Passive voice- simple tenses. Creations and inventions

1. Discoveries, creations
and inventions

2. Aims:
To show interest in the person or
object that experiences an action
rather than the person or object that
performs the action.

3. What’s in our speech?
Voice is the form a verb takes to
indicate whether the subject of
the verb performs or receives the
action.

4. Fact 1 :
Alexander Graham Bell invented
the telephone in 1875.

5. Fact 2 :
John F. Mitchell made the
fi
rst mobile
phone in 1973.

6. Fact 3 :
IBM introduced the
fi
rst
smartphone in 1994.

7. “Creativity often consists
of merely turning up what
is already there”
Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

8. Active voice is used to show
that the subject of the sentence
is performing or causing the
action.
Active voice.
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1875.
John F. Mitchell made the
fi
rst mobile phone in 1973.
IBM Simon introduced the
fi
rst smartphone in 1994.

9. Fact 1 :
The telephone WAS invented by Alexander
Graham Bell in 1875.

10. Fact 2 :
The
fi
rst mobile telephone WAS
made by John F. Mitchell in 1973

11. Fact 3 :
The
fi
rst smartphone WAS intruduced by IBM in
1875.

12. When the action is more important than
the doer, as in processes, results,
instructions, events, reports, headlines,
new items, and advertisements.
When the agent (=the person who does the
action) is unknown, unimportant or
obvious from the context.
Passive voice.
The telephone was invented byAlexander Graham Bellin 1875.
The
fi
rst mobile phone was made byJohn F. Mitchell in 1973.
The
fi
rst smartphone was introduced by IBM in 1994.

13. More examples:
The light bulb was invented by Thomas
A. Edison in 1879
In 1890 the first hairdryer was invented
by French stylist Alexander Godefroy.
Penicillin was invented by the Scottish
scientist Ian Fleming 1928

14. Passive forms are made up of the verb
be with a past participle:
Tense Active voice Passive voice
Present
simple
I make a cake
I I make a cakes
The cake is made (by me)
The cakes are made (by me)
Past simple I made a cake
I made a cakes
The cake was made (by me)The
cake were made (by me)

15. When to mention the DOER:
To say who did the action that we are talking about; we use
the preposition by:
• name: (by Peter)
• noun (by the teacher)
• pronoun (by him) at the end of the sentence.
We usually only refer to the doer when it gives us some
important information which otherwise would be missing
from the sentence.
• The three-wheeled Motor Car, the first true car was
patented by Karl Benz in 1889
How to mention the DOER:

16. Let’s practice
Complete the sentences with the correct passive form
of the verbs in brackets. Use the Present Simple.
1. English ____________________ (speak) in many countries.
2. The post ______________________ (deliver) at about 7 o’clock
every morning.
3. ______________________________ (the building/use) any
more?
4. How _______________________ (your name/spell)?
5. My salary _____________________ (pay) every month.

17. Let’s practice
Complete the sentences with the correct passive form
of the verbs in brackets. Use the Past Simple.
1. My car ______________________ (repair) last week.
2. This song ________________________ (not write) by John
Lennon.
3. ________________________________ (the phone/answer) by a
young girl?
4. The film ________________________ (make) ten years ago.
5. When ______________________________ (tennis/invent)

18. Reminder
The children see the movie
The subject performs the action
The movie IS SEEN by the children
The subject receives the action

19. Reminder
The woman eats
fi
sh
The active voice focuses on the
person who does the action
The woman IS EATEN by the
fi
sh
The passive voice focuses on the
receiver or the result of the action