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Passive Voice

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23 views18 pages

Passive Voice

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welcomevt
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Unit

42
Passive 1 (is done / was
done)

A
Study this
example:
84
B

C
1981
This house was built in 1981.

'This house was built' is passive.

Compare active and


passive:

Somebody built this house in 1981. (active)


subject
object

This house was built in 1981.


(passive)
subject

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


does:
My grandfather was a builder. He built this house in 1981. It's a big
company. It employs two hundred people.
When we use a passive verb, we say what happens to the
subject:
'How old is this house?' 'It was built in 1981.'

O Two hundred people are employed by the company.

When we use the passive, who or what causes the action is often unknown or unimportant:
A lot of money was stolen in the robbery. (somebody stole it, but we don't know who) Is
this room cleaned every day? (does somebody clean it? - it's not important who)

If we want to say who does or what causes the action, we


use by:
This house was built by my
grandfather.
Two hundred people are employed by the
company.

The passive is be (is/was etc.) + past participle


(done/cleaned/seen etc.):
(be) done (be) cleaned (be)
damaged
(be) built
(be) seen
etc.

The past participle often ends in -ed (cleaned/damaged etc.), but many important
verbs are irregular (built/done/stolen etc.). See Appendix 1.

Compare active and passive, present simple and past


simple:

Present
simple

active: clean (s) / see(s) etc.

passive: am/is/are + cleaned/seen etc.

O Many accidents are caused by careless


driving.
O I'm not invited to parties very
often.
How is this word
pronounced?

Past
simple

active:
cleaned/saw etc.

passive: was/were + cleaned/seen etc.

We were woken up by a loud noise during the night.


'Did you go to the party?' 'No, I wasn't invited.'
How much money was stolen in the robbery?
Somebody cleans this room every day.

This room is cleaned every day.

Somebody cleaned this room yesterday.

This room was cleaned yesterday.


Passive 2-3 → Units 43-44 by → Unit 128

Exercises

42.1 Complete the sentences. Use these verbs in the correct form, present or past:
Unit

42

cause
make
damage
overtake

1 Many accidents
2 Cheese.
find
own
hold

send
injure show

are caused by careless


driving.

3 The roof of the building.


4 A cinema is a place where films
5 You.

6 This plant is very rare. It.


7 Although we were driving fast, we
8 In the US, elections for president
invite
surround

from milk.

in a storm a few days ago.

to the party. Why didn't you


go?
9 There was an accident last night, but fortunately
nobody
10 You can't see the house from the road. It.

11 I never received the letter. It.

12 The company I work


for.
in very few places.
by a lot of other cars. every four years.

by
trees.
to the wrong address.
by a much larger company.

42.2 Write questions using the passive. Some are present and some are past.

1 Ask about glass. (how /


make?)
How is glass
made?
2 Ask about television. (when/invent?) When
3 Ask about mountains. (how/form?)
4 Ask about DNA. (when/discover?)
5 Ask about silver. (what / use for?)

42.3 Put the verb into the correct form, present or past, active or passive.
1

a Two hundred people are employed (employ) by


the company.
b The company employs (employ) 200 people.
2 a Water

b How much of the earth's surface.

3 a While I was on holiday, my camera


b While I was on holiday, my camera
4 a Robert's parents
b Robert and his sister
5 a The boat hit a rock and

b Fortunately
everybody.
6 a Bill.
b Sue.

7 a It can be noisy living here, but it


b It can be noisy living here, but I
8 a Maria had an accident. She..

b Maria had an accident. She.


(cover) most of the earth's surface.
(cover) by water?
(steal) from my hotel room.
(disappear) from my hotel room.
(die) when he was very
young.
(bring up) by their
grandparents.
(sink) quickly. (rescue).
(fire) from his job. He wasn't very good at
it.
(resign) from her job because she didn't enjoy it any
more.

9 a I haven't seen these flowers before. What.

b I haven't seen these flowers before. What..


(not/bother) me.
(not / bother) by it.
(knock) off her bike.
(fall) off her bike.

42.4 Instead of using somebody, they, people etc., write a passive sentence.
(they / call)? (you
/ call) them?

The room is cleaned


every day.
1 Somebody cleans the room every day.
2 They cancelled all flights because of fog. 3
Somebody accused me of stealing money. 4
How do you use this word?
All

How

5 The price includes all taxes.


6 People warned us not to go out alone.
We

This
7 We don't use this office any more.
8 They invited five hundred people to the
wedding.
Five hundred
money.
used?

