Unit 6 - The Passive Voice

The Passive Voice

Unit 6 - The Passive Voice

There are two voices in English, the active and the passive. The active tells us what the subject does, for example:
- The secretary wrote a letter.
The passive tells us what is done to the subject. For example:
- The letter was written by the secretary.

Form

The passive is made with the verb "to be" and the past participle. Here are the main English tenses used in the passive voice.

Tense Simple present: Present continuous: Simple past: Past continuous: Present perfect: Past perfect: Future: Future continuous: Present conditional: Past conditional:

Subject Flowers Flowers Flowers Flowers Flowers Flowers Flowers Flowers Flowers Flowers

Verb "to be" are are being were were being have been had been will be will be being would be would have been

Past Participle planted every year planted now. planted last year planted last summer. planted here for 10 years. planted until last year. planted next year. planted during the summer. planted if we had seeds. planted if we had had seeds.

By

To state what the cause of a passive action is, you can use by. For example:
- This photo was taken by my friend.
- I was given this by my brother.

It is often not necessary to statethe cause of a passive action, especially when clearly understood or irrelevant. For example:
- The meeting was cancelled. (The meeting's cancellation is what is important, not who cancelled it.)
- These boots were made in Italy. (The fact they were made in Italy is what's important, not who made them.)

Born

When talking abut the birth of specific people of things we use the passive form "to be born". For example:
- I was born in Iran.
- The twins were born just last year.

Get

Get can be used instead of to be in situations where something happens. For example:
- Our flight got cancelled = Our flight was cancelled.
- I got paid today = I was paid today.

Get can't be used with general situations and state verbs (verbs that express a state, not an action). For example:
- He is liked by a lot of people. - OK
- He gets liked by a lot of people. - Incorrect.
- She is known to be a hard-working employee. - OK
- She gets known to be a hard-working employee.- Incorrect
Get is used more often in informal English.

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Grammar Exercises

Example: The book _______ by John Sylvester.

a) was written
b) wrote
c) written

The answer is: a) was written
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1. The movie _____ by Disney.
a) was created
b) created
c) was creating

2. The cook ____ famous for his spaghetti.
a) gets
b) is
c) was got

3. The play ______ by the entire school.
a) seen
b) was seen
c) sawed

4. The cat _____ by the dog
a) chased
b) was chasing
c) was chased

5. The dog ____ by his owner.
a) fed
b) was fed
c) was feeding

6. The exam _____ by the students.
a) taken
b) was taken
c) was taking

7. The baseball ____ very far.
a) hit
b) hitting
c) was hit

8. I _____ in New York.
a) born
b) was born
c) was borned

9. Our hearing _____ delayed.
a) got
b) was got
c) was gotten

10. He ____ known for his work in Africa.
a) gets
b) was gotten
c) is

Answers

"a","b","b","c","b","b","c","b","a","c"

Hank: Where did you grow up?
Erin: I was born in Texas, but I grew up in Oklahoma.

Professor: Ok, class. Today we will talk about World War II. This war was fought in two different theatres: in Europe and the Pacific. The war in Europe was started by Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939.

Tyler: Woohoo!
Sylvia: What happened?
Tyler: I was paid today from work. They also gave me a bonus!