Passive Voice

Simple Tenses
 Active Passive
◦ I drank two cups of coffee. ◦ Two cups of coffee were drunk

Structure: S + V + object Structure: Obj (S) + V

The subject is 'I’ The subject is 'two cups of coffee’

The verb is 'drank’ The verb is ‘were drunk’
The object is 'two cups of coffee' No object
How to make the passive in English
We make the passive by putting the verb 'to be' into whatever tense we need and then adding the past
participle.
For regular verbs, we make the past participle by adding 'ed' to the infinitive.
So 'play' becomes 'played’.
Simple Tenses
When should we use the passive?
◦ When we want to change the focus of the sentence:

The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. (We are more interested in the painting than the artist in this sentence)

◦ When who or what causes the action is unknown or unimportant or obvious or 'people in general’:

He will be arrested (obvious agent, the police).

My bike was stolen (unknown agent).

The form can be obtained from the post office (people in general)

◦ In factual or scientific writing:

The chemical is placed in a test tube and the data is entered into the computer.

◦ In formal writing instead of using someone/ people/ they (these can be used in speaking or informal writing):

The brochure will be finished next month.

 WHICH
ONE’S
PASSIVE?
MATCH
 Choose the correct answer
5. My car ___ next week, so I'm going to go to work by bus.
1. The Egyptian pyramids ___ thousands of years ago.
a. is being repaired
a. are built
b. will be repaired
b. been built
c. is repairing
c. were built
6. Not enough of our rubbish ___.
2. Your letter ___ within 28 days.
d. recycles
a. will be answer
e. is recycled
b. will be answered
f. is recycle
c. will answer
7. The fire service still ___ the fire.
3. Chocolate ___ first _______ over 4,000 years ago.
g. wasn't put out
a. Was produced
h. is put out
b. is been produced
i. haven't put out
c. has been produced
8. The underground connection ___ when I moved into the
4. I don't know who ___ my bike.
house.
a. stole
j. is still being built
b. is stolen
k. was still being built
c. was stolen
l. was still building
 Open the brackets using the correct form of the verb

◦ The flowers ____________ (water) every Monday.

◦ The car _________ (wash) tomorrow.

◦ These trees __________ (plant) in autumn.

◦ The students got 12, because all the questions ___________ (answer).

◦ The sentence ________ by students after the teacher (repeat).

◦ The light _________ every day at 8pm, that’s why I _________ in the evening (turn off; not/read).

◦ Later he __________ to the president of the USA (present).

◦ The new track ___________ by The Weekend in spring (write-wrote-written).

Transform sentences into Passive Voice

1. Many people read this writer's articles.

2. Will he pick up the kids tomorrow? 9. The kids forgot the whole story in a few days.
3. Jackie milks the cows every morning. 10. The next earthquake will destroy the city.

4. Who wrote this book? 11. Kids love candies.

5. Benny never understands the new teacher. 12. How did they steal her car?

6. The birds will eat those cookies. 13. The American people elect the members of Congress.
7. Everyone follows the rules. 14. Does the mechanic check the brakes regularly?

8. My friends will visit him tomorrow. 15. The coach will throw a party on the weekend.

16. The wild animals killed two men yesterday.

Translate the sentences using Active or Passive Voices

1. Хірурга звинуватили в смерті пацієнта.

2. Старший редактор журналу буде обраний через тиждень директором компанії.

3. Різноробочому запропонували покосити газон біля дому.

4. Ручна одноманітна робота не є для мене привабливою.

5. Якщо мене не підвищать наступного тижня, я опинюсь на тупиковій роботі.

6. Люди, з якими я працюю, вважають нашу компанію дуже вибагливою.

7. Мене запросили на роботу з повний робочим днем. Я працюватиму на компанію Microsoft.

8. Офіціантам не дають чайові в країнах Азії.

9. Важливо, аби працівникам давали регулярні відгуки щодо їх успіхів.

10. Абітурієнтам кожного року пропонують інтернатуру в топ-компаніях.