PASSIVE VOICE

1. Read the text and find seven passive verbs.

The Canterville Ghost

by Oscar Wilde

Chapter I
When the American, Mr Otis, bought Canterville Castle, everyone told him that this was very
foolish, as the place was haunted. But Mr Otis answered, “I come from a modern country,
where we have everything that money can buy. And if there were such a thing as a ghost in
Europe, we would have it at home in one of our museums.”

A few weeks later, on a lovely July evening, Mr Otis, his wife and their children, Washington,
Virginia and the twins, went down to their new home. When they entered the avenue of
Canterville Castle, the sky suddenly became dark and a spooky stillness was in the air.

Mrs Umney, the housekeeper, led them into the library of the castle, where they sat down
and began to look around. Suddenly, Mrs Otis saw a red stain on the floor just by the
fireplace and said to Mrs Umney, “I am afraid something has been spilt there.”

“Yes, madam,” said the old housekeeper in a low voice, “blood has been spilt on that spot.”

“How terrible,” said Mrs Otis; “I don't want any blood-stains in my sitting-room. It must be
removed at once.”

The old woman smiled and answered, “It is the blood of Lady Eleanore de Canterville,
who was murdered on that spot by her husband, Sir Simon de Canterville, in 1575. Sir Simon
disappeared nine years later. His body has never been found, but his ghost still haunts the
Castle. The blood-stain is a tourist attraction now and it cannot be removed.”

“That is all nonsense,” said Washington, the eldest son of the Otis family, “stain remover will
clean it up in no time,” and he took a bottle of stain remover out of his pocket and cleaned the
spot. But as soon as the blood-stain had disappeared, a terrible flash of lightning lit up the
room and a fearful peal of thunder made the whole building shake.

2. Form and use

How do we use THE PASSIVE VOICE? Let’s discuss the details together.
SUMMARY OF THE THEORETICAL ASPECTS:

FORM:
TO BE (IN THE APPROPRIATE TENSE) + THE PAST PARTICIPLE of the main verb
 Only transitive verbs can be used in the passive voice.
When do we use the passive?
 When the person who does the action is unimportant, unknown or obvious from the context.
 When the action itself is more important than the doer;
 When we want to avoid taking responsibility for an action;
 Changes
ACTIVE ----------------------------------------------→ PASSIVE

Object → Subject
The verb → the same tense, passive form
Eliza has dusted the furniture. →The furniture has been dusted by Eliza.
Subject → (by) Agent / or omitted when the subject is he/they/someone/somebody/people/one
The agent is not omitted when it is an important or specific person, or when it is essential to the
meaning of the sentence.
E.g. The novel was written by Charles Dickens.
With+instrument/ingredient/material (to say what the agent used)
E.g. The window was broken with a stone.
Verbs which take two objects: promise, tell, send, bring, buy, offer, give etc. → 2 different
sentences in the passive
E.g. The drama school offers places to talented students.
Talented students are offered places by the drama school.
Places are offered to talented students by the drama school.
Verb +preposition → preposition immediately after the verb
E.g. Jennifer took care of the children.
The children were taken care of by Jennifer.
Let → be allowed to
Hear, help, see, make + bare infinitive → + to-infinitive
E.g. They made him confess. → He was made to confess.

3. Practice
A. Complete the sentences using the correct passive form of the verbs in brackets.
a. The story ……. (write) by a famous British author a century ago.
b. The award for the best playwright …… (present) later today.
c. The new school canteen …… (build) at the moment.
d. Our car …… (not wash) for two weeks.
e. The deadline ……. (can meet) if we work hard this week.
B. Complete the second sentence using the word given so that it has a similar
meaning to the first sentence. Write between three and six words in each gap.
a. My dad told me to go to Carrefour. SENT
I ………... my dad.
b. Has Rosa invited you to her graduation party? BEEN
Have …..……. graduation party?
c. The students had decorated the room the night before the event. BY
The room ………… the night before the event.
d. Jane is going to make some delicious cupcakes. TO
Some delicious cupcakes ……… Jane.
e. Someone will bring your coffee in a minute. Please wait. BE
Your coffee ……………. to you in a minute. Please wait.
C. Find three active voice examples in the fragment (The Canterville Ghost) that can
be turned into passive ones. Write the new passive sentences.

4. Write a newsletter using ten passive verbs.

 NEWSLETTER

You are Mr/Mrs Otis.

Write a newsletter to the local authorities, the local journalists, your friends and acquaintances about
the latest news on the Canterville ghost. Also, invite them to participate in some special events that
you are going to organise soon. e.g. discussion sessions, book release, photo session, plans for the
future of Canterville Chase etc.

Give details and use ten passive verbs.

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