The Passive Voice
• I drank two cups of coffee.
• Two cups of coffee were drunk (we can add
'by me' if we want, but it isn't necessary).
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.
Tense
Active
Passive
present simple
I make a cake.
A cake is made (by me).
present continuous
I am making a cake.
A cake is being made (by me).
past simple
I made a cake.
A cake was made (by me).
past continuous
I was making a cake.
A cake was being made (by
me).
present perfect
I have made a cake.
A cake has been made (by
me).
pres. perf. continuous
I have been making a cake.
A cake has been being
made(by me).
past perfect
I had made a cake.
A cake had been made (by
me).
future simple
I will make a cake.
A cake will be made (by me).
future perfect
I will have made a cake.
A cake will have been
made(by me).
Verbs with two objects
• Some verbs that have two objects can make
two different active sentences, and so two
different passive sentences too:
Give
• Active: He gave me the book / He gave the
book to me.
• You can choose either of the two objects to be
the subject of the passive sentence.Passive: I
was given the book (by him)/ The book was
given to me (by him).
• Other verbs like this are: ask, offer, teach,
tell, lend, promise, sell, throw
• When should we use the Passive?
1. When we want to change the focus of the
sentence:
1. The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. (We are
more interested in the painting than the artist in this
sentence)
2. When who or what causes the action is
unknown or unimportant or obvious or 'people
in general':
1. He was arrested (obvious agent, the police).
2. My bike has been stolen (unknown agent).
3. The road is being repaired (unimportant agent).
4. The form can be obtained from the post office (people in
general).
3. In factual or scientific writing:
1. The chemical is placed in a test tube and the data entered
into the computer.
4. In formal writing instead of using
someone/ people/ they (these can be used in
speaking or informal writing):
1. The brochure will be finished next month.
5. In order to put the new information at the
end of the sentence to improve style:
1. Three books are used regularly in the class. The books
were written by Dr. Bell. ('Dr. Bell wrote the books'
sound clumsy)
6. When the subject is very long:
1. 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')
Passive 1 (present simple)
Make these active present simple
sentences passive. You don't need to
repeat 'somebody'.
1) Somebody cleans the office every day
2) Somebody sends emails
3) Somebody cuts the grass
7) Somebody speaks English here
8) Somebody loves the London parks
9) Somebody wants staff
4) Somebody prefers chocolate
10) Somebody writes articles
5) Somebody often steals cars
6) Somebody plays loud music
Passive 2 (past simple)
Make the passive form with the past
simple. You don't need to repeat
'somebody'.
1) Somebody lost the letter
.
6) Somebody fixed the computer
.
2) Somebody found the key
.
7) Somebody built that house
.
3) Somebody made mistakes
.
8) Somebody wrote ‘War and Peace’
.
4) Somebody loved that woman
.
9) Somebody painted The Mona Lisa
.
5) Somebody cleaned the rooms
.
10) Somebody stole my wallet
The Passive: Verbs with Two Objects
This time there are two answers:
1. John gave a bar of chocolate to Jill.
a:________________________________________________________________
b:________________________________________________________________
2. I lent a pencil to Graham.
a:________________________________________________________________
b:________________________________________________________________
3. Fiona told the truth to Julian.
a:________________________________________________________________
b:________________________________________________________________
4. They offered the job to Simon.
a:________________________________________________________________
b:________________________________________________________________
5. The boss showed the new computer to Anna.
a:________________________________________________________________
b:________________________________________________________________
Passive 1 (present simple)
Make these active present simple
sentences passive. You don't need to
repeat 'somebody'.
1) Somebody cleans the office every day
The office is cleaned every day.
2) Somebody sends e-mails
E-mails are sent.
3) Somebody cuts the grass
The grass is cut.
4) Somebody prefers chocolate
Chocolate is preferred.
5) Somebody often steals cars
Cars are often stolen.
6) Somebody plays loud music
Loud music is played.
7) Somebody speaks English here
English is spoken here.
8) Somebody loves the London parks
The London parks are loved.
9) Somebody wants staff
Staff is wanted.
10) Somebody writes articles.
Articles are written.
Passive 2 (past simple)
Make the passive form with the past
simple. You don't need to repeat
'somebody'.
1) Somebody lost the letter
The letter was lost.
2) Somebody found the key
The key was found.
3) Somebody made mistakes
Mistakes were made.
4) Somebody loved that woman
.That womas was loved.
5) Somebody cleaned the rooms
The rooms were cleaned.
6) Somebody fixed the computer
The computer was fixed.
7) Somebody built that house
That house was built.
8) Somebody wrote ‘War and Peace’
“War and Peace” was written.
9) Somebody painted The Mona Lisa
.The Mona Lisa was painted
10) Somebody stole my wallet
My wallet was stolen.
The Passive: Verbs with Two Objects
This time there are two answers:
1. John gave a bar of chocolate to Jill.
A A bar of chocolate was given to Jill by John.
b: Jill was given a bar of chocolate by John.
2. I lent a pencil to Graham.
a: A pencil was lent to Graham by me.
b: Graham was lent a pencil by me.
3. Fiona told the truth to Julian.
a: The truth was told to Julian by Fiona.
b: Julian was told the truth by Fiona.
4. They offered the job to Simon.
a: The job was offered to Simon.
b: Simon was offered the job.
5. The boss showed the new computer to Anna.
a: The new computer was showed to Anna by the boss.
b: Anna was showed the new computer by the boss.