Passive voice = be + pp.

SVO  OVS
An apple is eaten by me
O. V. S.

Active voice
I eat an apple.
S. V. O.

Change Pronouns
Subject Object
I Me
You You
We Us
They Them

He him
She her
It It

Simple Present tense

I eat an apple An apple is eaten by me am / is / are + pp

Simple past tense

I ate an apple An apple was eaten by me was / were + pp

Simple future tense

I will eat an apple An apple will be eaten by me. will be + pp

Be + pp.
be + v. (ing)
= Be being pp.

Present continuous tense

I am eating an apple An apple is being eaten by me. am / is / are + being + pp

Past continuous tense

I was eating an apple An apple was being eaten by me. was / were + being + pp

Be + pp
Has /have + pp
= has / have + been + pp.

Present perfect tense

I have eaten an apple. An apple has been eaten by me. Has / have + been + pp

Past perfect tense

I had eaten an apple. An apple had been eaten by me. Had + been + pp

Simple present tense

1. I put a box at the corner.
Passive voice: A box is put by me at the corner.
 2. He gives his wallet to Jason.
Passive voice: His wallet is given by him to Jason.

3. Tommy drops ten bottles of wine.

S. V. O.
Passive voice: Ten bottles of wine are dropped by Tommy.

4. She takes care her daughter this week.

S. V. O.
Passive voice: Her daughter is taken care by her this week.

5. We push down the pillows by accident at the shop.

S. V. O.
Passive voice: The pillows are pushed down by us by accident at the shop.

6. They carefully mark a circle around the apple.

Passive voice:

Simple past tense

7. He rescued three cats yesterday, at the door of the shop.
Passive voice:

8. Nancy slapped Bonnie’s face.

Passive voice:

9. Elaine’s mother took the curtain to the shop to clean them.

Passive voice:

10. I held the golden bracelet carefully.

Passive voice:

11. Earth revolved around the Sun every day.

Passive voice:
Simple future tense

1. We will have boiled egg tomorrow morning.

Passive voice:

2. She will give you a card when you enter the room.
Passive voice:

3. They will not take you to the station, unless you give money.
Passive voice:

4. We will put a cherry on the cake, after it is out of the oven.

Passive voice:

Present continuous tense

1. He is hugging me on Christmas night.

S. V. O.
Passive voice: I am being hugged by him on Christmas night.

2. She is giving a present to me.

S. V. O.
Passive voice: A present is being given by her to me.

3. The Social Department is putting Jacky and Nelson under protection after the incident.
S. V. O.
Passive voice: Jacky and Nelson are being put by the Social Department under protection after
the incident.

4. Rebecca is encouraging them to join the race.

Passive voice:

5. Public is attacking the Florida Court judges because of the racial discrimination case.
S. V. O.
Passive voice: The Florida Court judges are being attacked by the public because of the racial
discrimination case.

6. They are running after the thief.

Passive voice:
Past continuous tense

7. They were repairing the church bells at the moment.

Passive voice: The church bells were being repaired by them at the moment.

8. When I entered the room, the teacher was passing out the test instructions.
Passive voice:

9. Martin and his family were putting the Christmas tree in the living room.
Passive voice:

10. Pauline was not doing her homework because she is playing her video games.
Passive voice:

11. Victor was providing capital and resources to fund the entire project.
Passive voice:
Present perfect tense

5. Pauline has mailed 80 boxes by SF delivery today.

Passive voice: 80 boxes have been mailed by Pauline by SF delivery today.

6. All of us have drunk milk this morning.

Passive voice:

7. My cat has never bitten anyone.

Passive voice:

8. We have focused on the sales, to take a better chance of winning the price.
Passive voice:

Past perfect tense

9. America and the Western countries had embraced capitalism for more than 100 years.
Passive voice:

10. Our team had prioritized safety as the first thing, to make sure everyone is safe.
Passive voice:

11. Tim had downloaded the movie illegally.

Passive voice:

12. They hadn’t seen him since last week.

Passive voice:

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Extra exercise

Simple past tense

1. They broke the law.

Passive voice: The law was broken by them.

2. The man dropped his phone by accident.

Passive voice: The man’s phone was dropped by him by accident.

3. Patricia removed the paint on the old building and repainted it.
Passive voice: The paint on the old building was removed by Patricia and she repainted it.

4. The coordinator put all best resources into the project.

Passive voice:

5. Ian gave two dollars to me.

Passive voice:

Past continuous tense

1. We were moving a big board out of the hall.

Passive voice: A big board was being moved out of the hall by us.

