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Present

Active Passive
simple She drives The car is driven
Progressive She is driving The car is being driven
Perfect She has driven The car has been driven
Perfect progressive She has been driving The car has been being driven

Past
Active Passive
simple She drove The car was driven
Progressive She was driving The car was being driven
Perfect She had driven The car had been driven
Perfect progressive She had been driving The car had been being driven

Future
Active Passive
simple She will drive The car will be driven
Progressive She will be driving The car will be being driven
Perfect She will have driven The car will have been driven
Perfect progressive She will have been driving The car will have been being
driven

The robbery (present perfect passive)

Imagine a room after a robbery. A police inspector must make a report of what he sees. (All
the drawers have been opened. The computer has been smashed. The door has been
broken)

Green worries (present progressive passive)

write sentences about the problems of global warming (the air is being polluted by
chemicals. The rainforests are being cut down. The climate is being affected. The ozone
layer is being destroyed).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-56008271

Meaning and use

The passive and active give two different windows onto the same event but they are not
simply identically-meaning alternatives. When we choose to use the passive it is because we
have a specific reason to do so.

Not mentioning the agent


We use the passive if we want to talk about what was done, perhaps even without
mentioning the agent. This is because….

 we want use an impersonal , academic or scientific style in which the action is more
important but the doer isn’t relevant or of interest.
The magazine is produced using a desktop publishing system

 we don’t know the doer.


A page had been torn out of the back of the book.

 we don’t want to name the doer for some reason.


Not much has been done towards improving safety.

 to make something appear more formal


The minutes were approved.

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