - a noun or adjective which describes
or classifies the object.
Queen Victoria considered him a genius. They elected Mrs Sanderson President.
We all regarded Kathy as an expert. Most people saw him as a sort of clown.
The other children called her stupid. You've made the house beautiful.
In passive clauses these are subject complements; they come after the verb.
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He was considered a genius by Queen Victoria. Mrs Sanderson was elected President.
Kathy was regarded as an expert. He was seen as a sort of clown.
She was called stupid by the other children. The house has been made beautiful.