7.

The Passive
When do we use the Passive?
We use the Passive when the person or thing doing the action is
not known, not important or obvious.

The class is usually taught in Turkish, but it can

also be taught in English.

The message hasn’t been sent.

The homework must be done before the

weekend.

Was the message sent?

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 Read the text. How many examples of the Passive
can you find?

Last year more than $500 billion was spent on

advertising worldwide. Television commercials
are still used by many companies, but the biggest
growth has been seen in online advertising. This is
because an online advert can be shown to a much
larger number of people. Also, much less money
must be spent to advertise a product online.

There are five examples. Look!

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How do we make the Passive?
Ev Passive
The
Present Simple and Facial expressions are used to show emotions.
Past Simple Passive They weren’t told about the party.
Was the message sent?
Present Perfect Passive The problem hasn’t been discussed yet.
Has the activity been explained to you?
Passive with can, must Drinks cannot be taken into the theatre.
and should Tickets must be bought in advance.
Everyone should be encouraged to take part.

We use the Passive If we want to say who did the action, we

when the person We form the Passive with use by + the agent (the person or thing that
doing the action is not the correct form of the does the action).
known, not important verb to be and the past The speech was made by the head teacher.
or obvious. participle. She was contacted by a charity.

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 Practice Time
Make passive sentences from the prompts. Use the tense
given in brackets and add by if necessary.

1. the letter / write / by you / ? (Past Simple)

Was the letter written by you?

2. we / not show / the film about communication (Present Perfect)

We haven’t been shown the film about communication.

3. some hand gestures / consider / rude (can)

Some hand gestures can be considered rude.

4. an email / send / after every meeting (Present Simple)

An email is sent after every meeting.

5. the school rules / follow / all students (must)

The school rules must be followed by all students.

6. we / give / the right information / the organisers (should)

We should be given the right information by the organisers.

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