‫االسم ‪ :‬لمى احمد حسن‬

‫الجامعه ‪/‬جامعة الكوفة‬

‫المعهد ‪/‬كلية التربية المختلط‬
‫قسم ‪/‬الرياضيات‬
‫المرحله ‪ /‬االولى‬
‫اسم التقرير‪ /‬المبني للمجهول ‪the passive voice‬‬
‫اسم االستاذ‪/‬احمد العادلي‬
‫اسم الماده ‪/‬اللغة االنكليزية‬
*Passive voice:
Functions of the passive voice
The passive voice is used to show interest in the person
or object that experiences an action rather than the
person or object that performs the action. In other words,
the most important thing or person becomes the subject
of the sentence.

Examples

 The passive voice is used frequently. (= we are

interested in the passive voice, not in who uses it.)
 The house was built in 1654. (= we are interested in
the house, not in who built it.)
 The road is being repaired. (= we are interested in
the road, not in the people who are doing the repairs.)
Sometimes we use the passive voice because we don't
know or do not want to express who performed the
action.
Examples

 I noticed that a window had been leftopen.

 Every year thousands of people are killed on our
roads.
 All the cookies have been eaten.
 My car has been stolen!
The passive voice is often used in formal texts.
Switching to the active voice will make your writing
clearer and easier to read.
Passive Active

A great A few well-

deal of chosen
meaning i words convey 
s a great deal
conveyed  of meaning.
by a few
well-
chosen
words.

Our A mass of
planet is gases wrapar
wrapped  ound our
in a mass planet.
of gases.

Waste The
materials  city disposes 
are of waste
disposed  materials in a
of in a variety of
variety of ways.
ways.

If we want to say who or what performs the action while

using the passive voice, we use the preposition by. When
we know who performed the action and are interested in
him, it is always better to switch to the active voice
instead.

Passive Active

"A The
Hard Beatles wrote "
Day's A Hard Day's
Night"  Night".
was
written
by the
Beatles.

The Spielberg direc
movie ted the movie
ET was ET.
directe
d
bySpiel
berg.

This My
house w fatherbuilt this
as built house.
by my
father.
Read more about the passive voice and active
equivalents for all English verb tenses.

Forming the passive voice

The passive voice in English is composed of two
elements:
the appropriate form of the verb 'to be' + past
participle

Affirma Negat Interroga Negative

tive ive tive interroga
tive

The The Was the Wasn't

house house house the house
was wasn't built in built in
built in built 1899? 1899?
1899. in
1899.

These These Were Weren't

houses house these these
were s houses houses
built in weren' built in built in
1899. t built 1899? 1899?
in
1899.
To clean, passive voice

Subj + to be + past + rest

ect (conjugat partici of
ed) ple senten
ce

Simple present

The is cleane every

hous d day.
e

Present continuous

The is being cleane at the

hous d momen
e t.

Simple past

The was cleane yesterd

hous d ay.
e
Subj + to be + past + rest
ect (conjugat partici of
ed) ple senten
ce

Past continuous

The was being cleane last

hous d week.
e

Present perfect

The has been cleane since

hous d you
e left.

Past perfect

The had been cleane before

hous d they
e arrived.

Future
Subj + to be + past + rest
ect (conjugat partici of
ed) ple senten
ce

The will be cleane next

hous d week.
e

Future continuous

The will be cleane tomorr

hous being d ow.
e

Present conditional

The would be cleane if they

hous d had
e visitors
.

Past conditional
 Subj + to be + past + rest
ect (conjugat partici of
ed) ple senten
ce

The would cleane if it had

hous have been d been
e dirty.

Inifinitive

The must be cleane before

hous d we
e arrive.

Passive voice with infinitives

The infinitive passive voice is used after modal verbs and
other most verbs normally followed by an infinitive.
Examples

 You have to be tested on your English grammar.

 John might be promoted next year.
 She wants to be invited to the party.
 I expect to be surprised on my birthday.
 You may be disappointed.
Passive voice with gerunds
Gerunds are used after prepositions and verbs normally
followed by a gerund.
Examples

 I remember being taught to drive.

 The children are excited about being taken to the
zoo.
 The children are excited to be taken to the zoo.
 Most film stars hate being interviewed.
 Most film stars hate to be interviewed.
 Poodles like to be pampered.
 Poodles like being pampered.
Using "to be born"
"To be born" is a passive form and is most commonly
used in the past tense. However, in some cases, the
present or future tense is appropriate.
Examples

 I was born in 1976.

 Where were you born?
 Around 100 babies are born in this hospital every
week.
 We don't know on exactly which day the baby will
be born.
Sometimes the passive is formed using the verb to
get or to have instead of the verb to be. A separate page
deals with these alternative ways to form the passive
voice.
 *References:
1.   Language Log: How to defend yourself from bad
advice about writing
2. ^ Knabe, Norman (January 2009). The Get-
Passives as an Emotive Language Device. GRIN
Verlag. ISBN 978-3-640-25174-2. Retrieved 13
November 2012.
3. ^ H.W. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English
Usage, Second Revised Edition, 1965. Entry for double
passives.
4. ^ The American Heritage Book of English Usage,
ch. 1, sect. 24 "double passive." Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1996.https://www.webcitation.org/5QdHYrkv6?
url=http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/024.html Accesse
d 13 November 2006.
5. ^ Neal Whitman, Double Your Passive, Double
Your Fun, in Literal
Minded. http://literalminded.wordpress.com/2005/05/16/
double-your-passive-double-your-fun/. Accessed 13
November 2006.
6. ^ Huddleston, Rodney; Pullum,
Geoffrey (2002). The Cambridge Grammar of the
English Language. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge
University Press. pp. 1206, 1200. ISBN 978-0-521-
43146-0.
7. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, entry for passival.
8. ^ a b Liberman, Mark (January 13, 2011). "A peeve
for the ages". Language Log.
9. ^ a b Vuolo, Mike (May 29, 2012). "The House is
Building"? Why you never learned the passival tense,
even though it used to be proper English grammar".
Slate.
10. ^ Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage.
Merriam-Webster. 1994. p. 775. ISBN 978-0-87779-
132-4. Retrieved 27 January2013.