PASSIVE VOICE

USES
 USES
• When is the passive voice used?
1º When we want to give emphasis to the
object or action of the verb and not to the
subject
e.g.: The thief was caught yesterday night
The police caught the thief yesterday
night.
 MORE USES
2º When the subject of the sentence is
deduced from the context.
The bank was robbed ( by the robbers)
3º When we don’t know who is the subject of
the sentence
Mr Dodson was insulted in the lecture.
 Passive in English / Spanish
• In English the passive voice is much more
used than in Spanish because we use
“impersonal se” instead .
e.g. Se hacen fotocopias
Photocopies are made.
 CHANGES IN THE PASSIVE
• Have a look to these two sentences and the
changes from active to passive:
e.g. The government takes new measures

New measures are taken by the government

 CHANGES
The subject the agent
The object the patient subject
The verb passive verb

80% of passive sentences don’t have an agent,

but if it must be expressed it is preceded by
the preposition “BY”
 AGENT
• The agent is written when the subject was a
proper name or common name but it’s
omitted when it was a personal pronoun or
indefinite pronoun ( somebody , someone
etc)
e.g. Rajoy passed the new law
The new law was passed by Rajoy
 OTHER CHANGES
• He read the book
The book was read
Someone heard the shot
The shot was heard
VERBS: to put a verb into the passive voice
we put the verb to be in the tense we have
in the active voice and then we write the
past participle of the active verb
 CHANGES IN VERBS
The government takes measures
- Measures are taken by the government
The governmen is taking measures
Measures are being taken by the
government
The government took measures
Measures were taken by .......
 VERBS
The government has taken measures
Measures have been taken by the ....
The government will take measures
Measures will be taken
 PASSIVE SUBJECTS
• The direct object of the verb becomes the
subject.
Eg We bought the paper
The paper was bought
Ditransitive verbs have direct and indirect
objects. Both can become the subject in
passive sentences
 DIRECT AND INDIRECT
OBJECTS
• They gave us the money.
We have two possibilities:
The money was given to us.
We were given the money.
The indirect object becomes the subject,
something impossible in Spanish.
Eg. The teacher explains the lesson to the
students
 Indirect object as subject
• The lesson is explained to the student
• The students are explained the lesson
Translate : nos dieron las llaves
We were given the keys
Le dieron las noticias
He was given the news.
 REWRITE
1.She knows the answer............................
2. I have passed the exam.........................
3. Jane paid me the bill...............................
4. Dad is cooking us the dinner.................
5. They showed him their new flat..............
6. I hadn’t found the keys....................
7. I forgave her ...........................................