Passive

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vmbo t, vwo
• Leerjaar 2,3

Passive?

I planned the party. -->

The party was planned

The man is doing the dishes. -->

The dishes were done.

Passive vs. active

In active:

Person/thing does the action

In passive:

Person/thing does not do anything

0

ACTIVE= He is stealing a bike.

ACTIVE

ONDERWERP = WIE /WAT het doet staat vooraan de zin.

PASSIVE: The bike is stolen.

PASSIVE

DE ACTIE  staat vooraan. NIET wie het doet

When do we use the passive?

• If we don't know the agent (lijdend voorwerp)
  
• If the agent is unimportant
• If the agent is obvious
• If we don't want to mention the agent (we don't want to put the blame on anyone for example)
• To put the emphasis on the subject instead of the agent

 

Passive Simple 

	Active	Passive
present simple	I do the homework. She eats the apples.	The homework is done (by me). The apples are eaten (by her).
	werkwoord present	am/is/are + voltooid deelwoord
past simple	I did the homework. She ate the apples.	The homework was done (by me). The apples were eaten (by her).
	werkwoord past	was/were + voltooid deelwoord

Oefeningen (klik de links)

1) Verschil tussen active en passive

2) Maak zinnen met present passive

3) Maak zinnen met present of past simple passive

Passive Continuous

	Active	Passive
present continuous	The workers are painting the house. My sister is baking a cake.	The house is being painted (by the workers). A cake is being baked (by my sister).
	werkwoord present	am/is/are + being + voltooid deelwoord
past continuous	They were building a house. He was writing a letter.	A house was being built (by them). A letter was being written (by him).
	werkwoord past	was/were + being + voltooid deelwoord

Boys like to play soccer.

1. passive
2. active

Cricket is played in Australia.

1. passive
2. active

Make a passive:
Lots of books ... (buy) by my father every year.

1. are bought
2. is bought
3. were bought
4. have been bought

Make a passive sentence:
Lots of books ... (read) by children in 1890.

1. are read
2. is read
3. were read
4. have been read

The Government is planning a new road near my house.

1. passive
2. active

The secretary writes an email

The musicians play another song

The emails are sent by the secretary now

The songs are played in a different order

Active

Passive

Thanos ___________ ___________ by the mightiest 

heroes  of the Earth.

is

are

was

being

be

defeated

defeat

been

Make the sentence passive:
Somebody built this house in 1930.

Make the sentence passive:
He is winning this game.

Make a passive. Start with 'the oranges'...

Cedric ... murdered by Voldemort.

Exercises

Havo & vwo

= Present simple

= Past simple 

vwo

= present continuous 

= Past continuous 

Done? See the planner for vocabulary & reading exercises of this week (49)