The passive

voice is often
maligned by
grammazons as
a bad writing
habit.

Or, to put it in the active voice:

Grammazons across the English-speaking

world malign the passive voice as a bad
writing habit.
In general, the active voice makes your writing stronger, more
direct, and, you guessed it, more active.

The subject is something, or it does the action of the verb in

the sentence.

With the passive voice, the subject is acted upon by some other

performer of the verb.

(In case you weren’t paying

attention, the previous two
sentences use the type of
voice they describe.)
 But the passive voice is not
incorrect. In fact, there are
times when it can come in handy.

There are many ways to say one

same thing, so, some people
apply THE PASSIVE in order to
avoid the repetition or to seem
very polite.

Today I am going to explain how

to use it.

HERE WE GO!!
WHEN WE SHOULD USE IT
1. When we don’t know who does/did something.

Example: The statue has been destroyed!

2. When it’s obvious who does/did something.

Example: the exams haven’t been corrected yet.

3. When it’s not important who does/did something.

Example: The Science Museum will be demolished next week.

4. When we want to emphasise new information or use a formal style.

Example: “The Lord of the Rings” was released in 2001.

5. Reports of crimes or incidents
Example: My car has been stolen.

6. Scientific context
Example: The rat was placed in a T-shaped maze

7. To get away with an action

Example: Some mistakes were made in my Project.

8. To avoid starting clauses with long expressions.

Example: We were surprised by the number of people leaving the city during
the quarantine.
Instead of: The number of people leaving the city during the
quarantine surprised us.

9. To produce a formal style.

Example: All passengers all required to present their ticket to the inspector.
 HOW IT WORKS

Read on to learn how to form the active and passive

voices, when using the passive voice is a good idea,
and how to avoid confusing it with similar forms.
IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND WHAT’S COMING NEXT, YOU NEED TO KNOW AND

UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING CONCEPTS:

SUBJECT: person or thing that performs the action of the

main verb. (WHO)

Example: I give some flowers to my mum.

DIRECT OBJECT: person or thing the verb acts upon. It

suffers or benefits from the action of the verb. (WHAT)

Example: I give some flowers to my mum.

INDIRECT OBJECT: normally a person, who receives the

Direct Object. (TO WHOM)

Example: I give some flowers to my mum.

 THE ACTIVE VOICE

Before starting I have to leave clear that

ACTIVE VOICE is the normal way to use the
language; I mean, the use of:

SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT

I eat an apple

(remember that every tense has its own

variation).
 THE PASSIVE VOICE

So in PASSIVE VOICE the original OBJECT will

be the SUBJECT of the sentence.
In other words, it would be something like this: 
E NT
I
PAT ECT AGENT  
OBJECT+BE+VERB
J PP+SUBJECT. 
SUB
The apple is eaten by me

It is easy and you will understand it.

ACTIVE:
 
The Government passed a new law   
subject object

PASSIVE:

A new law was passed by the Government

patient agent
subject
 THE AGENT

The Agent of a Passive sentence is the Subject of an Active sentence. In

other words, it’s the person or thing that performs the action.
It comes at the end of the sentence introduced by the word “BY”.

The door was broken by the wind

Agent

However, the agent can be omitted if it’s not necessary, not important
(the action itself is more important) or if it’s taken for granted.

The man was attacked (by someone)

The robber has been arrested (by the police)

Use “with” instead of “by” to talk about the tool you use to do something.

The man was attacked with a shovel (by someone)

 BUT, WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE VERB???

When you turn an ACTIVE VOICE sentence into a

PASSIVE VOICE one, you have to think that the normal
conjugation rules also apply to the new SUBJECT.
 BUT, WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE VERB???

-Verb tense: if the active sentence is in the past, the

passive sentence will be in the past.

-Subject-Verb: there must be agreement between them

 STRUCTURE
1. It depends on the verb tense in the active voice.

ACTIVE PASSIVE

Present simple Present Simple of TO BE

+ P. Participle

He arrests thieves Thieves are arrested by him

Present Simple
 BUT the KEY, the answer to
everything, is the verb TO BE.

