The document discusses the passive voice in English. It explains that the passive voice is used when the focus is on the action of the sentence rather than the subject performing the action. It provides examples of changing sentences from active to passive voice by making the subject of the active sentence the object or agent of the passive sentence. The tense of the verb "to be" matches the tense of the main verb in the active sentence. Additional forms of the passive voice are also covered, including with modal verbs and the causative form using "have" instead of "to be."

1. The Passive Voice
Carlos Miguel Guerrero Álvarez
(2º Bachillerato IEDA)

2. The Passive Voice
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We have two voices:

Active Voice
(The subject is who does the action it is indicated by the verb of the sentence)
My brother bought me a car
Subject
Verb
OI
OD
In this phrase the subject (my brother) is who bought the car (objet direct) to me
(object indirect). Therefore, Passive Voice is used when we indicate who does the
action of the sentence (the doer of the action).

Passive Voice
(The subject isn't who does the action. We only want to indicate the action
itself).Therefore it is used when the focus is on the action.
I was bought a car by my brother
Subject
Verb
(To be+ PastParticiple)
OD
Complement Agent
In this phrase the subject (I) isn't who does the action. The action of the verb is
done by the Complement Agent (by my brother). Therefore the subject is the receiver of
the action.

3. The Passive Voice - How it is formed(I)
(Swapping between Subject and Object)
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For changing from the Active Voice to Passive Voice we
have to make:
1.- The subject of Active Voice becomes the object agent of the passive sentence.
Moreover, the object of the active sentence (principally the object indirect although it can
be the object direct or other object) becomes the subject of the passive.
Active voice: My brother bought me a car
Passive Voice: I were bought a car by my brother
On the other hand, the complement agent can be omitted in passive voice because as
we have seen, in this form it isn't important to say who does the action that it is indicated
by the verb. Therefore by+complement is optional in passive voice. For that, I will put in
red color the objects agent they will appear on the follow sentences for expressing they
are optional.
I were bought a car by my brother
I were bought a car

4. The Passive Voice - How it is formed(II)
(Use of the verbs)
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When rewriting from the Active Voice to Passive Voice we
have to do the following:
2.- We must analize the tense of the main verb of the Active sentence. This tense will be
used for the verb to be. Moreover, the verb used in the Active voice will always be
transformed in the Past Participle in the Active Voice (be+Past Participle of the main
verb of the active sentence)
My brother bought me a car
The verb of this active sentence is in Past Simple (bought). Therefore, when we rewriting the passive sentence we will
have to put the verb to be inPast Simple: was /were
3.- But, Which of them must we put? Was or were?. So, we must also analize the person
of the subject of the passive sentence. As we know, the OI (me) of the active sentence
becomes the subject of the passive sentence (I). It is the first singular person that it will be
the person of the verb to be (was) on passive. Therefore, the final verb of passive sentence
will be: was bought. The final passive sentence is:
I was bought a car by my brother

5. The Passive Voice - How it is formed(III)
(How we can rewriting passive voice verbs in some active voice verbs tenses)
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We are going to study the relationships between some tenses Verbs in
Passive and Active voices. Look at the following table:
Tense of Active
Voice Verb
Active example
Tense of Active
Voice Verb
Present Simple
I paint my house
Am/is/are + Past
Passive
example(1)
My house is painted
Participle of the main Verb
Past Simple
Present Perfect
Future with will
Future with be
tense+ going to
My fathers bought my
sister a book
Was/were+Past
Participle of the main Verb
My sister was bought
a book by my fathers
I have composed a
beautiful song to my wife.
Have/has+been+
The police will arrest
the thief in their house
tomorrow
Will+be+Past Participle
The thief will be
arrested in their
house by them
I'm going to paint my
sister's house
Be tense+going
to+be+ Past.Participle
My sister's house is
going to be painted by
me
Past Participle of the main
Verb
of the main Verb
of the main Verb
My wife has been
composed a beautiful
song by me

6. The Passive Voice - How it is formed(IV)
(Modal Verbs)
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We can also use modal verbs on our Passive voice sentences. We are
going to study the following modals: can,may and should, although
there are a lot more. See the following table:
Modal in Active
voice
Can+Infinitive verb
May+ Infinitive verb
Should+Infinitive
verb
Active voice
example
Modal in Passive
voice
The painter can paint
your house tomorrow.
Can+be+Past Participle of
The teacher may put the
students the final exams
soon.
May+be+Past Participle of
The doctor should
prescribe your mother the
correct medicines.
Should+be+Past
the main Active verb
the main Active verb
Participle of the main Active
verb
Passive voice
example
Your house can be
painted tomorrow by the
painter
The students may be put
the final exams soon by
the teacher.
Your mother should be
prescribed the correct
medicines by the doctor

7. The Passive Voice - How it is formed(V)
(Other uses)
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In American English is frequently used the verbo get instead the verb
to be. In both forms they have the same meaning.
Active: My brother bought me a car
Pasive: I got bought a car by my brother
(was)
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As we have seen the object indirect of the active sentence is used
preferably as subject in the passive. Although we can use other
objects as subjects (object direct, time complements, etc). Therefore, it
means that we can write in several forms a passive sentence from an
active sentence.
Active: My brother bought me a car
Pasive: I was bought a car by my brother (more used)
A car was bought for me by my mother

8. The Passive Voice
(Causative form)
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It is other form of sentence for expresing that the subject of a sentence
isn't who does the action of the sentence. It's called causative form.
Situation: The mechanic has fixed my mother's car
Causative form: My mother has her car fixed (my mother hasn't fixed the car
herself)
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The structure of a causative form is:
Subjet + have tense+ complement +participle past
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As verb to be, have is transformed in causative form to the correct
tense of the main verb of active sentence.
Situation: The mechanic will fix my mother's car the next week
Causative: My mother will have her car fixed the next week
Situation: The mechanic is going to fix my mother's car
Causative: My mother is going to have her car fixed

9. The Passive Voice
(Need+Gerund)
When in a situation, the subject has to do necessarily something, we
can use the form need+gerund. In this sentences forms the subject
isn't also who does the action of the verb on a sentence (they have a
passive sense)
Situation: My mother's cars needs to be repaired as soon as posible
Need (as modal verb)+Gerund: My mother's cars needs rapairing as soon as posible
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As we have seen, he structure of a need+gerund form is:
Subjet + need + Gerund of the main verb (bare form+ing)
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The verb need in this form ends in -s with the 3º singular person.
Situation: My house must paint as soon as posible
Need+Gerund: My house needs painting as soon as posible
We can also use the verb need in passive voice with the same
meaning using need+to be+Past Participle of the verb
Need+Gerund: My dog needs vaccinating as soon as posible
Need in Passive Voice: My dog needs to be vaccinated as soon as posible
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10. End of presentation of Passive Voice
That's all!