UNIT 3

PASSIVE VOICE

GRAMMAR NOTES
 EXAMPLES OF PASSIVE
Tense Active Passive

Unwanted gifts are sold by many

Present Simple Many people sell unwanted gifts.
people.

Many people are selling unwanted Unwanted gifts are being sold by
Present Continuous
gifts. many people.

Unwanted gifts were sold by many

Past Simple Many people sold unwanted gifts.
people.

Many people will sell unwanted Unwanted gifts will be sold by

Future Simple
gifts. many people.

Many people have sold unwanted Unwanted gifts have been sold by
Present Perfect Simple
gifts. many people.

Many people can sell unwanted Unwanted gifts can be sold by many
Modals
gifts. people.

Many people would sell unwanted Unwanted gifts would be sold by

Conditionals
gifts. many people.
 EXAMPLES OF PASSIVE
Tense Active Passive

Many people were selling unwanted Unwanted gifts were being sold by
Past Continuous
gifts. many people.

Many people had sold unwanted Unwanted gifts had been sold by
Past Perfect Simple
gifts. many people.

Many people must have sold Unwanted gifts must have been
Modal Perfects: unwanted gifts. sold by many people.
 
modal+have+p.p.
Many people will have sold Unwanted gifts will have been sold
 
unwanted gifts. by many people.
modal+have+been
+p.p. Many people would have sold Unwanted gifts would have been
unwanted gifts. sold by many people.

Many people have to sell unwanted Unwanted gifts have to be sold by

have to
gifts. many people.

Many people are going to sell Unwanted gifts are going to be sold
be going to
unwanted gifts. by many people.
 Use of Passive
Passive or active: not two different ways of saying the
same. The focus of information is shifted.
Passive voice - the focus is on the action. Who / what
is performing the action - not important or not known.
My bike was stolen.
Sometimes passive more polite
A mistake was made. (compare You have made a
mistake.)
Passive voice far more frequent in English.
 Form of Passive
Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle (-ed form of the
verb or 3rd column of irregular verbs) + (by Agent + other
complements such as adverbials):
A letter + was written + (by the teacher + at 8 o’clock + in the
morning.)
Negative and interrogative sentences are formed in the same way
in passive and active voices:
• In the end, the party wasn't held last night.
• Were you advised by your parents?
• Can the dress be taken back to the shop?
• Has the baby already been born?
• What present have you been given?
• Who was chosen as president?  
 Rewriting active sentences in passive voice
Intransitive active clauses don’t have passive counterpart:
happen, die, sleep, exist, go, come, occur, arrive, have, live…
We live in Murcia. (Murcia is lived by us.)
The finite form of the verb is changed (to be + Past Participle). To
be has the same tense in the passive sentence as the verb in the
active sentence.
• He sold his car last week. (Past simple tense)
• His car was sold last week. (Past simple tense)
The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the
passive sentence:
• He sold his car last week.
• His car was sold last week.

 
 Rewriting active sentences in passive voice
Some active verbs are ditransitive (an Oi referring to people and
an Od referring to things). In passive voice one of the two objects
becomes the subject, the other one remains an object.
Which object to transform into a subject depends on what
you want to put the focus on. For drilling purposes, it is
customary to use the first one:
• They will send some books to Pam.
• Some books will be sent to Pam. (Note the Spanish “Le
mandarán algunos libros a Pam.”)
• They will send Pam some books.
• Pam will be sent some books. (Note the Spanish “A Pam le
mandarán algunos libros.”)

 
 Rewriting active sentences in passive voice
Be aware of subject/object forms of pronouns when the indirect
object is a person:
• She showed me her new house.
• I was shown her new house. (Note the Spanish “Me enseñó su
nueva casa.”)
Leaving aside focus or learning issues, in English the active Oi is
usually preferred as the subject of the passive sentence (except
with explain and suggest):
• The teacher gave us a test. (Active voice)
• We were given a test by the teacher. (Passive voice)
• A test was given to us by the teacher. (Passive voice)
• Ditransitive verbs: ask, give, lend, pay, offer, promise, refuse, sell,
send, show and tell.
 Rewriting active sentences in passive voice

The subject of the active sentence becomes the object of

the passive sentence (or is dropped). This object is then
called by Agent. If the agent is a pronoun, then object
pronouns must be used.
• Shakespeare didn’t write that play.
• That play wasn’t written by Shakespeare. (Note the
Spanish “Esa obra no la escribió Shakespeare.”)
• The police arrested the thief.
• The thief was arrested by the police. (Note the Spanish “El
ladrón fue arrestado por la policía.”)

