Passive Voice

Martín Riquelme
 When do we use it?
• In the English language there are ACTIVE
and PASSIVE voices
• Good news: all the sentences we have
learnt so far are ACTIVE sentences. What
does that mean?
Jane built a sandcastle last week
SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT
• We use the passive voice when the action is more
important than the agent.

ACTIVE - People eat seafood all around the world.

The OBJECT of the active sentence becomes the

SUBJECT of the passive sentence.

PASSIVE - Seafood is eaten all around the world.

How do we form the passive?
• Remember, each tense has a passive
form.
• Present Simple
They serve dinner at 7pm in the hotel.
Dinner is served at 7pm in the hotel.
• Past Simple
Somebody stole my car yesterday.
My car was stolen yesterday.
TO BE + PAST PARTICIPLE
• We use the verb to be + past
participle to make a sentence passive.
The postman delivers letters.
Letters are delivered.

The postman delivered the

letters.
The letters were delivered.
What about the person?
• If we want to name the person who
did the action (agent) we add it to the
end of the sentence and use by.

The letters were delivered by the

postman.
Ok, so when do I use the
passive?
Use the passive when:
•you don’t know the person
Somebody stole my car.
•the person is not important
They built this church in 1815.
•it is obvious, who did the action
The police arrested the criminal.
Where will I meet the
passive?
• in newspapers
• on signs and notices
• in scientific language
Transfor m the sentences from
active to passive
• Steven Spielberg directed ET.
• He invited 30 people to his party.
• They grow bananas in Africa.
• A pickpocket robbed me.
• My friend sends me an invitation.
• They sold their house.
• They show films at 8pm every night.
• Somebody painted the wall green.
• Somebody called the police last night.
Answers
•1. ET was directed by Steven Spielberg.
•2. 30 people were invited to his party (by him).
•3. Bananas are grown in Africa.
•4. I was robbed by a pickpocket.
•5. An invitation is sent to me by my friend.
•6. Their house was sold (by them).
•7. Films are shown at 8pm every night.
•8. The wall was painted green (by somebody).
•9. The police were called last night (by somebody).

PASSIVE VOICE - Quiz (wordwall.net)

Passive voice Flashcards | Quizlet
Vocabulary
Listening activity
Answers