THE PASSIVE VOICE (LA VOZ PASIVA)

1. Brenda María Sánchez León

2. -Don’t know or do not want to express
who performed the action.
Example: The car was built in 2013 (we are
interested in the car, not in who built it)
-The receiver of the action is more
important
Example: My car has been stolen.

3. The passive voice is composed of two elements:
The appropriate form of the verb 'to be' + past participle
EXAMPLES
Af: The car was built in 2013 / These cars were built in
2013.
Ng: The house wasn't built in 1899. / These cars weren't
built in 2013.
Int: Was the house built in 1899? / Were these cars built
in 2013?

4. Subject + to be (conjugated) + past participle +
rest of sentence
PRESENT SIMPLE
S + TO BE + verb (participle) + C
“The restaurant is opened every day”.
PAST SIMPLE
S + was/were + verb (participle) + C
“The restaurant was opened every day”

5. PRESENT PERFECT
S + (has/have)+ been + verb(participle) + C
“The restaurant has been opened every day”
PAST PERFECT
S + (had been) + verb (participle) + C
“The restaurant had been opened every day”
FUTURE WITH WILL
S + will + be+ verb (participle) + C
“The restaurant will be opened every day

6. GOING TO FUTURE
S + TO BE + GOING TO + BE + VERB + C PARTICI.
“The restaurant is going to open every day”
WITH MODALS VERBS
CAN: A song can be written in 30 minutes
MIGHT: Flying cars might be invented soon
CLOUD: This cake could be eaten if it weren´t so hot!

7. COULDN’T: The programmer couldn’t be used
yesterday
CAN`T: This can’t be stopped
SHOULD: Music should be heard at reasonable
volume
HAVE TO: Animals have to be treated with
respect
MUST: Social Networks must be used carefully

8. If you want to change an active-voice sentence to
passive voice, consider carefully who or what is
performing the action expressed in the verb, and
then make that agent the object of a "by the..."
phrase. Make what is acted upon the subject of
the sentence, and change the verb to a form of be
+ past participle. Including an explicit "by the..."
phrase is optional.
EXAMPLES
ACTIVE: “Anne ate de last orange”
PASIVE: “The last orange was eaten by Anne”

9. MORE EXAMPLES (ACTIVE = PASIVE)
ACTIVE: People drink champagne in French
PASIVE: Champagne is drunk in French
ACTIVE: The teachers informed the students that the class
had been cancelled.
PASIVE: The students were informed that the class had
been cancelled.
ACTIVE: Harry ate six shrimp at dinner
PASIVE: At dinner, six shrimp was eaten by Harry
ACTIVE: Susan changed the flat tire
PASIVE: The flat tire was changed by Susan