Passive voice

Passive voice

START

Today's lesson

01.

Active voice

02.

Passive voice

03.

Comparing active and passive

04.

From active to passive

05.

All the tenses

06.

Exercises

Active voice

Look at this sentence!!

The writer Stan Lee created Spiderman in 1962

This sentence is in the active voice. Why? ...

• Stan Lee is the subject of the sentence
• He is the one who does the action (creating Spiderman)
• Spiderman is the object of the sentence, the one that receives the action

Passive voice

Look at this sentence!!

Spiderman was created by the writer Stan Lee in 1962.

This sentence is in the passive voice. Why? ...

• Because Spiderman is the subject of the sentence, the one who was created

• Stan Lee is the agent of the sentence

Uses of the passive voice

1- When we don't know the agent:

• The cave paintings were made in the Upper Old Stone Age.

2- When the agent is irrelevant:

• An experimental solar power plant will be built in Almeria.

3- When you are talking about a general truth:

• Rules are made to be broken

4- When you want to emphasize the person or the thing acted on

• Insulin was first discovered in 1921 [by researchers]

Comparing active and passive sentences

Active sentence

Passive sentence

• When we use a passive verb, we say what happens to the subject

• If we know who did the action, we use the agent.
• If we don’t know, we don’t mention the agent.

• When we use an active verb, we say what the subject does

• We don’t have the agent, but we have the subject that did the action

From active to passive in 4 steps!!!

FIND the object in the ACTIVE sentence:

• Stan Lee created Spiderman in 1962

This OBJECT will become the SUBJECT of the PASSIVE sentence:

• Spiderman....

Use the verb BE + PAST PARTICIPLE to add the verb. Respect the tenses!!

• Spiderman was created...

The SUBJECT of the ACTIVE sentence becomes the AGENT:

• Spiderman was created BY Stan Lee

By....

Manolo built this house

ANSWER!!!

This house was built by manolo

Tenses (1)

02

01

Present simple passive

Present simple active

Lenovo produces these computers.

These computers are produced by Lenovo.

04

Past simple passive

Past simple active

03

These computers were produced by Lenovo.

Lenovo produced these computers.

Next

Tenses (2)

06

05

Present continuous passive

Present continuous active

These computers are being produced by Lenovo.

Lenovo is producing these computers.

08

Past continuous passive

Past continuous active

07

These computers were being produced by Lenovo.

Lenovo was producing these computers.

Next

Tenses (3)

10

09

Present perfect simple passive

Present perfect simple active

These computers have been produced by Lenovo.

Lenovo has produced these computers.

12

Past perfect simple passive

Past perfect simple active

11

These computers had been produced by Lenovo.

Lenovo had produced these computers.

Next

Tenses (4)

14

13

13

Future simple passive

Future simple active

These computers will be produced by Lenovo.

Lenovo will produce these computers.

16

Future Be going to in the passive voice

Future Be going to in the active voice

15

I am going to do my homework.

My homework is going to be done.

Next

Tenses (5)

18

Modals in the passive voice

Modals in the active voice

17

These computers must be produced by Lenovo.

Lenovo must produce these computers.

Next

LET'S PRACTICE

From active to passive!

From active to passive!

From active to passive!

This is very common in scientific texts:

• Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928.

• Gravity was first observed by Sir Isaac Newton in the 17th century.