passive formation, uses of passive, distancing

1. THE PASSIVE

2. FORMATION
• To be (in the appropriate tense)+past participle:
• PRESENT SIMPLE: In Spain films are often made with little
money.
• PRESENT CONTINUOUS: “Game of Thrones is being shot in
Seville now.
• PAST SIMPLE: Several people were killed in an accident
yesterday.
• PAST SIMPLE CONTINUOUS: Several people were killed when the
film was being made.
• PRESENT PERFECT: My car has never been stolen
• FUTURE SIMPLE: If you don’t give me the money, you’ll be
killed tomorrow.
• INFINITIVE: He has to be killed before he talks.
• GERUND: The politician paid money to avoid being sent to jail.

3. USE
• When the person who does the action is irrelevant, obvious or
unknown: we want to stress the object of the action.
Ex.: His parents were killed in a car accident.(the important
thing is his parents’ death)
The bank was robbed yesterday. (we don’t know who)
• If we want to add who, we add BY+who did the action:
Ex.:The Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand by
Peter Jackson.
• Often common in formal texts, academic and scientific reports
to focus on the object of study, not the agent:
Ex.: This issue will be discussed later on

4. DISTANCING THE FACTS (1)
 Structures used in news reports and on TV to make
information more distant and impersonal (and also to
focus on the object):
Ex.: Many people are robbed on the underground in
Madrid at Christmas.
 It+passive verb+that-clause (common verbs here:
believe, think, say, report, expect, understand, suggest,
agree.
Ex.: It is believed (that) Hillary Clinton is depressed.
Ex.: It is said (that) the English teacher drank very
much at the Christmas party last year.

5. DISTANCING THE FACTS (2)
 Subject (also there)+passive verb+to infinive
(present reference, with expect: future meaning):
Ex.: Hillary Clinton is believed to be depressed.
Ex.: David Bisbal is expected to win “The
Voice”
 Subject (also there)+passive verb+ to have +past
participle (past reference)
Ex.: The English teacher is said to have
drunk very much at the Christmas party last year.

6. DISTANCING THE FACTS (3)
• To create a distance between the agent and the
action to, for example, avoid personal
responsibility:
Ex: All complaints will be taken seriously.