Universidad Pedagógica Nacional

Communication and interculturality (2023-2)

Professor: Maria Paula Bautista
PASSIVE VOICE
We use the passive voice when we don’t know the subject of the action and when the action is more important than
the person who does the action. We use “by” when it is important to know who does the action. The noun that
follows “by” is called the ‘agent’.1

1) PRESENT SIMPLE PASSIVE 2

Something is done by someone regularly / every day / as expected...:
SUBJECT VERB OBJECT
ACTIVE VOICE The teacher helps the student
A Present simple tense B

PASSIVE VOICE The students are helped by the teacher

B To be present + past participle A

2) PAST SIMPLE PASSIVE

Something was done by someone at some time in the past:

SUBJECT VERB OBJECT

ACTIVE VOICE My mother didn’t paint the walls.
A Past simple tense B

PASSIVE VOICE The wall wasn’t painted by my mother.

B To be past + past participle A

3) PRESENT PERFECT PASSIVE

SUBJECT VERB OBJECT
ACTIVE VOICE They have cleaned the clinic.
A Present perfect tense B

PASSIVE VOICE The clinic has been cleaned by them.

B Auxiliary have+ To be past A
participle + past participle

1 Go further about passive voice: https://www.lewolang.com/gramatica-inglesa/102/the-passive-voice

2 Go further about simple present passive: https://ell.brainpop.com/level3/unit1/lesson1/summary/
 Universidad Pedagógica Nacional
Communication and interculturality (2023-2)
Professor: Maria Paula Bautista

The active vs. passive voice chart: 3

Video Mini English Lessons BBC Learning: https://youtu.be/hWzmwCbz6ow

3 Taken from: @DynaSpeakNZCEL3 on Twitter