THE PASSIVE VOICE

We form the passive voice with the different tenses of the verb be and the
past participle. Thus, if we wish to transform an active sentence into the passive,
we must look at the tense of the active, write the equivalent tense of the verb be
and the past participle of the original active verb. In this way, a transitive
sentence, that is with a direct object, can be transformed into a passive one as
follows:
Tannenbaum wrote a book about networks.
A book about networks was written by Tannenbaum.
They installed the system successfully.
The system was installed successfully.
In both examples, the direct object in the active sentence becomes the
subject of the passive one. But, although in the first sentence we have by
introducing the agent (the equivalent to the subject in the active sentence), in the
second example, when the agent is unknown, unimportant or obvious, it is not
included as it is not relevant for the exchange of information. We only mention
the agent of the passive sentence if it is semantically relevant. In most contexts,
however, it would be stylistically inappropriate to mention the agent.

Verbs with two objects

When the active verb has two objects, that is, a direct object and an
indirect one, there are two possible passive constructions. The first (and
statistically less common) construction makes the direct object of the active
sentence the subject of the passive sentence:
I sent Chris an e-mail message.
An e-mail message was sent to Chris, or
Chris was sent an e-mail message.
Generally speaking, it is more common to begin a passive sentence with
the person, the active indirect object. The verbs that present these two possibilities
are “show”, “sell”, “send”, “tell”, “pay”, “offer”, “teach”, “promise”, etc.
With verbs followed by a personal complement and a subordinate clause
introduced by “that” or an infinitive, the only option is to use the indirect object as
the passive subject:
He told me not to come.
I was told not to come.

Infinitives and gerunds

87
 These can also be in the passive:
The mouse causes the cursor to be moved around the screen.
The problem should be sorted out as soon as possible.
I hate being laughed at.

The passive with certain verbs of opinion and communication

When we talk about what other people say, think, believe, claim, etc., we
come across two possible passive constructions:
They say that this program corrects your style.
a. It is said that this program corrects your style.
b. This program is said to correct your style.
In the second passive transformation, the subject of the that-clause this
program has been upgraded, that is, has become the new subject of the main
clause and the verb of that clause has become an infinitive: to correct. This
infinitive will vary according to the tense of the verb in the that-clause:
They think that this machine is suffering from viruses.
This machine is thought to be suffering from viruses.
They report that he committed suicide.
He is reported to have committed suicide.
Everybody knows that the company has been overspending.
The company is known to have been overspending.

88
 EXERCISES

1. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate passive form of the verb in brackets.
1. Although he worked hard to gain support for the scheme, it _______________
(not carry out), because _______________ (think) to be unfeasible.
2. _______________ (those letters type) yet?
3. We’ll have to park here, my road _______________ (widen) and I can’t get
into my garage.
4. I don’t fancy going to see that movie, I _______________ (tell) it’s extremely
violent.
5. Everybody hopes that by the year 1995 all these problems
_________________ (solve).
6. IBM can hardly _______________ (say) to have led the field in word
processing programs in recent years.
7. Nobody likes _______________ (boss around).
8. If the work ________________ (finish) on time, we ________________ (not
fine) so much money.

2. Complete the passage with the correct passive tense of the verbs in
brackets.
Primary memory_______________ (associate) closely with the CPU
because it stores programs and data temporarily, thus making them
immediately available for processing the CPU. To facilitate processing, two
things _______________ (need): random access and speed. The former means
that any part of the memory may _______________ (read), accessed, equally
quickly. This _______________ (make) possible by the system of addresses
in primary memory; where the storage locations are like a series of tiny
compartments, each having its own address. These addresses are like the
addresses of houses, in that they do not change. Because they
_______________ (fix) always, the control unit knows where to find them at a
very high speed. When it finds them, it puts into the compartments whatever
must go there and wipes out whatever _______________ (store) there. The
information present in those compartments _______________ (call) the
contents of the memory.
Most primary memory is costly, and therefore it _______________ (use)
transiently, which means that a program, or parts of it, _______________
(keep) in internal storage while the program _______________ (execute).
This, however, is not true for mini and micro applications where the computer
performs the same function, referred to as a dedicated function, all the time.
But since computers must process vast quantities of data and programs a lot of

89
 storage space __________________ (require). For this reason various
secondary memory technologies __________________ (develop).

