Structure

Active
Cats eat fish
Subject + verb + object

Passive
Fish are eaten by cats
Object + to be + p.p verb + subject
Examples

•The passive voice is used frequently. (= we are interested in the passive

voice, not in who uses it.)

•The house was built in 1654. (= we are interested in the house, not in

who built it.

•The road is being repaired. (= we are interested in the road, not in the
people who are doing the repairs.)
Sometimes we use the passive voice because we don't know or do not
want to express who performed the action.
Examples

•I noticed that a window had been left open.

•Every year thousands of people are killed on our roads.

•All the cookies have been eaten.

•My car has been stolen!

The passive voice is often used in formal texts. Switching to the active
voice will make your writing clearer and easier to read
 Passive
•A great deal of meaning is
conveyed by a few well-chosen
words.
•Our planet is wrapped in a mass of
gases.
•Waste materials are disposed of in
a variety of ways.
Active
•A few well-chosen words convey a
great deal of meaning.
•A mass of gases wrap around our
planet
•The city disposes of waste materials
in a variety of ways
If we want to say who or what performs the action while using the passive
voice, we use the preposition by. When we know who performed the
action and are interested in him, it is always better to switch to the active
voice instead.
 Passive Active

•A Hard Day's Night" was written •The Beatles wrote "A Hard Day's

by the Beatles. Night".

•The movie ET was directed •Spielberg directed the movie ET

by Spielberg.

•My father built this house.

•This house was built by my father
Affirmative Negative Interrogative Negative
Interrogative
The house was The house wasn't Was the house Wasn't the house
built in 1899. built in 1899. built in 1899? built in 1899?

These houses These houses Were these Weren't these

were built in weren't built in houses built in houses built in
1899. 1899. 1899? 1899?
Subject + to be + past participle + rest of
(conjugated) sentence
Simple present
The house is cleaned every day.
Present continuous
The house is being cleaned at the moment.

Simple past
The house was cleaned yesterday.
Past continuous
The house was being cleaned last week.
Present perfect
The house has been cleaned since you left.
Past perfect
The house had been cleaned before they
arrived.

Future
The house will be cleaned next week.
Future continuous
The house will be being cleaned tomorrow.
Present conditional
The house would be cleaned if they had
visitors.

Past conditional
The house would have been cleaned if it had been
dirty.

Inifinitive
The house must be cleaned before we arrive.
The present perfect

The present perfect is a verb tense which is used to show that an action has taken
place once or many times before now. The present perfect is most frequently used
to talk about experiences or changes that have taken place.
We can use the present perfect tense with since and for to provide a description of
a situation that started in the past and continues now.
In positive statement, we use the present perfect tense with for and
since with particular verbs which describe things that are often true for
a long time.
Love work
have be
like live
hate
Present perfect

The present perfect is formed from the present tense of the verb have and the past participle of a verb.

We use the present perfect:

 For something that started in the past and continues in the present:

She has lived in Liverpool all her life.

 When we are talking about our experience up to the present:

I've played the guitar ever since I was a teenager.

For something that happened in the past but is important in the present:

I can't get in the house. I've lost my keys.

Teresa isn't at home. I think she has gone shopping.

Structure

The present perfect is formed using has/have + past participle. Questions are indicated by
inverting the subject and has/have. Negatives are made with not.

•Statement: You have seen that movie many times.

•Question: Have you seen that movie many times?
•Negative: You have not seen that movie many times
We use the present perfect to say that an action happened at an unspecified time before now. The
exact time is not important. You CANNOT use the present perfect with specific time expressions such
as:

one year ago Yesterday

last week when I was a child

that day when I lived in Japan

one day at that moment

We CAN use the present perfect with unspecific expressions such as:

before already

many times so far

several times yet

ever never

once