............. . . . . . . . . . . .
price.

85
Unit

43
Passive 2 (be done / been done / being
done)

A
Infinitive

active: (to) do/clean/see etc.

passive: (to) be + done/cleaned/seen etc.


Somebody will clean this room later.

This room will be cleaned later.

The situation is serious. Something must be done before it's too late. A mystery is
something that can't be explained.
The music was very loud and could be heard from a long way away. A new
supermarket is going to be built next year.
Please go away. I want to be left
alone.

B
Perfect infinitive

active: (to) have + done/cleaned/seen etc.

passive: (to) have been + done/cleaned/seen etc.


Somebody should have cleaned the room

The room should have been cleaned.

I haven't received the letter yet. It might have been sent to the wrong address.
If you had locked the car, it wouldn't have been stolen.
There were some problems at first, but they seem to have been solved.

C
Present
perfect
active:
have/has + done etc.

passive: have/has been + done etc.


The room looks nice. Somebody has cleaned it

The room looks nice. It has been cleaned.

Have you heard? The trip has been cancelled.


Have you ever been bitten by a dog?
'Are you going to the party?' 'No, I haven't been
invited.'

Past
perfect
active:
had + done etc.

passive: had been + done etc.


The room looked nice. Somebody had cleaned it

The room looked nice. It had been cleaned.

O The vegetables didn't taste good. They had been cooked too
long. The car was three years old, but hadn't been used very much.

D
Present continuous

am/is/are + (do)ing
active:

passive: am/is/are + being


(done)
Somebody is cleaning the room at the moment.

The room is being cleaned at the moment.

There's somebody walking behind us. I think we are being followed. A new bridge is
being built across the river. It will be finished next year.

Past continuous

active:
was/were + (do)ing

passive: was/were + being


(done)
Somebody was cleaning the room when I arrived.

The room was being cleaned when I arrived.

O There was somebody walking behind us. I think we were being


followed.

86
Passive 1, 3➜ Units 42, 44
Unit

Exercises

43.1 Complete these sentences. Use the following verbs in the passive:

43.2

arrest carry cause delay do forget keep knock

Sometimes you need have (might have, would have etc.). 1


The situation is serious. Something must 2 I haven't
received the letter yet. It might 3 A decision will not.
be
done
know
make repair send

be done before it's too late.

have been sent to the wrong


address.

4 These documents are important. They should


always 5 This road is in bad condition. It should
6 The injured man couldn't walk and had
to
7 If you hadn't shouted at the policeman, you wouldn't.
8 I'm not sure what time I'll arrive tomorrow. I may
9 It's not certain how the fire started. It might.
10 A new school is being built. The old one is going
to
11 The election is next Sunday. The full results will
43

until the next meeting.


in a safe place.
a long time ago.

by an electrical fault.
down. on Tuesday.
12 Last week they weren't speaking to one another. Now they're happy again. The problem seems to

Make sentences from the words in brackets. Sometimes the verb is active, sometimes passive. 1 There's
somebody behind us. (We/follow) We're being followed...
2 This door is a different colour, isn't it? (you /
paint?)
3 My bike has disappeared. (It / steal!) It
Have you painted it?

4 My umbrella has disappeared. (Somebody/take)


Somebody
5 A neighbour of mine disappeared six months ago.
(He/not/see / since then) He
6 I wonder how Jessica is these
days.
(1/not/see / for ages) I
7 A friend of mine was stung by a bee recently.
(you / ever/sting/bee?)
8 The bridge was damaged
recently.
(It/repair / at the moment) It.
9 Tom's car was stolen recently.
(It/not/find / yet)
you

10 I went into the room and saw that the table and chairs were not in the same place.
(The furniture / move) The

43.3 Instead of using 'somebody', 'they' etc., write a passive sentence.


1 Somebody has cleaned the room. The room has been
cleaned
2 They are building a new road around the city.
A.

3 They have built two new hotels near the airport.


Two

4 When I last visited, they were building some new houses here.
When I last visited, some
5 The meeting is now on 15 April. They have changed the date.
The date of

6 I didn't know that somebody was recording our conversation.


I didn't know that our.

7 Is anyone doing anything about the


problem?
anything
8 The windows were very dirty. Nobody had cleaned them for
ages.
The windows were very dirty. They

Additional exercises 22-24 (pages


314-15)
around the city.

near the airport.


the problem?

