Present Continuous Passive

We don’t need a theatrical example. There are plenty of real life situations where we use
present continuous passive. Here are just a few:

Let’s say you’re in a busy electronics store. Several people are looking at products. And,
workers are walking around helping them. One comes to you and says:

Good afternoon, are you being helped?

You answer:

No, not yet. Thanks. Can you show me your three most popular sound systems?

In the United States, you will hear the question “Are you being helped?” at busy stores,
markets and restaurants.

Another situation where this form is useful is when something has been sent for repair.
Suppose your car breaks down on your way to work. You take it to an auto shop. Then, you
call your boss and say:

My car is being fixed. I’ll order a taxi to get to work.

The structure for the present continuous passive is: subject + is/are + BEING + the past
participle.

Note that the person who is fixing the car is not mentioned in the sentence “My car is
being fixed.” Leaving out the person or thing doing the action is common in passive
statements.

How to Make Continuous Passive

To make it even simpler, let’s look at it in steps.

1. We’ll start with an active sentence with a present continuous verb and change it to passive
voice. The first step is to locate the subject, verb and object. Take a listen and give it a try:
The men are cleaning the boats.

Did you find the subject, verb and object? “The men” is the subject. “Are cleaning” is the
verb. And “the boats” is the object.
2. Once we’ve identified the object, we can make our passive sentence. To do this, the object
becomes the subject, so we put it first. The verb is next and the new object (the men) is
last. Here’s how it sounds:

The boats are being cleaned by the men.

Pay close attention to how the verb changed. It went from the active “are cleaning” to the
passive “are being cleaned.” Notice that the word “cleaning” changes to the past participle:
“cleaned.”

3. Remove the person or thing doing the action.

Earlier in the program, we told you that, in a passive sentence, the person or thing doing
the action is often not important so, in this example, we’ll remove it. Let’s listen:

The boats are being cleaned.

Now, we’ll change it to the past continuous passive. Listen:

The boats were being cleaned.

The “are” changes to “were.” There are no other changes.

Being vs. Getting

In casual American English, we sometimes replace the word “being” with “getting” for the
continuous passive form. Here’s how one of our earlier examples sounds with “getting:”

My car is getting fixed.

My car was getting fixed.

But this form is not acceptable for formal, written English. So, we won’t use it in
our practice today.

Now, you try it!

OK, now it’s your turn. Make the following active sentences into passive ones. For this
exercise, be sure to remove the person or thing doing the action. For example, the active
sentence “The restaurant is serving dinner on the patio” would be “Dinner is being served
on the patio” in the passive form. The words “the restaurant” have been removed.

Here are your sentences:

She was painting the living room red.
They are driving the girls to the soccer match.
They were negotiating for more territory.
Were you recording me without permission?

Write your answers in the Comments section.

I’m Alice Bryant.

Present Continuous Present Continuous Past Continuous

ACTIVE PASSIVE PASSIVE

I always feel like somebody’s I always feel like I’m being I always felt like I was being
watching me. watched (by somebody). watched (by somebody).

Is someone helping you? Are you being helped (by Were you being helped (by
someone)? someone)?

The mechanic is fixing my car. My car is being fixed (by the My car was being fixed (by the
mechanic). mechanic).

The agency is holding hundreds Hundreds of children are being Hundreds of children were
of children at detention centers. held at detention centers (by the being held at detention centers
agency). (by the agency).

The restaurant is serving dinner Dinner is being served on the Dinner was being served on the
on the patio. patio (by the restaurant). patio (by the restaurant).

The men are cleaning the boats. The boats are being cleaned (by The boats were being
the men). cleaned (by the men).

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/am-i-being-watched-the-continuous-passive-/4529468.html
Let's take a look at how to make continuous passive sentences.

First of all, let's look an example active sentence:

'The workers are painting the bridge.'

In the above sentence:

The workers are the subject.

are painting is the present continuous verb.
the bridge is the object.

To make a present continuous passive sentence the object (the bridge) comes first:

'The bridge is being painted.'

This is how the present continuous passive is formed:

Object (The bridge) + 'to be' verb (is) + being + past participle (painted)

In passive sentences the subject is not always needed; however, if you want to include it the sentence becomes:

'The bridge is being painted by the workers.'

We can change this sentence into the past continuous passive like this:

Active - 'The workers were painting the bridge.'

Past Continuous Passive - 'The bridge was being painted by the workers.'

Let's take a look at some more examples:

Present Continuous Passive - 'My car is being fixed.'

Past Continuous Passive - 'My car was being fixed.'

Present Continuous Passive - 'The meeting is being held in my office.'

Past Continuous Passive - 'The meeting was being held in my office.'

https://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/continuous-passives