PASSIVE FORMS

STRUCTURE

TO BE (in the appropriate tense) + PAST PARTICIPLE

of the main verb.

Agent (who does the action): BY...

 ACTIVE and PASSIVE TENSES

The tense of the active main verb is applied to the auxiliary BE in the passive form:

Present Simple am, is, are + past participle (of the main verb)
Present Continuous am, is, are being + past participle
Past Simple was, were + past participle
Past Continuous was, were being + past participle
Present Perfect has, have been + past participle
Future will be + past participle
Going To going to be + past participle
Modal Verbs must/should/can/could (etc.) be + past participle
 When do we use passive forms?

• When we want to talk about an action, but are not very interested in who did
it
• Passive forms without agents are common in academic and scientific writing
• Agents are mentioned in only about 20% of passive sentences
• When the agent isn’t known (somebody, they, etc.) or it’s useless to mention
it, we don’t use it in the passive sentence
 Examples of passive sentences

• Yesterday the bedroom window was broken by a boy.

• Tomorrow John’s car will be sold.
• The house is being renovated.
• Tom should be told that he can’t behave like that!
• The report has been written by the new assistant.
• German is spoken in Austria, too.
FROM ACTIVE TO PASSIVE

They built this house in 1786.

(Past Simple)

This house was built in 1786.

(Past Simple Passive)
 FROM PASSIVE TO ACTIVE

The roof is being repaired by a friend of ours.

(Present Continuous Passive)

A friend of ours is repairing the roof.

(Present Continuous)
 Have/Get something done

Be careful with this structure. Notice the difference:

1. Mary has just renovated her apartment (she did it herself).

2. Mary has just had her apartment completely renovated (someone else
did it for her).
 Have/Get something done

Other examples:

• We finally got the painting done in the house on Saturday.

• Yesterday I had my hair cut.

• John got his car repaired yesterday.

• Mary had her purse stolen on the subway!
 Something/somebody needs + -ing
(= needs to be + past participle)

• Tim’s room is a mess, it really needs tidying up. (= needs to be

tidied up)
• This house needs painting. (= needs to be painted)
• The sofa needs cleaning. (= needs to be cleaned)
• That boy’s behaving badly, he needs scolding. (= needs to be
scolded)