The first thing you have to know is that the verb TO BE is so necessary;
you are going to need it. You can make passive voice sentences in any
tense conjugating that verb in the time you want to speak.
 (Back to the previous slide)

ACTIVE:
The Government passed a new law   
subject Past object
Simple

PASSIVE:

A new law was passed by the Government

patient agent
Past Past
subject
Simple
Participle
 MORE EXAMPLES

I am building a sand castle The castle is being built (by me).

Present Continuous Present P.P.
Continuous

You have cooked a cake The cake has been cooked (by you)
Present Perfect Present P.P.
Perfect

They should make a project A project should be made (by them)

Should Should P.P.

He will give a speech at 8:00 A speech will be given tomorrow

Future Simple Future P.P.
Simple
 The gist is summed up here

The passive voice isn’t a grammatical error; it’s a matter of style. Use the
active voice if it makes your sentence sound clearer and more natural
Forming passive voice requires the verb “to be”  and a past participle.
The passive voice is your friend when the thing receiving an action is the
important part of the sentence—especially in scientific and legal contexts,
times when the performer of an action is unknown, or cases where the
subject is distracting or irrelevant.
 But things can get much more difficult than
that…..

1. verbs with two objects (direct and indirect object)

2. continuous tenses in the passive voice
3. the causative and causative verbs
4. the impersonal passive
5. verbs that cannot be passive
1. VERBS WITH TWO OBJECTS
Some verbs can have TWO OBJECTS: a DIRECT OBJECT and an
INDIRECT OBJECT:

The boy gave the teacher some flowers

OR
The boy gave some flowers to the teacher

The boy = Subject (WHO)

The teacher = Indirect Object (TO
WHOM)
Some flowers = Direct Object (WHAT)
 1. VERBS WITH TWO OBJECTS
Normally, in the passive voice, when you have two objects, the Indirect
Object is the one that becomes the Patient Subject.

The teacher was given some flowers (by the boy)

BUT the Direct Object can also be used as Subject.

Some flowers were given to the teacher (by the boy)

Most common verbs with two objects:

give - send - show - teach - lend - ask - tell - offer - order - pay
- bring - owe - pass - promise - take - write - buy – get – leave –
make – refuse, etc.
 1. VERBS WITH TWO OBJECTS
When the Direct Object becomes the Subject, we sometimes omit the
preposition of the Indirect Object. Look at the following example:

Sharon’s car was left (to) her by her father.

With some verbs, such as ‘explain’ or ‘suggest’, this is not possible.

- You need to include the preposition ‘to’.

- The Indirect Object cannot be the subject.

I was explained how to drive a Ferrari.

How to drive a Ferrari was explained me.
How to drive a Ferrari was explained to me.
 2. Continuous tenses
We DO NOT normally use verbs in the passive in the Present Perfect
Continuous, Past Perfect Continuous, Future Continuous, Future Perfect
Continuous. They sound really weird.

By 13:30, I will have been delivering a speech for two hours

By 13:30, a speech will have been being delivered for two
hours???????
Instead, we use a different phrase, such us:

- Under construction
- Under discussion
- In progress
- On display
- Under consideration
- In use
- In training
- Under development

Example 1: They had been observing the experiment for days.

The experiment had been under observation for days.

Example 2: Vintage cars have been being displayed at the fair.

Vintage cars have been on display at the fair.

Example 3: By 2022, I will have been being trained for 10 years.

By 2022, I will have been in training for 10 years.
 3. The Causative and Causative Verbs

The Causative is a HYBRID: halfway

between the Active and the Passive
voice.

The structure is that of an ACTIVE

sentence, but the SUBJECT does not
do the action, as it happens in the
PASSIVE VOICE.
 When do we use this weird structure, half
passive – half active?

1. Actions we arrange for other people to

do for us.

Example: Did you finally get your bike fixed?

2. Things we experience (usually negative

and not intended)

Example: I heard that Susie had her motorbike

stolen.
SO……..It’s used to describe when someone does something for
us (the Subject DOES NOT perform the action of the verb) or
when we ask someone to do something for us.

I had my car repaired by the mechanic

It’s my car, but I don’t repair it! It’s the mechanic who does it
for me!

It’s also used when something not very nice happens.

