Passives

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

What does 'passive' mean?

What makes a sentence passive?

In a passive sentence it is not important who is doing something but to whom it's happening.

Active: The teacher teaches the student.

Passive: The student is taught (by the teacher).

'to be' + past participle (volt. dlw) makes a passive sentence

How to recognize a passive sentence...

- check if there is a form of 'to be' used (be, am, are, is, was, were, been)

- is it followed by a past participle (voltooid deelwoord)?

- is it followed by 'by + noun or pronoun? If not, can it be followed by 'by zombies'?

Are all answers 'yes'? 

Congratulations, you have a passive sentence.

This room has been painted blue.

1. passive
2. active

Cricket is played in Australia.

1. passive
2. active

The friends have been looking forward to meeting her.

1. passive
2. active

The search will be stopped because of the storm.

1. passive
2. active

The Government is planning a new road near my house.

1. passive
2. active

Making a passive sentence

Angry penguins | attack | my sister.

Subject (S)                              Object (O)

1. Object moves to the front of the sentence

2. Check the tense of the sentence
present tense? use am / is / are | past tense? use: was / were

3. Change the verb into the past participle (volt. deelwoord).

My sister is attacked (by angry penguins // by zombies).

Rewrite the sentence using a passive voice.

Somebody steals my chocolate.

Rewrite the sentence using a passive voice.

A man kicks my cat.

CHALLENGE! Turn into a passive:

A child is stealing wallets.

Rewrite the sentence using the passive voice.

A murderer killed my neighbour.

Auxiliaries (hulpww) in de passive

Penguins are attacking my sister. 

Extra difficulty: the use of a passive when there is already "to be" in a sentence. 

1. Subject moves to the front of the sentence. 

2. Define which tense this sentence has: Present continuous.

3. Auxiliary to be must be used. Pay attention - you need to conjugate this verb!

4. Main verb - past participle (volt. dw).

5. Here it is relevant that the subject must be added: by penguins.

Rewrite the sentence using the passive voice.

Penguins are attacking my sister.

Challenging! Rewrite the sentence using the passive voice.
Da Vinci was painting the Mona Lisa.

What have you learned today?

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