ENIS FIRST YEAR ENGINEERING THE PASSIVE

The passive is formed with the verb be + past participle. It is used in a number of different ways:  

a. When the person or thing doing the action (the agent) is less important than the action itself. The water in
Veliko Tarnovo will be switched off from 4.00 to 7.00 for repairs.  
b. When the agent is obvious. Sandra was arrested for stealing the jewellery. (Obviously, the police made the
arrest).  
c. When the agent is unknown. A lot of money has been taken from the bank account without permission.    

When using the passive, it is important to use the correct tense.

Make sure that the verb be is in the right form for the time you are describing and then just add the past participle.  

 Active: They have eaten all the ice cream. (present perfect)

 Passive: All the ice cream has been eaten. (present perfect of be + past participle)  
 Active: Someone is driving that car too quickly. (present continuous)
 Passive: That car is being driven too quickly. (present continuous of be + past participle)    

Task 1 :These sentences are active. Make them passive. Do not use an agent.
 Example: Someone is washing the car → The car is being washed  
 1-They drink rakia every day in the village. (present simple)   

2. They are building a new school there. (present continuous)  

3. They have found a Roman coin. (present perfect)  

4. He is going to make some new plans. (be going to)  

5. She will write another article. (future simple)  

6. They picked the ripe fruit. (past simple)  

7. She was riding the horse athletically. (past continuous)  

8. They had known the secret for ages. (past perfect)  

9. You can see a lot of interesting festivals in Bulgaria. (modal)  

10. They should have brought a map. (modal perfect) 

 Note : Sometimes, we wish to use the passive with an agent. If we do this, we use by before the agent: Romeo and
Juliet was written by Shakespeare.  
Task 2 : Make the passive sentences active. Use the agent and keep the same tense!
Example: The milk was drunk by the cat → The cat drank the milk.    
1. The building was designed by Norman Foster. 
2. A lot of protests are being made by Bulgarians at the moment.  

3. Rose oil is made by Bulgarian companies in Kazanluk.  

4. The news will be read by Ralitsa Vasileva at 9.00.  

5. The funds for the project must have been authorised by the Minister.  

6. The national anthem was being sung by the patriots as New Year arrived.  

7. A lot of fog can be seen by drivers near Sevlievo.  

 8. A speech is going to be made by the EU commissioner.  

9. Their actions have been criticised by the people.  

10. The truth had not been told by the liar. 

Note : When using the passive voice, you need to be careful with question forms.
In subject questions, we have the question word and then the verbs.

 Example: The money has been taken. → What has been taken?

This question asks about the subject (the money).  

 In object questions, the subject always needs to come after the first verb:

 Where have changes been made? The changes have been made in the financial sector.
 Why were we not informed? You were not informed because it was a secret.  

Task 3 :Make questions in the passive voice for these answers. Use the words in brackets.
Example: The milk was drunk by the cat (who/drink) → Who was the milk drunk by?  

1. The vase has been stolen. (what/steal)  

2. The ship will be launched on Tuesday morning. (when/launch)  

3. The police were called because there was a robbery. (why/call)  

4. The new teachers were liked by the students. (who/like)  

5. The goods are delivered every Monday. (when/deliver)  

6. His immorality has been shown. (what/show)  

7. The Crown Jewels had been stolen. (what/steal)  

8. Photographs were being taken of the royal couple. (who/take)  

9. Don Quixote was written by Cervantes. (who/write)  

10. Don Quixote was written by Cervantes. (what/write) 

Often texts will use a mixture of the active and passive voices, sometimes in the same sentence.
For example, Jack felt shocked because his wallet had been stolen. “Jack felt” is active – Jack did the feeling. “his
wallet had been stolen” is passive – the wallet didn’t do the stealing.   
The last exercise is a difficult one. Here, you have to choose to use the active or the passive of the verb in
brackets, and choose the correct tense to complete the text. Good luck!  

  Flat Earth Map Who knows what ________ (happen) in the future? Some scientists ________ (believe) that a
lot of things that we don’t yet know ________ (become) clear before the end of the century.
For example, it ________ (not prove) what exactly ________ (cause) the creation of the universe. The Big Bang
theory ________ (support) for years, but now some scientists ________ (begin) to doubt that it explains everything.  
What is sure is that new things ________ (discover) in the future. In the past, when scientists ________ (claim) that
they ________ (find) the answers to different problems, new research ________ (show) that their
experiments ________ (not do) correctly and that their results ________ (base) on bad science.At one time,
everybody ________ (think) that the world was flat, but now, this belief ________ (seem) ridiculous. Maybe in a few
years, our current beliefs ________ (laugh at) by future generations