The document discusses the use of passive voice in writing. Passive voice is used when the focus is on the recipient of the action rather than the doer, when the doer is unknown or unimportant, in formal or scientific writing, and to vary sentence structure by placing new information at the end. To form the passive voice, the object of an active sentence becomes the subject and is followed by a form of "be" and the past participle of the verb. The doer can be included using "by". Examples are provided to illustrate forming the passive voice for different tenses.

1. Passive voice
by María del Mar Haba Bernal

2. When do we use passive voice?
• When we want to change the focus of the sentence:
The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. (We are
more interested in the painting than the artist in this
sentence)
• When who or what causes the action is unknown or
unimportant or obvious or 'people in general': He was
arrested (obvious agent, the police).
• My bike has been stolen (unknown agent).

3. • In factual or scientific writing: The chemical is placed
in a test tube and the data entered into the computer.
• In formal writing instead of using someone/ people/
they (these can be used in speaking or informal
writing): The brochure will be finished next month.

4. • In order to put the new information at the end of the
sentence to improve style: Three books are used
regularly in the class. The books were written by Dr.
Bell. ('Dr. Bell wrote the books' sound clumsy)
• When
the
subject
is
very
long:
I was surprised by how well the students did in the test.
(More natural than: 'how well the students did in the test
surprised me')

5. How to make a passive:
To make a passive sentence you need
object first and then use the be form
(depending on the tense) and then
participle. If we want to say who or what
action, we use the preposition by:
object + be + past participle + by
to start with
of the verb
add a past
performs the

6. Example of Present Simple:
Active: Tom cleans the house.
Passive: The house is cleaned by Tom.
Example of Past Simple:
Active: Sam repaired the car.
Passive: The car was repaired by Sam.

7. Example of Present Perfect:
Active: Many tourists have visited that castle.
Passive: That castle has been visited by many tourists.
Example of Past Perfect Continuous:
Active: Chef Jones had been preparing the restaurant's
fantastic dinners for two years before he moved to Paris.
Passive: The restaurant's fantastic dinners had been being
prepared by Chef Jones for two years before he moved to
Paris.

8. Example of Future Continuous (Will):
Active: At 8:00 PM tonight, John will be washing the dishes.
Passive: At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes will be being washed
by John.
Example of Future Continuous (Going to):
Active: At 8:00 PM tonight, John is going to be washing the
dishes.
Passive: At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes are going to be being
washed by John.

9. Example with Modal Verb:
Active: The gardener must water the flowers.
Passive: The flowers must be watered by the
gardener.

10. Changes in the sentence:
- object of the "active" sentence becomes subject in the
"passive" sentence
- subject of the "active" sentence becomes "object" in the
"passive" sentence" (or is left out)

11. 5 Examples:
1. Active: Anne writes a letter.
Passive: A letter is written by Anne.
2. Active: Anne wrote a letter.
Passive: A letter was written by Anne.

12. 3. Active: Anne has written a letter.
Passive: A letter has been written by Anne.
4. Active: Anne will write a letter.
Passive: A letter will be written by Anne.
5. Active: Anne has to write a letter.
Passive: A letter has to be written by Anne.

13. The End
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