The Passive Voice

Formation:
We form the passive with the verb to be and the past participle of the main verb

Active Passive
Present Simple The doctor treats the patient The patient is treated
Past Simple The doctor treated the patient The patient was treated
Future Simple The doctor will treat the patient The patient will be treated
Present Continuous The doctor is treating the patient The patient is being treated
Past Continuous The doctor was treating the patient The patient was being treated
Present Perfect The doctor has treated the patient The patient has been treated
Past Perfect The doctor had treated the patient The patient had been treated
Future Perfect The doctor will have treated the patient The patient will have been treated

The present perfect continuous, the future continuous, the past perfect continuous and the future perfect
continuous are not normally used in the passive.
We can use the verb to get instead of the verb to be in everyday speech when we talk about things that happen
by accident or unexpectedly.
e.g. Four people were hurt in the car crash (= Four people got hurt in the car crash)

We use the passive:

a. when the person who carries out the action is unknown, unimportant or obvious from the
context:
• My flat was broken into last week. (We do not know who broke into the flat.)
• Coffee beans are grown in Brazil. (It is not important to know who grows the coffee.)
• My car was serviced yesterday. (It is obvious that a mechanic serviced it.)
b. when the action itself is more important than the person who carries it out, as in news
headlines, newspaper articles, formal notices, instructions, advertisements, processes, etc:
• The new hospital will be opened by the Queen on May 15th. (formal notice)
• Then, the milk is taken to a factory where it is pasteurized. (process)
c. when we refer to an unpleasant event and we do not want to say who or what it is to blame:
• A lot of mistakes have been made. (instead of ‘You have made a lot of mistakes.’)
The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive one:

SUBJECT SUBJECT
Passive: This house was built in 1486. German is spoken in Austria.

Active: They built this house in 1486. Austrians speak German.

OBJECT OBJECT
 The active verb remains in the same tense but changes into a passive form.
 Only transitive verbs (those that take a direct object) can be changed into the passive. Active: Bill lives in a
flat. – no passive, live is an intransitive verb.
 The agent (the subject of the active sentence) can be omitted when the subject is they, he, someone, somebody,
people, one etc.
 We use by + agent to say who or what carries the action.
 We use with + instrument / material/ ingredient to say what the agent used.
• The pancakes were made by Claire. They were made with eggs, flour, milk.
 With the verbs which can take two objects, such as bring, tell, send, show, teach, promise, buy, sell, read,
offer, give, lend etc, we can form two different passive sentences.
e.g. The nurse gave me the pills. (active)
I was given the pills by the nurse. (passive, more usual)
The pills were given to me by the nurse. (passive, less usual)
 If in an active sentence a preposition follows a verb, then in the passive it is placed immediately after the verb,
e.g. A bee stung Ann on the leg. Ann was stung on the leg by a bee.
Passive Voice