Passive voice

1.

Passive voice

2.

Basic patterns
• The subject of an active verb is usually omitted in the
passive voice. However, it can be introduced with „by”
• The judge will read out the names of the winners in alphabetical order.
• The names of the winners will be read out in alphabetical order (by the
judge).
• When a verb has two objects, each of them can be used
as the subject in passive voice.
• The manager offered the customer a refund.
• The customer was offered a refund.
• A refund was offered to a customer.

3.

Be careful!
• Verbs with no direct object (intransitive verbs) cannot be
used in passive voice.
• The post has arrived.
• The post has been arrived.

4.

Passive verb forms
• We make the passive form by using be in appropriate
tense plus the past participle of the main verb.
• A thief stole my bag.
• My bag was stolen (by a thief).
• The police are investigating the murder.
• The murder is being investigated (by the police).
• Candidates must answer all the questions.
• All the questions must be answered (by the candidates).
• Someone must have stolen it.
• It must have been stolen.

5.

Passive verb forms
• They took the company over in 2001.
• The company was taken over in 2001.
• The boss made me work late.
• I was made to work late (by my boss)
• same with: see, hear, help (be + past participle + infinitive)
• The teacher let us leave early.
• We were allowed/permitted/given permission to leave early.

6.

Be careful!
• We avoid using passive voice in perfect continuous tenses.
• By next month they will have been investigating the murder for a
year.
• By next month the murder will have been being investigated for
a year.

7.

Passive voice in reported speech
• When we are using reported speech and we do not want
to mention the reporting subject, or when we want to
describe a general and impersonal feeling, we can use a
passive form of the reporting verb.
• The press said he was innocent.
• He was said to be innocent.
• It was said that he was innocent.

8.

Verbs not used in the passive
• Verbs describing states cannot be used in passive, e.g.
have (=own), be, belong, lack, resemble, seem, even if
they refer to an action.
• John has a Ferrari.
• A Ferrari is had by John.
• John is having lunch.
• Lunch is being had by John.

9.

Verbs not used in passive
• Verbs followed by to + infinitive cannot be used in passive.
• I refuse to answer your questions.
• Your questions are refused to answer.
• Verbs of wanting and liking + object + infinitive cannot be
used in passive, e.g. love, like, hate, want.
• She wanted him to leave.
• He was wanted to leave.

10.

Have/get in passive voice
• We use the pattern have/get + object + past participle to
describe something which is done for subject by someone
else, e.g.
• I had the washing machine repaired yesterday.
• Where do you get your hair done?
• There is an active form as well (have + object + bare
infinitive; get + object + full infinitive), which is typical for
informal US English.
• I had my mechanic repair the washing machine.
• I will get the hairdresser to do my hair this afternoon.

11.

Have/get in passive voice
• We use it the construction also to describe something that
is done to the subject, often unpleasant or surprising:
• Liz had her passport stolen.
• Out of the blue, Mark has had his plan approved by the board.
• We use it also in imperatives:
• Have/get that mess cleaned up at once!
• We use it for promises as well:
• Don’t worry, I will have that report finished in time.

12.

Uses of the passive
• We use it to order information properly:
• Guernica is a wonderful example of cubist art. It was painted by
Picasso in 1937.
• Compare: Guernica is a wonderful example of cubist art. In 1937
Picasso painted it.
• We use it when the agent is not known, not relevant or
obvious:
• She was murdered. (We don’t know who did that)
• She has been sacked. (Only her employer could sack her)

13.

Uses of the passive
• We use passive voice when we don’t want to mention the
agent:
• I see the washing up hasn’t been done.
• Don’t blame me. Nothing can be done about it.
• We use it to describe general feeling, opinions, beliefs:
• Sao Paulo is said to be the fastest growing city in South America.

14.

Uses of the passive
• Finally, we use passive voice in formal English to focus on
the issues rather than on the people:
• The research was carried out over the period of six months.
• To describe rules and procedures:
• Candidates will be interviewed in alphabetical order.
• And to describe various processes (commercial, social,
historical, etc.):
• The currency has been devaluated twice since the war.
• The components are electronically tagged.

15.

I. Transform these sentences into passive
voice.
• They arrested Peter two days ago.
• The press has declared him a spy.
• They have announced that he’ll be tried.
• The youngsters are not complying with the law.
• They have a lot of people in jail.
• Amundsen arrived at the South Pole on 14th December
1911.

16.

II. Transform these sentences into
passive voice.
• They’ve refused Peter access to a lawyer (*2 sentences).
• They will confiscate James’ camera (*use James as a
subject and have).
• They never explain citizen’s rights to the prisoners (*use
prisoners as a subject and have).
• People say that the country is on the verge of the civil war.
• People thought at first that the President had been
murdered.