87
Unit
44
Passive 3

A
I was offered .../ we were given ... etc.

Some verbs can have two objects. For example, give:


My grandfather gave me this
watch.
object 1 object 2

It is possible to make two passive


sentences:
I was given this watch (by my grandfather). or This watch was
given to me (by my grandfather).

Other verbs which can have two objects


are:
ask
offer
pay show
tell

When we use these verbs in the passive, most often we begin with the
person:
I've been offered the job, but I don't think I want it. (= somebody has offered me the job) You will be given
plenty of time to decide. (= we will give you plenty of time)
I didn't see the original document, but I was shown a copy. (somebody showed me a copy)
Tim has an easy job - he's paid a lot of money to do very little. (= somebody pays
him a lot)

I don't like being...

The passive of doing/seeing etc. is being done / being seen etc.


Compare:
B
C
active:
I don't like people telling me what to do.
passive
:
I don't like being told what to do.

I remember being taken to the zoo when I was a child.


(I remember somebody taking me to the zoo)
Steve hates being kept waiting. (= he hates people keeping him waiting)
We climbed over the wall without being seen. (without anybody seeing us)

I was born ...

We say 'I was born ... (not I am born):

but
I was born in
Chicago.
Where were you born? (not Where are you born?)

|
p
os
past

presen
t
O How many babies are born every
day?

D
get
888
You can use get for the
passive:
There was a fight, but nobody got hurt. (= nobody was hurt)
I don't get invited to many parties. (I'm not invited)
O I'm surprised Liz didn't get offered the job. (= Liz wasn't offered the
job)

We use get only when things happen. For example, you cannot use get in these
sentences: Jessica is liked by everybody. (not gets liked - this is not a 'happening')
Peter was a mystery man. Very little was known about him. (not got known)

We use get mainly in informal spoken English. You can use be in all
situations.

We also use get in the following expressions (which are not passive in
meaning):
get married, get divorced
get lost (= not know where you are)
get dressed (= put on your clothes)
get changed (= change your
clothes)

Passive 1-2 → Units 42-43

Exercises

44.1 Complete the sentences using the correct form of the verb.
1 I tried to contact Tom.

I called his office but I was told... (tell) that he was in a meeting.
2 Amy retired from her job recently.
She
(give) a present by her
colleagues.
3 I didn't know there was a meeting yesterday.

4 Sarah's salary is very low.


I don't understand why she
5 You will need to use this machine.

Have you
(not/tell) about it.

(pay) so
little.

(show) how it works?


6 I had an interview for a job recently. It wasn't easy.
(ask) some questions that were very hard for me to
answer.
7 They didn't tell us much about the
project.
We
(not/give) enough information.
8 I was surprised to get the job I applied for.
I didn't expect.
(offer) it.

44.2 Complete the sentences using being + the following verbs (in the correct form):

bite
give invite
keep

1 Steve hates being kept


waiting.
2 We went to the wedding without.
knock down
stick
treat

3 I like giving presents and I also


like
4 It's a busy road and I don't like crossing it. I'm afraid of
5 How do you avoid
6 I'm an adult. I don't like

7 You can't do anything about


them.

by mosquitoes?
like a child.

in a traffic jam.

44.3 Complete the sentences using get or got + the following verbs (in the correct form):

ask break
hurt
pay
steal

1 There was a fight, but nobody got


hurt.
2 Alex

3 These tennis courts don't

4 I used to have a bike, but it


sting
stop
use

by a bee while he was sitting in the


garden.
very often. Not many people want to play here.
a few months ago.
Unit

44

5 Rachel works hard, but she doesn't.

6 Please pack these things very carefully. I don't want


anything to
7 People often want to know what my job is..
.................................... 8 Last night |
on my car wasn't working.

44.4 Complete the sentences.


1 I've been
offere
d
2 I don't get invited to many
parties.
3 Which year.
4 I haven't been
very much.

that question a lot. by the police as I was driving home. One of the lights

the job, but I don't think I'll accept it.

you born in?

5 I didn't know the way, so I got.


6 He doesn't like

7 How did the window

8 She's a voluntary worker. She 91


..........

any information yet.

interrupted when he's speaking.


broken? What happened? get
paid.
born in a small town in the north of the country.
10 We had to do what we did.... ..................

Additional exercises 22-24 (pages


314-15)
given any choice.

89

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