The Passive Voice

The Passive Voice

This lesson was made by Miss Amanda Ortega.

Poll

Is there any other way to structure the sentence from the first slide?

"This lesson was made by Miss Amanda Ortega."

• Yes, I know how to do it! :)

• Yes, but I don´t know how to do it :(

• No, I don´t think so...

• I don´t understand the question :s

Miss Amanda Ortega made this lesson.

This is an active voice sentence.

This lesson was made by Miss Amanda Ortega.

This is a passive voice sentence.

So, when do we use the passive voice?

We use the passive voice when the action (verb) and the object that receives the action have more importance than the subject.

We also use the passive voice when we don´t know who the subject is.

Ex. My phone was found on the street.

More examples

• Red smashed light blue. Active Voice

• Light blue was smashed by red. Passive Voice

Multiple Choice

Choose the passive voice sentence:

• My mom cleaned the house yesterday.

• My mom was cleanning the house yesterday.

• Yesterday, the house was cleaned by my mom.

More examples

Active: Anne hit Gilbert with a slate.

Passive: Gilbert was hit with a slate (by Anne).

Open Ended

Organize the following words to write a sentence in a passive voice:

is, by, The, me, sentence, organized

Additional tips!

• Don´t overuse the passive voice.

• You can identify a passive voice sentence by its structure:

• Subject + forms of the verb to be + past participle (main verb) + by (object)

• The phone + was + broken + by his angry mother.

Poll

After this lesson, do you recognize a sentence in a passive voice?

• Yes, ma'am! :)

• No, ma'am :(

• I am not sure, maybe...maybe not.