The passive: Present Simple and Past Simple

The passive:

Present Simple and Past Simple

Index

Active

Video

Passive

Practice

Structure

Active:

Most verbs in English are active - the doer of the verb comes before the verb Francis Ford Coppola made The Godfather in 1972. He also made ... (We are talking about the person.)

Index

Passive:

Some common uses of the passive are: when the doer isn't important: This house was built in the 1960s. (It doesn't matter who built it - the date is more interesting.) Thousands of copies of Gold: Greatest Hits are sold every year. (It doesn't matter who sells them.) when we don't know who did something: The picture was stolen last night. (We don't know who stole it.) This photo was taken in Barcelona. (I don't remember who took it.)

In the passive, the object comes before the verb. The Godfather was made in 1972 by Francis Ford Coppola. It was filmed in ... (We are talking about the movie.) We use passive verb forms when the main thing we are talking about is the object of the verb.

Index

Structure

We form the pasive with be + past paticiple, where be shows the tense of the verb, e.g., present simple.

Past Simple

Present Simple

Three Godfather films were made altogether.

I am chosen for the school football team every year

+ - Y/N?

The Harry Potter books weren't written for adults.

This car isn't sold in theUSA or Canada.

Was The Hobbit written for children?Yes, it was. / No, it wasn't.

Am I invited to your party?Yes, you are. / No, you're not.

Index

Index

Practice

Index

Video

Index