2. Jenny and her friends were fishing turtles at the pond.

Passive voice: Turtles were being fished by Jenny and her friends at the pond.

3. Oscar was yelling out “I am free” loudly when he got out of the prison.
Passive voice: “I am free” was being yelled out by Oscar when he got out of the prison.

4. The eagle was ferociously hunting the rabbits.

Passive voice:

5. Bonnie was cooking cakes, cookies and pasta at the same time.
Passive voice:

Past perfect tense

1. They had taken 300 dollars from the fund.
Passive voice: 300 dollars had been taken from the fund by them.

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2. Elaine had not handed her assignments since May.
Passive voice:

3. Neptune had revolved around the Sun for millions of years.

Passive voice:

4. The publisher had published The Geronimo Series for 15 years.

Passive voice:

5. Queenie had not washed her clothes for several days.

Passive voice:

Combined Exercise 1

Rewrite the following sentences in the passive voice.

1. Someone broke the window yesterday.

The window was broken by someone yesterday.

2. We clean our classroom every day.

Our classroom is cleaned by us every day.

3. She washed her jeans this morning.

Her jeans was washed by her this morning.

4. They cancelled all flights because of the snow.

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 All flights were cancelled by them because of the snow.

5. They do not sell noodles in this shop.

Noodles are not sold by them in this shop.

6. They have changed the date of the meeting.

The date of the meeting has been changed by them.

7. The postman has delivered the parcel.

The parcel has been delivered by the postman.

8. Nobody has reported the crime to the police.

The crime has been reported by nobody to the police.
The crime has not been reported by anybody to the police.

9. The servant is cleaning the sitting room now.

The sitting room is being cleaned by the servant now.

10. The thief has stolen all his money.

All his money has been stolen by the thief.

11. We have just repaired the car.

The car has just been repaired by us.

12. Mrs. Chan was looking after the baby.

The baby was being looked after by Mrs. Chan.

13. The gardener was growing some flowers in the garden.

14. Our form-master is explaining the school rules.

The school rules are being explained by our form-master.

15. They had shown the film on TV many times.

The film had been shown on TV by them many times.

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Remarks

Active voice = SVO (subject, verb, object)

Simple present tense v. (+ s/es)

I eat an apple.
I wash an apple.

I / You / We / They v.
He / She / It v. + s/es

E.g.
I eat an apple. I wash an apple.
He eats an apple He washes an apple.
*Verbs ending in -sh/-ch  + es

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Time Expressions for Tenses

Tense Time words Examples

Simple present Every day, on Sunday George jogs three miles every day.
Always, frequently, often, sometimes, Mary always has salad for lunch.
seldom, rarely, never
I sometimes go to New York City.

Use 1: Do something in present

I eat an apple.

Use 2: Habit
I always eat apple.
She always goes the library when bored.

To passive voice:
Mary always has salad for lunch.
Salad is always had by Mary for lunch.

Simple past Yesterday Tom went to Los Angeles yesterday.

Three days/ years ago Charles Lindbergh flew to Paris in 1927.
Last month

Simple future Tomorrow Mary will go to Hawaii in two weeks.

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 Next month/ week
In the future Ed will drive to Toronto next Saturday.
Two days from now George will paint his house six days from
now.

Present Now, right now You are reading sentences about verb
Continuous tenses right now.
At this moment
Many students are taking calculus this
When, while
semester.
Past continuous

Present Perfect For (a duration of time) Sam has visited Hawaii many times.
Since 自從 Paul has been here for six hours.
Past perfect Already 已經, just 剛剛 Yoko has known Mary since 1994.

Yet 還未 I have already written a letter to the

president.
Ever 曾經, never

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Passive Voice Exercise

1. Three pears __are eaten____ (eat) by Mary. She enjoys the taste.

[Simple present. Enjoys]

2. Hong Kong __is__ seldom __visited____ (visit) by my grandparents. They like the environment of the
Mainland.

[Simple present  Seldom is a frequency word]

3. The wall ___is being painted_______ (paint) by the painters just now.

[Present continuous]

4. Last week, a box of milk ___was used______ (use) by Tommy to make pudding.

[Simple past]

5. A long time ago, there were three pigs. One day, they ___were being chased_______ (chase) by a wolf
when they were outside.

[Past continuous. Story uses past tense]

6. All the milk __has been drunk______ (drink) by us already.

[Present Perfect]

7. The fruits _will be given_____ (give) to you next Monday.

[Simple future]

8. The homework ___is being done________ (do) by Amy now.

[Present continuous]

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