2. When to Use Passive Voice?
- you don't want to say who or what did the action
- - you don't know who did the action
- - The object is the most important part of the
sentence
If we want to show the person or thing doing the action,
we use by:
She was attacked by a dangerous dog.
The money was stolen by her husband.
3. How to make the Passive in English
We make the passive by putting the verb 'to be' into
whatever tense we need and then adding the past
participle. For regular verbs, we make the past
participle by adding 'ed' to the infinitive.
So play becomes played
4. In a passive sentence,
the object of an active
sentence becomes the
subject. Then we have
to use the verb be in the
tense we need and add
the past participle of the
main verb after it. In a
passive sentence, the
subject is the receiver of
the action, not the doer
of the action.
5. Structure to form passive voice in past simple
Was/ Were + past participle + S
Let’s practice
My uncle made these chairs.
6. Object + Was/ Were + being + participle + S.
Mary was cleaning the room.
(Singular)
The room was being cleaned
by Mary.
Mary was cleaning the rooms.
(Plural)
The rooms were being
cleaned by Mary.
8. Object + had been + participle
Example:
The girl had eaten the bread. (Active)
The bread had been eaten by the girl.
We write phrases in active voice
from the past perfect when we want
to focus on the person / people who
have performed an action in the past
before another action or time.
Structure to form past p into passive voice
10. 3. I had paid the money.
(focusing on the doer of the action)
Put the following sentences into passive voice. (past perfect passive)
1. Dr. Richard had saved Silvia's life.
2. The Americans had discovered another
planet.
• Passive:
•Silvia's life had been saved by
Dr. Richar.
•2. Another planet had been
discovered by Americans
•The money had been paid (by
me).
(focusing on the object that the
action was acted upon ‘The
money)
11. Active voice: Is one in which the subject who practices
the action is evidenced.
Passive voice: Here who is in evidence is the subject
who receives the action.
12. Active voice.
• Subject+ verb+object
Example.
My brother studies the lesson.
Passive voice.
• Sobject+ is or are+past participle+ prepotition
(by)+subject who performed the action.
Example.
The lesson is studied by my brother.
13. In the active voice of the Present Continuous, we focus on
the person who is currently performing an action in the
present.
In the passive voice of the present continuous, we focus on
the object (the receiver of the action) that is receiving the
action in the present. The verb tense is formed using
“is/am/are + being + V3”.
14. Examples:
Active voice
sobject+ is/am/are+VI+ing+object.
• She is taking a class.
(she=oder of the action,is=helping verb=taking=main verb,a class=
receiver of action)
Passive voice.
The object(receiver of the action)+(is/are/am)+being+V3+(by the doer)
• A class is being taken by her.
(A class=the new subject,is being=helping verb,taking=main verb)
15. In the present perfect tense, we talk about completed
actions, just to give the action update, or to talk about our
life experiences. In the active voice of the present perfect,
we talk about what someone has finished. The focus is on
the action author who has completed an action.
But in the passive voice of the present perfect tense, we
speak of what has been completed or finished; who has
finished it is not important in the passive voice of the
present perfect tense.
16. Examples:
Active voice.
Object +have/has+past participle+object.
• She has cooked the food.
Passive voice.
Object+has/heve+been+past participle+by +subject.
• The food has been cooked by her
17. The passive verb form in the simple future tense
is made by putting will / shall + be before the
past participle form of the verb.
Active form: will/shall + first form of the verb
Passive form: will/shall + be + past participle
form of the verb
18. Examples:
Active voice: She will accept the offer.
Passive voice: The offer will be accepted by her.
Active voice: You will never forget this lesson.
Passive voice: This lesson will never be forgotten by you.
19. The passive verb form in the future perfect tense is
made by putting:
Active verb form: will/shall + have + past participle
form of the verb
Passive verb form: will/shall + have been + past
participle form of the verb
20. Examples:
Active voice: I will have finished the job by Monday.
Passive voice: The job will have been finished (by me) by
Monday.
Active voice: Rahul will have brought the violin.
Passive voice: The violin will have been brought by Rahul.
21. How to use Modal Verbs in the Passive Voice?
We use Modal Verbs-verbs like can,
could, must, and should- to talk about
things such as ability, possibility,
permission, or obligation. And we use
passive voice to focus on the object of
an action rather than the doer of the
action
22. Modal + be + Past participle
Example
:
You should fix your
computer (active)
Your computer should be fixed (passive)
23. Structure
Modal + have been + past participle
Example:
It could have been done .
Her writing should have been
fixed.
24. Must have been
We often use this modal structure to guess
about something that might have happened
(not for obligation)
Example: Your trip to Colombia must
have been exiting!
