The Passive

The bike was stolen (passive voice)
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Slide 1: Slide
EngelsMiddelbare schoolvwoLeerjaar 2,3

This lesson contains 27 slides, with interactive quizzes, text slides and 1 video.

time-iconLesson duration is: 45 min

Items in this lesson

The bike was stolen (passive voice)

Slide 1 - Slide

The cleaner is cleaning the kitchen
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

Slide 2 - Slide

The kitchen is being cleaned.

Slide 3 - Slide

Slide 4 - Link

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. 

  • the kitchen is being cleaned (we can add "by  the cleaner" but this isn't necessary)

Slide 5 - Slide

How to make the passive in English
- by changing the word order
- by putting the verb 'to be' into whatever tense we need and then adding the past participle.

Slide 6 - Slide

Slide 7 - Slide

Slide 8 - Video

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.

Slide 9 - Slide

continued .......
4. formal writing: The brochure will be finished next month.

5. In order to put the new information at the end of the sentence to improve the style: Three books are used regularly in the class. The books were written by Dr. Bell. ('Dr. Bell wrote the books' sound clumsy)

6. When the subject is very long: I was surprised by how well the students did in the test. (More natural than: 'how well the students did in the test surprised me')

Slide 10 - Slide

Tekst
ACTIVE
PASSIVE

Jones was carrying a six-pack of beer and a bottle of white wine.

Jones was seen running away from the convenience store.


Three sobriety tests were administered.

Patterson was looking in his wallet for his driver’s license.


Both witnesses were questioned.
Finch was having difficulty answering the questions.

Slide 11 - Drag question

Now you try: 
Passive 1 (present simple)
Make these active present simple sentences passive. You don't need to repeat 'somebody'.

Slide 12 - Slide

Somebody sends emails.

Slide 13 - Open question

Somebody buys the presents.

Slide 14 - Open question

Somebody often steals cars.

Slide 15 - Open question

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

Slide 16 - Slide

Passive 2 (past simple)
Make these active present simple sentences passive. You don't need to repeat 'somebody'.

Slide 17 - Slide

Somebody found the key.

Slide 18 - Open question

Somebody made mistakes.

Slide 19 - Open question

 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.

Slide 20 - Slide

Passive 3 (present perfect)
Make these present perfect sentences passive. You don't need to repeat 'somebody'.

Slide 21 - Slide

Somebody has watered the plants.

Slide 22 - Open question

Somebody has taken the money.

Slide 23 - Open question

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.

Slide 24 - Slide

          Discussion  

Slide 25 - Slide

Use the passive in real situations
Brainstorm the types of things that have been or will be provided by the in a new school building. 

The climate control was installed.
Smart boards have been introduced.
New lockers have been bought.

Slide 26 - Slide

Slide 27 - Link