Passive Voice

Caterville Ghost
Chapter I
When the American, Mr Otis, bought Canterville Castle,
everyone told him that this was very foolish, as the place
was haunted. But Mr Otis answered, I come from a
modern country, where we have everything that money
can buy. And if there were such a thing as a ghost in
Europe, we would have it at home in one of our
museums.
A few weeks later, on a lovely July evening, Mr Otis, his
wife and their children, Washington, Virginia and the
twins, went down to their new home. When they entered
the avenue of Canterville Castle, the sky suddenly became
dark and a spooky stillness was in the air.
Mrs Umney, the housekeeper, led them into the library of
the castle, where they sat down and began to look
around. Suddenly, Mrs Otis saw a red stain on the floor
just by the fireplace and said to Mrs Umney, I am afraid something has been spilt there.
Yes, madam, said the old housekeeper in a low voice, blood has been spilt on that spot.
How terrible, said Mrs Otis; I don't want any blood-stains in my sitting-room. It must be
removed at once.
The old woman smiled and answered, It is the blood of Lady Eleanore de Canterville, who was
murdered on that spot by her husband, Sir Simon de Canterville, in 1575. Sir Simon disappeared
seven years later. His body has never been found, but his ghost still haunts the Castle. The
blood-stain is a tourist attraction now and it cannot be removed.
That is all nonsense, said Washington, the eldest son of the Otis family, stain remover will
clean it up in no time, and he took a bottle of stain remover out of his pocket and cleaned the
spot. But as soon as the blood-stain had disappeared, a terrible flash of lightning lit up the room
and a fearful peal of thunder made the whole building shake.

Questions on the text.

Where is Mr Otis from?

England

Does Mr Otis believe in ghosts?

Scotland

Yes

USA

not

Which statement about the stain is true?

The housekeeper has spilt coffee there.
It's the blood of Sir Simon.
Washington Otis removes the stain.

The verbal expressions in the text are highlighted to make you note the verbal form which is
called PASSIVE VOICE.

GRAMMAR

Definition of Passive Voice: In traditional grammar, a verb form (or voice) in which the
grammatical subject receives the verb's action. Example: "A good time was had by all."

Observe these sentences

A) Alexander Graham Bell invented the first telephone

Subject

verb

direct object

B) The first telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell.

Subject

verb

Sentence A is in active voice.

Sentence B is in passive voice.

Agent

Rule:
1. The active form is when the subject does the action, so it (subject) becomes active.
2. When we do not know, who is the doer of the action in the active sentence, we use
someone or somebody. We leave out these words in the passive sentence.
3. e.g. Someone stole my mobile.(active) - My mobile was stolen.(passive)
4. The passive form is when the subject of the active- which becomes the agent in the
passive - becomes no longer active but passive i.e. submissive and receiving.
5. The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive form; and the subject
of the active becomes the agent in the passive sentence which is either introduced with
by or is omitted.
6. Verbs without an object (intransitive verbs) normally cannot form a personal passive
sentence (since there is no object that can become the subject of the passive sentence).
7. The passive form is formed by using the appropriate tense of the verb
to be+ past
participle.
8. The following tenses are not used in the passive: Present Perfect Continuous, Past
Perfect Continuous, Future Continuous and Future Perfect Continuous.

Look at the examples:

The first computing machine was created by Charles Babbage.

Those inventions are used today by all the people.

The cinema was invented by Edison.

The first airplane was invented by brothers Wright.

The David was made by Miguel Angelo.

Study this chart

Active

Peter

Builds

a house.
Simple Present

Passive:

A house

Active:

Peter

is built

Built

by Peter.

a house.
Simple Past

Passive:

A house

was built

by Peter.

Active:

Peter

has built

a house.
Present Perfect

Passive:

A house

has been built

by Peter.

Active:

Peter

will build

a house.
will-future

Passive:

A house

Active:

Peter

will be built

by Peter.

can build

a house.
Modals

Passive:

Active:

A house

Peter

can be built

by Peter.

is building

a house.
Present Simple
Continuos

Passive:

A house

is being built

by Peter.

Active:

Peter

was building

a house.
Past Simple
Continuos

Passive:

A house

was being built

by Peter.

Rewrite the following sentences in the passive voice.

A ghost haunts the castle. ______________________________________.
Sir Simon murdered Lady Eleanore. _________________________________.

Rewrite the following sentences in the active voice.

They were led into the library by Mrs. Umney.
______________________________________.
The spot was cleaned by Washington Otis.
________________________________________.
Make the sentences in Passive voice.
1. Students write tests every month.
________________________________________________________________.
2. They close the shop at 8 p.m.
________________________________________________________________.
3. She will send post-cards before the holiday.
______________________________________________________________.
Ask questions beginning with the question-words.
1. Russian is spoken all over our country. (Where?)
_________________________________________________________________.
2. Watches are made in Japan. (Where)
_____________________________________________________________.
3. Summer plans will be discussed after our exams. (What) (When)
_________________________________________________________________.
4. The report was made in September. (When.)
_________________________________________________________________.

Complete the sentences with the correct passive form of the verbs in brackets. Use the present
simple.

1. The baby

(feed)

2. The phone call

.
(answer) by the
receptionist.

3. We
........
(serve) by the
waitresses.

4. The cow
(milk)
by the farmer

5. Fancy dress
costumes..
(wear) at Carnival.

6. I (help) 7. The dishes

by my father.
.. .(wash)

8. Questions
.. (ask) to
the teacher.

9. Mother
. (drive)
to work by dad.

10. The car ..

(repair) by the
mechanic.

11. Letters

(type) by the
secretary.

12. Meat
(sell)
at the butchers.

13. Granny
(visit) at
hospital.

14. Coffee
. (grow)
in Colombia.

15. The trousers

.. (iron).

16. Sushi . 17. The operation

(eat) in Japan.
.
(perform) by the
surgeon.

18. A book
(borrow)
from the library.

19. The problem

. (explain)
by the teacher

20. The patient

..(carry) by
The orderly.