George got his nose broken

It doesn’t matter or we don’t know who did it, and George is not
responsible for it either (OBVIOUSLY).
The structure is:

PATIENT SUBJECT + HAVE + SOMETHING + DONE (P.P)

º
OR

*PATIENT SUBJECT + GET + SOMETHING + DONE (P.P.)

We had /got our house painted

*Using GET is more informal than HAVE

 We can also use:

‘GET SOMEBODY TO DO SOMETHING’

or

‘HAVE SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING’

when we want to mention the person who does the action.

I had the painters paint my house

I got the painters TO paint my house.
 SOME TRIVIA ABOUT THE CAUSATIVE:

There are other verbs instead of ‘have’ and ‘get’ with a causative meaning, such as
‘need’, want’ and ‘would like’.

I’d like those cars washed by this evening, please.

You will need those files printed by tomorrow.
I want that informal letter sent before today at 15:00.

The structure GET SOMETHING DONE can also mean: ‘finish doing something.’

We’ll set off as soon as I’ve got the car fixed.

 3. The Causative and Causative Verbs

There are other verbs used to arrange for someone else to do something.
The subject never performs the action itself.

I want you to clean your desks. / I told him to do the shopping

4. The Impersonal Passive
It’s used to express other people’s opinions in a formal style.

Tourism is expected to plummet due to coronavirus.

It’s the structure YOU SHOULD USE in reviews, reports and

essays when you want to sound formal and objective.

It is believed that drama movies are not entertaining.

It’s the best way to avoid using ‘I’ or to be too subjective in a

writing.

I think…… It is thought that…….

The impersonal passive has three forms:

1. Noun + Verb in passive form + infinitive / perfect infinitive

Coronavirus is expected to disappear soon.

2. There + Verb in passive form + infinitive / perfect infinitive

There are reported to have been a record number of coronavirus

cases in Africa.

3. It + verb in passive form + that clause.

It is commonly thought that coronavirus doesn’t affect children.

5. Verbs with no Passive
Some verbs are not normally used in the passive. They include
intransitive verbs (those with NO OBJECT), such as:

appear – die

Other verbs which are transitive but are

not normally used in the passive are

have - let - lack

Destination C1/C2 (page 56)
A B C
1. Was issued 1. Were found 1. To be caused
2. 2. To be shown 2. Are estimated
3. Has…been confirmed 3. Were asked 3. Has been reported
4. Had been invited 4. Being given 4. To have used
5. Was invented 5. Were written 5. Is calculated
6. Was discussed 6. Is lit/ has been lit 6. Are understood
7. 7. Being allowed 7. To eat
8. Was invaded 8. To be met 8. Were meant
9. 9. Was made 9. It
10. Being treated 10. To be known 10. To be delivered
11. Were shown
12.
Destination C1/C2 (page 57)
D E
1. Has been called 1. I will have been in training as/to be an
2. Was sold account for a/one year
3. Being named / 2. Has been under consideration for some
having been named time
4. Was 3. Has been in progress for over two weeks.
5. Transported 4. Will be in display at the library this
6. Was granted weekend
7. (should/could/ought 5. Seems to have been under construction
to) be built for a long time.
Destination C1/C2 (page 57)

F
1.
2. It delivered
3. Checked
4.
5. Got
6. Come
7. Work
8. It running
9. To come out
10.
 Destination C1/C2 (page 58)
G H
1. Get your teacher to explain / have your
teacher explain
2. Got me feeling / had me feeling
3. Get a professional to do / have a professional
do
4. Having our car stolen / getting our car stolen
5. Get your parents to help / have your parents
help
6. Got us all dancing / had us all dancing
7. To get me to do / to have me do
8. Having your hair cut
9. Got Karen to show / had Karen show
10. Getting their essays written / having their
essays written.
1. Was kept waiting
2. Being considered a star
3. Is reported to be making / is
said to be making / has been
reported to be making
4. Staff were / was provided with
extra training by
5. This computer programme
explaining to
6. Has been under construction
7. Craig was made to stay / they
got Craig to stay
8. Have him send
Destination C1/C2 (page 59)
I J
1. C 1. Being
2. D 2. Are
3. A 3. In / under
4. C 4. Is
5. C 5. With
6. D 6. Be
7. A 7. Been
8. D 8. Has
9. C 9. Have
10. B 10. Be
THE END