BASIC PRINCIPLES

The passive voice emphasizes the person

or object that experiences an action
rather than the person or object that
performs the action.

In an active voice construction, we have a

subject performing an action; in a passive
voice construction, something performs
an action on the subject.

We often prefer to use the passive voice when:

1. We do not know who the agent is:
'I had the feeling that Iwas being followed.'
'I had the feeling that somebody was following me.'

2.When it is obvious to the listener or reader who the agent

is:
'Ihad been instructedto remove all the ash trays.'
instead of:'My boss had instructed me to remove all the ash trays.'

3. When it is not important to know who the agent is:

'Do you want a lift?' 'No thanks, Imbeing collected.'
instead of:'Do you want a lift?' 'No thanks, someone is collecting
me.'

4. When the agent has already been mentioned:

'In the next session of parliament, new lawswill be
introducedaimed at stopping domestic violence.'
instead of:'In the next session of parliament, the government will
introduce new laws aimed at stopping domestic violence.'

5. When people in general are the agents:

'All the Beatles records canbe borrowedfrom the central
library.
instead of: You can borrow all the Beatles records from the
central library.
6. For news reports
-Missing boy not seen for three days
7. You want to be vague about who is responsible:
Mistakes were made. [Common in bureaucratic writing!]
8. You are talking about a general truth:
Rules are made to be broken. [By whomever, whenever.]
9. Passive voice is often preferred in lab reports and scientific
research papers.
The sodium hydroxide was dissolved in water. This solution was
then titrated with hydrochloric acid.

to be+past participle

How to form a passive:

the object of the "active" sentence becomes the subject in the
"passive" sentence
the subject of the "active" sentence becomes the object in the
"passive" sentence" (or is left out)

Active:
Peter
builds
Passive: A house isbuilt

a house.
by Peter.

Passive
Active
Simple Present

Once a week, Tomcleansthe house.

Once a week, the houseis cleanedby Tom.

Present
Continuous

Right now, Sarahis writingthe letter.

Right now, the letteris being writtenby

Sarah.

Simple Past

Samrepairedthe car.

The carwas repairedby Sam.

Past Continuous

The salesmanwas helpingthe customer

when the thief came into the store.

The customerwas being helpedby the

salesman when the thief came into the store.

Present Perfect

Many touristshave visitedthat castle.

That castlehas been visitedby many

tourists.

Present Perfect
Continuous

Recently, Johnhas been doingthe work.

Recently, the workhas been being doneby

John.

Past Perfect

Georgehad repairedmany cars before he

received his mechanic's license.

Many carshad been repairedby George

before he received his mechanic's license.

Past Perfect
Continuous

Chef Joneshad been preparingthe

restaurant's fantastic dinners for two years
before he moved to Paris.

The restaurant's fantastic dinnershad been

being preparedby Chef Jones for two years
before he moved to Paris.

Simple Future: WILL

Someonewill finishthe work by 5:00

PM.

The workwill be finishedby 5:00 PM.

Simple Future
BE GOING TO

Sallyis going to makea beautiful

dinner tonight.

A beautiful dinneris going to be madeby

Sally tonight.

Future Continuous
WILL

At 8:00 PM tonight, Johnwill be

washingthe dishes.

At 8:00 PM tonight, the disheswill be

being washedby John.

Future Continuous
BE GOING TO

At 8:00 PM tonight, Johnis going to be

washingthe dishes.

At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishesare going to

be being washedby John.

Future Perfect
WILL

Theywill have completedthe project

before the deadline.

The projectwill have been

completedbefore the deadline.

Future Perfect
Continuous :WILL

The famous artistwill have been

paintingthe mural for over six months
by the time it is finished.

The muralwill have been being

paintedby the famous artist for over six
months by the time it is finished.

Future in the Past

WOULD

I knew Johnwould finishthe work by

5:00 PM.

I knew the workwould be finishedby

5:00 PM.

Future in the Past

WAS GOING TO

I thought Sallywas going to makea

beautiful dinner tonight.

I thought a beautiful dinnerwas going to

be madeby Sally tonight.

http://www.autoenglish.org/gr.passive.pdf
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/download/test_
passive1_en.pdf
http://www.e-grammar.org/passive-voice/test1-ex
ercise1/
http://www.e-grammar.org/passive-voice/test2-ex
ercise1/
http://
campus.claroline.net/claroline/backends/downloa
d.php?url
=L1Bhc3NpdmVfVm9pY2UvZXhlcmNpc2VzLW9uL
XRoZS1wYXNzaXZlLXZva

Some verbs that have two objects can make two different active sentences, and so
two different passive sentences too:

Active:
He gave

the book
object

to me.

Passive:
The book was given to me (by him).
subject

Active:
He gave

Passive:
I
subject

me
the book
object

was given the book (by him)

http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/support-files/passive_verbs_with_two_objec
ts.pdf
http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/active_passive/objects_tenses.htm
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/passive/exercises?07

They are used when we report information we are not totally sure
about and therefore we put some distance between the statement
and us:

People believe that thousands of birds died.

The same idea can be expressed by using the passive in two

different ways:

A) It + passive of reporting verb + that + clause

It is believed that thousands of birds died.

B) subject + passive of reporting verb + `to infinitive

Thousands of birds are believed to have died.

Some other reporting verbs that can be used in this way are:
calculate, claim, consider, discover, estimate, expect, feel, hope, know,
prove, report, say, show, think, understand, etc.

With present reference, the passive is followed by the present infinitive:

People think that Johnson is in Cardiff.

Johnson is thought to be in Cardiff.

With past reference, the passive is followed by the past infinitive:

People believe that Johnson left Cardiff last month.

Johnson is believed to have left Cardiff last month.
http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=6854
http://english.lingolia.com/en/grammar/verbs/passive-voice/exercises
http://torroxenglishdepartment.blogspot.com.es/2012/01/impersonal-passive.html

This construction is passive in meaning. It may describe situations

where we want someone else to do something for us.

If the verb refers to something negative or unwanted, it has the

same meaning as a passive sentence:

Active: Someone stole Jims car last night

Passive:Jim had his car stolen last night. (= Jim's car was stolen qnd obviously he
didnt like it))

The construction can refer to the completion of an activity,

especially if a time expression is used:

Examples
Active: Somebody must cut your hair
Passive: I must get / have my hair cut. (somebody else will cut your hair)

We'll get the work done as soon as possible.

I'll get those letters typed before lunchtime.

http://www.autoenglish.org/modalverbs/gr.havedone.pdf
http://pepearca.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/have-something-done.pdf
http://www.webstudio.nazwa.pl/webstudio/wp-content/uploads/english/passive_voice.pdf

References

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learn
it/learnitv65.shtml
http://www.uc.utoronto.ca/passive-voice
http://www.eoioviedo.org/anacarmen/passive/Passive.pdf
http://www.diegodesiloe.com/WEB2/attachments/article/399/PASS
IVE%20VOICE.pdf