The passive

1 Forms: use be + past participle to form the passive

Active PassivePresent Simple (verb in the Present Simple)e.g.: * The police arrest thieves every week.

*Somebody cleans the room every day.

Present Simple (am/is/are + past participle)e.g.: * Thieves are arrested by the police every week. * The room is cleaned every day.

Present continuous (am/is/are + verb –ing)e.g.: * The police are arresting a thief at the moment. * Somebody is cleaning the room at the moment.

Present continuous (am/is/are being + past participle)e.g.: * A thief is being arrested by the police at the moment. * The room is being cleaned at the moment.

Past Simple (verb in the Past Simple)

e.g.: * The police arrested a thief last week. * Somebody cleaned the room yesterday.

Past Simple (was/were + past participle)e.g.: * A thief was arrested by the police last week. * The room was cleaned yesterday.

Past continuous (was/were + verb –ing)

e.g.: * The police were arresting a thief when I arrived in the shop. * Somebody was cleaning the room when I arrived.

Past continuous (was/were being + past participle)e.g.: * A thief was being arrested by the police when I arrived in the shop. * The room was being cleaned when I arrived.

Present Perfect Simple (have/has + past participle)e.g.: * The police have just arrested a thief.

* The room looks nice. Somebody has cleaned it.

Present Perfect Simple (have/has been + past participle)e.g.: * A thief has just been arrested by the police. * The room looks nice. It has been cleaned.

Past Perfect Simple (had + past participle)

e.g.: * There was a crowd in front of the shop. The police had arrested a thief. * The room looked nice. Somebody had cleaned it.

Past Perfect Simple (had been + past participle)e.g.: * There was a crowd in front of the shop. A thief had been arrested by the police. * The room looked nice. It had been cleaned.

Future (will/shall + infinitive or am/is/are going to + infinitive)e.g.: * The police are going to arrest the thief.

* Somebody will clean the room later.

Future (will/shall be + past participle or am/is/are going to be + past participle)e.g.: * The thief is going to be arrested by the police. * The room will be cleaned later.

Modals (can/could/may/might/must/ have to/should + infinitive)e.g.: * The police have to arrest the thief. * Somebody can clean the room. * The situation is serious. We must do something. * You should call the doctor. * The music was very loud. You could hear it from a long way away.

Modals (can/could/may/might/must/ have to/should be + past participle)e.g.: * The thief has to be arrested by the police. * The room can be cleaned. * The situation is serious. Something must be done. * The doctor should be called. * The music was very loud. It could be heard from a long way away.

InfinitivesBe + past participlee.g.: * Please go away. I want to be left alone. * The meat is ready to be cooked.

Present participlesBeing + past participlee.g.: * I remember being taken to the zoo when I was a child. (= I remember somebody

taking me to the zoo when I was a child.) * Steve hates being kept waiting. (= He hates people keeping him waiting.) * I managed to climb over the wall without being seen (= without anybody seeing me) * I don’t like being told what to do. (= I don’t like people telling me what to do.)

2 USE1. When we use an active verb, we say what the subject does.

e.g.: - My grandfather was a builder. He built this house in 1935. - It’s a big company. It employs two hundred people.

When we use a passive verb, we say what happens to the subject. e.g.: - This house is quite old. It was built in 1935. - Two hundred people are employed by the company.

2. When we use the passive, who or what causes the action is often unknown or unimportant.e.g.: - A lot of money was stolen in the robbery. (somebody stole it, but we don’t know

who) - Is this room cleaned every day? (it’s not important who)

If we want to say who does or what causes the action, we use by.e.g.: - This house was built by my grandfather. - Two hundred people are employed by the company.

3. Some verbs can have two objects, for example give:e.g.: - Somebody gave the police the information. (= Somebody gave the information

to the police.)So it is possible to make two passive sentences: The police were given the information. The information was given to the police.

Other verbs which can have two objects are: ask, offer, pay, show, teach, tell.When we use these verbs in the passive, most often we begin with the person.e.g.: - I was offered the job, but I refused it. (= they offered me the job) - You will be given plenty of time to decide. (= we will give you plenty of time to

decide) - Have you been shown the new machine? (= Has anybody shown you the new

machine?)

4. I was born. (not I am born.)e.g.: - I was born in Chicago. - Where were you born?

But: How many babies are born every day?

5. Get You can use get instead of be in the passive (informal spoken English).e.g.: - There was a fight at the party, but nobody got hurt. (= nobody was hurt) - I don’t often get invited to parties. (= I’m not often invited)