Passive Voice

Read the following sentences:

They invited Joe for the party.

Joe was invited for the party.

They have prepared the party.

The party has been prepared.

What is the difference?Who is responsible for the action in both sentences?

Passive voice is used to indicate that an action was done, and we do not, necessarily, need to know who was responsible for the action.

Structure

TO BE + PAST PARTICIPLE

Examples:

The exercise is done everyday.The exercise was done yesterday.The exercise is being done now.The exercise was being done when I arrived.The exercise will be done.The exercise is going to be done.The exercise has been done.The exercise must be done.The exercise could be done.The exercise would be done, if they had time.

See the difference:

He’s invited his friends for the party.

He’s invited for every party at school.

Is it Present Perfect or Passive voice? Why?

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Now, read the following text and try to identify all the passive voice used. However, pay attention to the story and, if it is possible:

Identify the person responsible for the actions.

Identify the verb tense, and how it was used.

Identify the subject of the sentence.

It is the world’s number one brand and it is recognized by 94% of the world’s population! For many years now, Coca-cola has been a symbol of American culture. It is also the best selling soft drink in the world. More than 60.000 products from the Coca-Cola company are drunk around the world every minute.

One hundred years ago, few man wore wristwatches: but the Rolex company – based in Switzerland since 1908 – changed all that. They gave us the first wristwatches, to show the date, the first diving watches, the first sports watch, the first watch to show different time zones... And now Rolex watches (with prices that range from $3,000 to $20,000) are worn as a status symbol all over the world.

Although most people in consumer surveys guess that Nokia is a Japanese company, it’s actually from Northern Europe! Originally a paper factory on the banks of the river Nokia in Finland, it became the world’s leading mobile phone company in the late 1990s. Their first commercial mobile, the Mobira Talkman, which appeared in 1984, weighed 5kg. The latest models are a bit lighter.

Samsung (the name means “three stars”) began as a company in 1938. It originally produced noodles and dried fish!. However, the company has come a long way since then. Mobile phones, digital cameras, flat screen TVs, DVD players... You name it, are all manufactured by this electronics giant from South Korea.

The makers of cars driven by the rich and famous, the Mercedes company has its base in Germany. Emil Jallinek, a wealthy banker who bought and loved cars, named the car after his nine-year-old daughter. And the famous three-point Mercedes star was designed to symbolize the growth of the business into transport on land, sea and air.

The famous face which is seen at more than 9,000 KFC restaurants worldwide actually belonged to a real person: Colonel Harland Sanders. At different times he was a soldier, an insurance agent, a tire salesman and worked in his parents’ petrol station. When he saw people were more interested in his home-made food than the petrol he was selling, he decided to open his first restaurant in Utah, USA, in the early 1950s. Colonel Sanders is also remembered for organizing the biggest party in history – about 35,000 people attended his seventy-ninth birthday in 1970.

Look at the objects and say which one do the following sentences refer to:

1. It’s mainly used by women.It’s usually sold in chemist’s shops.It’s usually kept in a handbag or purse.

2. They’re usually made of plastic.They’re sometimes kept in people’s bathroom.They are used more by men than by women.

3. They’re accepted all over the world.They’re usually made of plastic.They’re usually used by millions of people everyday to buy things.

Now, it’s your turn, try to make sentences for the other objects.USE PASSIVE VOICE.

Some curiosities:Which one do you think it’s true?

1. The first dark glasses:a. were made to help pilots flying.b. were used by blind people.c. were worn in China by Chinese judges.

2. The first blue jeans:a. were designed as working clothes by man called Levi Strauss.b. were made in China in the 1960s.

3. The first liquid shampoo:a. was invented by a Frenchman called Charles Champú.b. was used in India over two thousand years ago.c. was developed by a bald man.

4. Chanel’s most famous perfume is called No 5 because:a. No 5 was its inventor’s lucky number.b. it took five years to develop it.c. it was created in 1905.

Let’s practice:

Choose the best form (active or passive) to complete the sentences:

a. The disposable razor invented / was invented by King Camp Gillette.

b. Hungarian journalist Lászlo Biro invented / was invented the world’s first ballpoint pen in the 1930s.

c. The DVD player is now the world’s number one entertainment product. The first one manufactured / was manufactured in 1997.

d. In 2003, Google voted / was voted the world’s most popular Internet search engine.

Now, it’s your turn to do some research on:

some products invented, used or created and talk a little bit about them.

Some sports or activities done or taken nowadays.Any situation that it was already invented or

thought .You have to use passive voice in most of the

sentences. (Any verb tense)You can say how, when, where was created.You can say how it is used / eaten / prepared

nowadays.