The passive

THE PASSIVE VOICE

• Transitive (with a direct object) verbs have both active and passive forms:

active		passive
The hunter killed the lion.	>>	The lion was killed by the hunter.
Someone has cleaned the windows	>>	The windows have been cleaned

• The passive forms are made up of the verb be with a past participle:

	be	past participle
English	is	spoken	all over the world
The windows	have been	cleaned
Lunch	was being	served
The work	will be	finished	soon
They	can be	invited	to the party

 

• 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.

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• Some verbs can have TWO OBJECTS. For example, give: 

• Somebody gave the police (object 1) the information (object 2).

• So, it is possible to make two passive sentences: 
• The police were given the information. 
• The information was given to the police. 

• Other verbs which can have two objects are: 
• ask
• offer
• pay
• show 
• teach
• tell

• When we use these verbs in the passive, most often we begin with the person:
• I was offered the job, but I refused it. ( = they offered me the job)
• You will be given plenty of time to decide. ( = we will give you plenty of time)
• Have you been shown the new machine? (= has anybody shown you the new machine?)
• The men were paid $ 400 to do the work. (= somebody paid the men $400)

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• Some verbs very frequently used in the passive are followed by the to-infinitive:

be supposed to	be expected to	be asked to
be scheduled to	be allowed to	be told to

• John has been asked to make a speech at the meeting.
• You are supposed to wear a uniform.
• The meeting is scheduled to start at seven.

SOURCE: British Council
SOURCE 2: English Grammar in Use


EXERCISES (if you want to practise a bit more, just click on the link)