The Passive 1

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 4

Grammar: the passive

The passive

Active sentence: the subject of the sentence carries out the action that is described by the verb. 

He reads a book – He is the one who is doing the reading 

Passive sentence: the subject of the sentence undergoes the action that is described by the verb 

A book is read – the book is not the one who is doing the reading, but someone else reads the book.  

The passive is used:

• when the action is more important than the person doing it: 
  The film is loaded into the camera automatically.
• when we don't know who did something:
  The Iphone was put together in a factory.
• frequently in news reporting, scientific writing, and other kinds of writing where we are more interested in events and processes than in the person doing the action:
  A building was set alight during the riots this week.

Form: to be + past participle

present:  am/are/is

past: was/were

future: (will/is going to)  be

Present: The phone is taken by the teacher. 

Past: My sister was attacked by penguins.

Future: My laundry will be dried by the sun this way.

Tenses

Turning active to passive

The most complicated use of the passive is when you have to turn an active sentence into a passive one. It will be required in a lot of English writing that you know how this works. 

Let's have a look at the steps.

The passive

The man saw the woman in the park. 

Step one: turn the direct object into the new subject 

The woman …………..  

The passive

The man saw the woman in the park.

Step two: Find out what the tense of the verb is and replace it with the same tense of to be 

The woman was …………  

The passive

The man saw the woman in the park. 

Step three: add the past participle of the main verb  

The woman was seen ………  

The passive

The man saw the woman in the park. 

Step four: copy the rest of the sentence 

The woman was seen in the park ….  

The passive

The man saw the woman in the park. 

Step five: write down by and then the original subject 

The woman was seen in the park by the man.  

NOTE!

The passive sentence has one more verb than the active sentence because you add to be.

The chef baked an enormous birthdaycake.                      1

An enormous birthday cake was baked by the chef.      2

NOTE!

 If the original subject is vague (you, they, people) you can leave out by you, by them, by people.

People do not read newspapers any more.

Newspapers are not read any more by people.

NOTE!

If the active sentence has a direct object (lijd vw) and an indirect object (meew vw) there are two possible passive sentences: 

I wrote her a letter. 

1) A letter was written to her by me   (note: you need to add to)

2) She was written a letter by me.

NOTE!

You can also use a passive to translate the Dutch men and er. 

• Er werden drie auto’s verkocht 

There were sold three cars WRONGGGGGGGGGG! 

Three cars were sold. RIGHTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!

• Men zegt dat Engels erg gemakkelijk is.
  

It is said that English is very easy.

English is said to be very easy.  

NOTE!

Questions:  

Werden er drie auto’s verkocht?

- active: Did they sell three cars?   (they = important)

- passive: Were three cars sold (by them)?  (three cars = important)

So follow these steps:

1. Turn the direct object into the new subject 
2. Find out what the tense of the verb is and replace it with the same tense of to be 
3. Add the past participle of the main verb 
4. Copy the rest of the sentence 
5. Write down by and then the original subject 

Turn the following active sentences into passive ones if possible. Write down X if you cannot change the sentence into a passive one.   

1. The doctor amputated the leg after it had become infected with a flesh eating bacteria.  
2. Henry has eaten all the cupcakes. 
3. The nurse laid the fragile, premature baby into the incubator very carefully. 
4. Lily would solve the problem quite quickly.  
5. At this moment Mr Harris is travelling to France with his pupils. 
6. Arthur Jones  will have written a research paper by the end of the year. 
7. I was cleaning my room when my mother called that supper was ready. 
8. The teacher would have given us better marks if we had made fewer mistakes.     

Fill in the right passive tense.

9. Matthew …. (tell) to come to the police station yesterday by a police constable.  

10. The race …  never …. (win) by an athlete from North Korea before. 

11. The man was taken to hospital after he …. (poison) by his wife. 

12. Last week the houses … ( break) into by a gang of burglars.  

13. This test … (make) tomorrow by class H4E.   

14. Look! The windows … (washed) right now! 

15. The results of the tests … (describe) in the scientist’s article.   

key

01.  The doctor amputated the leg after it had become infected with a flesh eating bacteria.  

       The leg was amputated by the doctor after it had become infected with a flesh eating                         bacteria.     . 

02. Henry has eaten all the cupcakes. 

       All the cupcakes have been eaten by Henry 

03.  The nurse laid the fragile, premature baby into the incubator very carefully. 

        The fragile, premature baby was laid into the incubator very carefully by the nurse 

04.  Lily would solve the problem quite quickly.  

        The problem would be solved quite quickly by Lilly.  

key

05. At this moment Mr Harris is travelling to France with his pupils. 

x 

06.  Arthur Jones  will have written a research paper by the end of the year. 

A research paper will have been written by the end of the year by Arthur Jones. 

07.  I was cleaning my room when my mother called that supper was ready. 

My room was being cleaned by me when my mother called that supper was ready. 

08. The teacher would have given us better marks if we had made fewer mistakes.  

We would have been given better marks by the teacher if we had made fewer mistakes. 

Better marks would have been given to us by the teacher if we had made fewer mistakes.  

key

09.  Matthew was told…. (tell) to come to the police station yesterday by a police constable.  

10.  The race had never been won. .... (win) by an athlete from North Korea before. 

11.  The man was taken to hospital after he …had been poisoned. (poison) by his wife. 

12.  Last week the houses were broken… ( break) into by a gang of burglars.  

13.  This test will be made … (make) tomorrow by class H4E.  

14.  Look! The windows are being washed… (washed) right now! 

15.  The results of the tests are described… (describe) in the scientist’s article.   

Extra practice:

They go up in difficulty:

1. https://test-english.com/grammar-points/b1/passive-verb-forms/
2. https://test-english.com/grammar-points/b1/active-passive-voice/
3. https://test-english.com/grammar-points/b1-b2/passive-voice-all-tenses/
4. https://test-english.com/grammar-points/b1-b2/passive-reporting-verbs/
5. https://test-english.com/grammar-points/b2/passive-verbs-with-two-objects/ 
6. https://test-english.com/grammar-points/b2/distancing/