 
 The use of by (by Agent)
Although the passive voice is used when the focus is not on the
agent, sometimes we will mention it:
When the agent is important: an artist, an inventor…
• The Guernika was painted by Picasso.
To include more information, not previously mentioned:
• While we were driving down the road, we were stopped by a
policeman.
When we refer to the means of doing something or a plan. In this
case we use a non-finite –ing form after the preposition by:
• The school can be improved by building emergency exit stairs.  
 The use of by (by Agent)

An object introduced by by does not always refer

to an agent as part of a passive voice clause.
Notice the difference in the following examples:
• I was shocked by your attitude. (Passive voice)
• We were worried about / by her silence. (Active
voice)
 
 Detailed analysis of uses of Passive
a. The agent of the action is obvious, unknown or
unimportant.
• Cotton was grown in Virginia in the 19th century.
• All the money has been stolen. (“Han robado todo el
dinero.”)
We tend to avoid active clauses with impersonal agents such
as they, somebody, nobody, etc.
• Someone left this hat here.
• This hat was left here by someone. (Han dejado aquí este
sombrero.)
 Detailed analysis of uses of Passive

b. What we want to focus on is the action itself, the

results of the action or the object, the recipient of the
action.
• Over thirty people were killed in a terrorist attack in
Iraq last weekend.
c. When we want to emphasize the process or event
instead of the agent.
• The emergency doors are checked every day.
• Our father was killed in the war.
 ‘Choice’ of passive structures
 Academic/scientific writing:
• Those pyramids were built around 400 AD.

 Putting the ‘news’ at the end:

• John’s painting my portrait. (Active voice)

• Nice picture! Yes, it was painted by my mother. (Passive

voice)

 Longer / heavier expressions:

• I was annoyed by Mary wanting to tell everybody what to
do.
Have/get + something + done (los verbos causativos)
• Have / get + object + past participle - used to talk about
arranging things to be done by other people.
• Passive meaning - the object receives the action expressed by
the past participle.
• Typical of an informal, spoken English. This is especially so in
the case of get.
• I had / got my bedroom painted. (Note the Spanish “Pinté / Me
pintaron el dormitorio.”)
• I’m going to have / get my hair cut next week. (Note the
Spanish “Voy a cortarme el pelo la semana que viene.”)
[Somebody else will do it, not me.]
• I must have / get my watch repaired. (Spanish “Tengo que
arreglar mi reloj.”)
 Verb + preposition
We must include the preposition in the passive clause:
• They will send for you when the boss arrives.
• You will be sent for when the boss arrives.

• He threw away the glass bottles into the container.

• The glass bottles were thrown away into the
container.
 Personal and Impersonal Passive
• Personal Passive - the O of the active s. becomes the S of the
passive s. Transitive verbs can form personal passives.
• They build houses. – Houses are built.
• Intransitive verbs normally cannot form a personal passive. If you
want to, you must use an impersonal construction, Impersonal
Passive.
• he says – it is said
• Impersonal Passive is not as common in English as in some
other languages (e.g. German, Latin).
• Impersonal Passive only with verbs of perception (e.g. say, think,
know).
• They say that women live longer than men. – It is said that
women live longer than men.
 Personal and Impersonal Passive
• Although Impersonal Passive is possible here, Personal
Passive is more common.
• They say that women live longer than men. – Women are said to
live longer than men.
• The subject of the subordinate clause (women) goes to the
beginning of the sentence; the verb of perception is put into
passive voice. The rest of the sentence is added using an infinitive
construction with to (certain auxiliary verbs and that are
dropped).
• Sometimes the term Personal Passive is used in English lessons if
the indirect object of an active sentence is to become the subject
of the passive sentence.