3. Complete these sentences using the passive form of the following verbs:
give interview steal finish bear set up repair tell invite take

1. They came to my birthday party without _______________

2. The decision should _______________ before it is too late.
3. I don’t like _______________ what to do.
4. Last night I _______________ as I was walking home.
5. My car is _______________ in the garage.
6. The book will _______________ by the end of the year.
7. Where _______________ you _______________? In Valencia.
8. The network must _______________ as soon as possible.
9. Last year I _______________ a new computer for Christmas.
10. The Prime Minister is going to _______________ tonight on TV.

4. Make the following active sentences passive omitting the agent if it is not
significant.
1. They will start work on the project next week.

2. The government did not subsidize the scheme.

3. They haven’t revealed the name of the suspect.

4. They are re-designing the model.

5. They have underestimated the problems.

6. Somebody should explain the incident.

7. A database allows you to organise data efficiently.

A database allows
8. Somebody sent them an anonymous letter.

90
9. Did the company give you any more information?

10. People have told me that it is dangerous to do that.

11. Back-ups prevent you from losing important information.

12. They grow a lot of coffee in Brazil.

13. The police are looking into the company’s accounts.

14. They have fired him.

15. They accused him of theft.

He was accused of theft
16. Somebody was interviewing the singer when I arrived.
The singer was being interviewed when I arrived
17. Will they finish work on the tunnel next year?
Will the work on the tunnel be finished next year?
18. I think they have misunderstood me.
I think I have been misunderstood
19. Somebody is following us.
We’re being followed
20. The Queen is going to open the new laboratory.
The new laboratory is going to be opened by the Queen
21. Somebody was shooting at us.
We were being shooted.
22. Did Baird invent the television?
Was the television invented by Did Baird?
23. They have put the meeting off.
The meeting has been put off
24. They are completely reorganizing the company.
The company is being completely reorganized
25. Nobody is using the car tonight.
5. Rewrite the following sentences with the new beginnings.

91
1. It is rumoured that IBM is interested in the new system.
IBM is rumoured to be interested in the new system
2. They say that the government is trying to negotiate a solution with the unions.
The government is said to be trying to negotiate a solution with the unions
3. They now know that the experiment was an utter failure.
The experiment is now known that it was an utter failure.
4. They suppose that this is the simplest method.
This is supposed to be simplest method
5. They expect that we design all the software.
We are expected to design all the software
6. They believe that they were escaping, when the accident happened.
They are believed to had been escaped when the accident happened
7. They say that he introduced the mistakes on purpose.
He ______________________________________________________
8. They think that the minister threatened to resign.
The minister ______________________________________________
9. They report that the agreement is about to be signed.
The agreement ____________________________________________
10. They say that the upgrade is simpler to use than the old version.
The upgrade ______________________________________________
11. They have rewritten the last section of the book.
The last section ____________________________________________
12. They awarded the prize to a student.
A student _________________________________________________
13. The president welcomed the visitors.
The visitors _______________________________________________
14. They think the accident happened by chance.
The accident ______________________________________________
15. They are widening the road.
The road _________________________________________________
16. Nobody has solved the problem.
The problem ______________________________________________
17. They asked me to wait.
I ________________________________________________________
18. It is supposed that they are working together.

