THE PASSIVE VOICE

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/passive

 A girl was stabbed in Croydon las week.

 A mistake was made.

 Every hour, a young girl is forced to marry.
Uses of the Passive
When we want to focus on the action
 ‘A building was demolished yesterday’
The agent is not important or it is obvious
 ‘The fire was put out in two hours’
The agent is unknown
 ‘The president was killed last night’
It is more polite
 ‘A mistake was made’ (instead of you made
a mistake)
Active vs Passive
 Form of the active
Subject (agent) + verb+ object

 Sarah wrote a letter

 Form of Passive
Subject (not agent) + to be + Past Participle (+ by agent)

 A letterwas written (by Sarah)

https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/active
_passive/active_or_passive2.htm
 Rewriting active sentences in passive voice:
Someone stole my bike
https://www.english-grammar. at/online_exercises/passive-voice/pa020-active-passive.htm

The object of the active sentence becomes

the subject of the passive sentence: My
bike
The verb is changed (to be + past
participle): was stolen
The subject- agent of the active sentence
becomes by agent (or is dropped): by
someone
My bike was stolen by someone
FROM ACTIVE TO PASSIVE
VOICE SUBJECT VERBS OBJECT/BY
TENSE
AGENT
Simple Active: Rita writes a letter.
Present Passive: A letter is written by Rita.
Active: Rita wrote a letter.
Simple Past
Passive: A letter was written by Rita.
Active: Rita has written a letter.
Present
Perfect has been
Passive: A letter by Rita.
written
Active: Rita will write a letter.
Future will be
Passive: A letter by Rita.
written
Active: Rita can write a letter.
Modal verbs
Passive: A letter can be written by Rita
 PASSIVE WITH TWO
OBJECTS
 An active sentence with two objects has two possible
passive voice
 One of the two objects becomes the subject, the other
one remains an object.
 It depends on what you want to put the focus on

https://www.perfect-english-grammar.co
m/passive-verbs-two-objects-exercise-1.ht
ml Subject Verb Object 1 Object 2
Active: Rita wrote a letter to me.
Passive 1: A letter was written to me by Rita.
Passive 2: I was written a letter by Rita.
The passive with GET
We can use GET instead of BE in spoken
English with actions verbs:
He got hurt in the accident.
Mike got fired because he was always late
to wok.
It’s not possible with state verbs:
 It is known that a teenager is involved in
the accidennt.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar
/british-grammar/get-passive
The passive with reporting verbs
We sometimes use the passive to report
what people say or think:
….is thought to /is considered to/ is known to

 The president is thought to travel to Nepal.

 Maria is considered to be very intelligent
Other verbs: expect, feel, say, suppose,
think, understand
Another structure:
 https://test-english.com/grammar-points /b1-b2/passive-reporting-verbs/2/

It is said/thought/agreed…that
GET/HAVE SOMETHING DONE
 If you 'have something done', you get somebody else
to do something for you.
 I'm going to have my hair cut.
 She's having her house redecorated.
 I'm having a copy of the report sent to you
• In informal English, we can replace 'have' by 'get'.
 We're getting a new telephone system installed.
 They will be getting the system repaired as quickly
as they can.
 I got the bill sent direct to the company.
 https://test-english.com/explanation/b1-2/have-something-done/#:~:text=Get%20something%20done,home%20rebuilt%2
0after%20the%20earthquake
.
The Causative II
Get someone to do something
 I got a mechanic to take a look at my car.
Have someone do something
 Woue are having an architect redisign the
hse.
https://test-english.com/grammar-points/b1-
b2/have-something-done/