THE PASSIVE

The Passive Form of Modals and Phrasal

Modals

Olga should be told

Passive form of Modals &

about the test.

Present Passive Modals Modal + Be+ Past
Phrasal Modals

& Phrasal Modals participles

This room has to be
cleaned.

Olga should have been

told about the test.
Modal + have been +
Past-Passive Modals
past participle
This room could have
been cleaned.
 Stative (Non-Progressive) Passive
• ‘Stative’ in this case refers to a sentence
describing a state or situation.
Ex: The door is old.
The door is green.
The door is locked.
• When the passive form is used to describe an
existing situation or state, it is called ‘stative’ or
‘non-progressive’ passive.
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• Something should be considered in this form of
passive:
-no action is taking place
-there is no -by phrase
-the past participle functions as an adjective
• Sometimes, preposition other than by can follow
stative passive verbs.
Ex: I am interested in that painting.
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• To sum up, understand the following examples:
Examples

Active Ali tore the paper.

The paper was

Passive
torn by Ali.
The paper is torn
Stative Passive
now.
Common Stative (Non-Progressive) Passive
Verbs + Preposition
 The Passive with Get
• Get has a meaning that is similar to become. (It
gives the idea of change- the idea of becoming,
beginning to be, growing to be.)
• ‘Get’ may be followed by certain adjectives.
• The passive with ‘get’ is common, especially in
spoken English.
• In passive, ‘get’ is followed by past participle.
 The past participle functions as adjectives.
Continued… (Examples)

Get + Adjective
Ex: Tanya gets angry when her roommate
borrows her clothes without telling her.

Get + Past Participle

Ex: We are getting excited about the upcoming
holidays.
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