THE PASSIVE VOICE

ESO 4 – UNIT 4
FORM
- For a sentence to be turned into Passive IT MUST HAVE AN OBJECT.
• James did the washing-up → can be made passive: The washing-up was done by James

• They are really nice → There’s no direct / indirect object in the sentences, it can’t be made
passive.

- To turn an active sentence into passive the next steps must be followed:

1. THE OBJECT of the "active" sentence BECOMES THE “SUBJECT” OF THE "PASSIVE" sentence.

2. THE SUBJECT of the "active" sentence BECOMES THE "OBJECT" OF THE "PASSIVE" sentence

This object is called Agent complement and is introduced by the preposition ‘BY’.
VERBS IN PASSIVE
The passive verb is formed by the auxiliary verb TO BE in the same tense of
the verb in the active sentence

The Past Participle of the main verb in the active sentence.

EX. My mother wrote a great novel
(past simple)

Verb TO BE in Past Simple PAST PARTICIPLE of the main verb

To be + past participle → A great novel was written by my mother

- It may be necessary to change the number of the verb to write the passive
verb:

• Ex. My best friend has won the prize → The prize has been won by my best
friend
V → singular aux. verb → singular

• My best friend has won the prizes → The prizes have been won by my best
friend
V → singular aux. verb → plural
 The Agent Complement can be omitted…

1. When it is not important, when we don’t know it or when it’s obvious.

The police arrested the thief → The thief was arrested (by the police) (obvious)

They cook a delicious cake for your birthday party →

A delicious cake is cooked (by them) for your birthday party (not important)

2. When the subject is ‘people in general’ or ‘you’.

People use bicycles in the city instead of public transport →

Bicycles are used in the city instead of public transport (by people)
When the sentence has TWO OBJECTS (direct and indirect object),
there are TWO WAYS OF TURNING THE SENTENCE INTO PASSIVE:

1. Starting the passive sentence with the DIRECT OBJECT:

The actors taught me an important lesson
IO DO
(Indirect object) (Direct object)
AN IMPORTANT LESSON was taught to me by the actors
(*In this case the IO is introduced by TO)

2. Starting the passive sentence with the INDIRECT OBJECT:

The actors taught me an important lesson
IO DO
(Indirect object) (Direct object)
I was taught an important lesson by the actors
 CAUSAT IVE: HAVE / GET SOMETHING DONE
• We use the causative when sb does sth for or to us.
• It follows the following structure:

PERSON Verb HAVE OBJECT PAST

who or GET in that PARTICIPLE of
receives ANY TENSE receives the MAIN VERB
the action the action

• Ex. They painted my house.

I had my house painted (by them)
PERSONAL AND IMPERSONAL PASSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS
• The verbs think, believe, say, report, know, expect, consider, understand, state, suggest,

argue, announce, mention, observe, suppose, claim, fear, agree… (examples of

REPORTING VERBS) are used in the following passive patterns in PERSONAL and

IMPERSONAL CONSTRUCT IONS.

Active: People believe that he lied in court.

Passive:

1. It is believed (that) he lied in court. (Impersonal) → IT + passive + that-clause

2. He is believed to have lied in court. (Personal) → Subject + passive + to have + p.p

IMPERSONAL
• We place “It” as the subject.
• We make the normal passive of the first verb (Reporting verb) followed by THAT
• The rest of the sentence doesn’t change.
Ex. It is believed (that) he lied in court.
PERSONAL
• We use the second subject as the subject of the passive.

• We make the normal passive of the first verb (Reporting verb).

• When the second verb is in PRESENT or FUTURE we add TO + INFINITIVE

• When the second verb is in PAST we add TO HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE (3rd col.)

Ex. He is believed to have lied in court.

 DIFFERENT TENSES IN PERSONAL PASSIVE CONSTRUCT IONS
- PRESENT ACT IVE: (TO + INFINITIVE)
People believe that Mr. Brown owns a lot of land in
the north.
Present personal passive construction:
- Mr. Brown is believed to own a lot of land in the
north.
- FUTURE ACT IVE: (TO + INFINIT IVE)
People expect that the law will change next year.
Future personal passive construction:
- The law is expected to change next year.
- PAST ACT IVE: (TO HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE)
People believed that Mr. Brown owned a lot of land
in the north.
They thought that the prisoners had escaped.
Past personal passive construction:
- Mr. Brown was believed to have owned a lot of land
in the north.
- The prisoners were thought to have escaped.