The Passive

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

This lesson contains 24 slides, with interactive quizzes and text slides.

time-iconLesson duration is: 45 min

Items in this lesson

The bike was stolen (passive voice)

Slide 1 - Slide

I drank two cups of coffee ( this is an active sentence)

Slide 2 - Slide

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

Slide 3 - Slide

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)

Slide 4 - Slide

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. 

Slide 5 - Slide

Slide 6 - Slide

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 7 - 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 8 - Slide

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

Slide 9 - Slide

Somebody sends emails.

Slide 10 - Open question

Somebody buys the presents.

Slide 11 - Open question

Somebody often steals cars.

Slide 12 - 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 13 - Slide

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

Slide 14 - Slide

Somebody found the key.

Slide 15 - Open question

Somebody made mistakes.

Slide 16 - 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 17 - Slide

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

Slide 18 - Slide

Somebody has watered the plants.

Slide 19 - Open question

Somebody has taken the money.

Slide 20 - 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 21 - Slide

          Discussion  

Slide 22 - Slide

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

The climate conrol was installed.
Smart boards have been introduced.
New Lockers have been bought.

Slide 23 - Slide

Slide 24 - Link