The Passive

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 1

Passive voice

I drank two cups of coffee

It is an active sentence, it has the subject first ( the person that does the verb)

followed by the verb and finally the object ( the person or thing that the action happens to. 

S + V + O

But we don't always need to make sentences this way!

We might want to put the object first, or perhaps we don't want to say who did something. This can happen for lots of reasons. In this case we use the passive which puts the object first. 

• Two cups of coffee were drunk (we can add "by me" but this isn't necessary)

How to make the passive in English

We make the passive by putting the verb 'to be' into whatever tense we need and then adding the past participle. For regular verbs we make the past participle by adding 'ed' to the infinitive. So 'play' becomes played. 

When should we use the passive?

1. When we want to change the focus of the sentence. The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. (We are more interested in the painting than the artist in this sentence)
2. When who or what causes the action is unknown or unimportant or obvious: He was arrested (obvious agent, the police). My bike has been stolen (unknown agent) 
3. In factual or scientific writing. The chemical is placed in a test tube and the data entered into the computer.

Now you try: 

Passive 1 (present simple)

Make these active present simple sentences passive. You don't need to repeat 'somebody'.

Somebody sends emails.

Somebody buys the presents.

My father is washing the car..

1. The car is washing my father
2. The car was been washed by my father
3. The car has been washed by my father
4. The car is being washed by my father

She pays a lot of money.

1. A lot of many has been payed by her
2. A lot of money is being payed by her
3. A lot of money is payed by her
4. A lot of money is going to be payed by her

Somebody often steals cars

1. Cars are often stolen by somebody
2. Cars are stolen by somebody often
3. Cars are often being stolen by somebody
4. Cars often are stolen by somebody

He doesn't open the book

1. The book has never being opened
2. The book isn't opened
3. The book has not been opened
4. The book is opened

Is she preparing the party?

1. The party was being prepared by her?
2. Wasn't the party prepared by her?
3. Was the party being prepared by her?
4. Was the party prepared by her?

More exercises - present simple

1. Somebody prefers chocolate.
   
2. Somebody plays loud music.
3. Somebody speaks English here.
4. Somebody loves the London parks.
5. Somebody reads a lot of books.
6. Somebody cooks dinner every day.
7.  Somebody cleans the classroom every day

Passive 2 (past simple)

Make these active present simple sentences passive. You don't need to repeat 'somebody'.

Somebody found the key.

Somebody made mistakes.

 exercises in the Past simple

1. Somebody cleaned the rooms.
2. Somebody fixed the laptop.
3. Somebody built that house.
4. Somebody wrote Esio Trot.
5. Somebody stole my iPad.
6. Somebody closed the windows.

Passive 3 (present perfect)

Make these present perfect sentences passive. You don't need to repeat 'somebody'.

Somebody has watered the plants.

Somebody has taken the money.

Passive and present perfect

1. Somebody has bought the presents.
   
2. Somebody has killed the President.
3.  Somebody has elected that man.
4. Somebody has ordered new books.
5.  Somebody has sent the email.
6. Somebody has eaten the strawberries.
7. Somebody has turned on the air conditioning.
8.  
9. .
10.