92
 They _____________________________________________________
19. You can tackle the problem in two different ways.
The problem can ____________________________________________
20. This TSR program allows you to key in Arabic texts.
This TSR program allows Arabic texts __________________________
21. Someone has told me that the novel is out of print.
I ________________________________________________________
22. They believe the two companies reached an agreement.
The two companies _________________________________________
23. We’ll have to inform him.
He ____________________________________________________
24. They know that the drug is dangerous.
The drug _______________________________________________
25. They have asked me to explain what happened.
I ______________________________________________________
26. We will send you a fax tomorrow.
You ___________________________________________________
27. They gave us an ultimatum.
An ultimatum ___________________________________________
28. Babbage developed a forerunner of modern computers.
A forerunner ____________________________________________
29. They have accepted your offer.
Your offer ______________________________________________
30. They told me not to do anything.
I ______________________________________________________
31. They won’t finish the work according to schedule.
The work _______________________________________________
32. They should widen this road.
This road _______________________________________________
33. They say that he lives alone on an island.
He ____________________________________________________
34. They think that the disaster happened by accident.
The disaster _____________________________________________

35. They are pulling down those old houses.

93
 Those old houses _________________________________________
36. They would have discovered the real reason.
The real reason ___________________________________________
37. They will offer Ann the job.
Ann ____________________________________________________
38. They believe that the president is dealing with the matter personally.
The president ____________________________________________
39. Her boss is giving her lots of extra work.
She ____________________________________________________
40. They should pull those old slums down.
Those old slums _________________________________________
41. They think Socrates’ wife nagged her husband a lot.
Socrates’ wife ___________________________________________
42. A mouse allows the user to move the cursor around the screen.
A mouse allows the cursor _________________________________
43. Somebody has told me it’s a really good movie.
I _____________________________________________________
44. They say the mortgage rate is about to come down.
The mortgage rate _______________________________________

6. Make the following active sentences passive, if there is more than one
possibility give the most common alternative.
1. They gave a gold watch to Mr. Brown.

2. They warned me not to touch that button.

3. They have already told me the news.

4. Have they asked you to go to the party?

5. Somebody is sending me poison-pen letters.

6. Why didn’t somebody tell me that he was here?

7. They’re going to offer the post to Ann.

94
8. They’ve told me to wait here.

9. Did they teach you Greek at school?

10. They have granted permission to build to the company.

7. Transform the sentences below, using a passive infinitive or gerund. Omit

the agent.
1. They are going to make a lot of people redundant.

2. The mouse allows the user to move the cursor across the screen.

3. I hate people laughing at me.

4. This facility allows you to move whole blocks of text.

5. We need to reformulate the whole problem.

6. You’ll have to rewrite the whole article.

7. A member of the club should sign in all visitors.

8. The program allows you to control grids and blocks easily.

8. Put the sentences below into the passive, upgrading the subject of the
that-clause:
1. They claim that this program corrects your style.

2. People say a team of experts is working on the problem.

3. They suppose that he discovered the technique by chance.

95
4. They think he was working on something completely different.

5. They believe that he is about to resign.

6. There are rumours that he has set up his own company.

7. They say that the police are looking into the matter.

8. People suppose that the group has been putting a lot of pressure on the
government.

9. They estimate that the cost of the scheme is well over six million pounds.

10. Everybody knows that the company has been overspending.

11. People report that a new model is about to come out onto the market.

12. They say that there is no solution to this problem.

9. Rewrite the text, putting the sentences in the passive.

In a recent experiment, researchers told the subjects that they were
carrying out an experiment about the speed of learning. They then gave the
subjects some learning tasks and later tested them. The researchers then split the
subjects into two groups. They told the first group that, for the experiment to be
meaningful, the would have to repeat the learning task, but that this time the
researchers would give them electric shocks during the learning tasks. They told
the second group that, out of mere curiosity, they wanted to repeat the experiment,
but that this time the researchers were going to give them electric shocks during
the learning tasks. Finally the researchers measured the degree of learning of both
groups.
The researchers had forecast that the first group would attain better results
than the second because they had made the painful learning process meaningful
for them. In fact the second group achieved far better results. Some thinkers have
used these experimental results to argue that in human beings, there is no relation
between language and other behaviour.

96