Pasividad voice

Passive voice

Present and past simple

What’s an ACTIVE sentece?

• The subject performs the action of the verb.

• ‘The police arrest the thieves’

Multiple Choice

Who performs the action?

• The thieves

• Arrest

• The police

So, what’s a passive?

• The word in the subject position receives the action of the verb

• ”The thieves are arrested (by the police)”

Use of “BY”

• This word is used in a passive sentence to introduce WHO or WHAT performs the action.

• Sometimes we can omit it if the subject is general or already understood

Multiple Choice

What’s the correct passive sentence of: “Doctors treat hundreds of patients in this hospital”

• Hundreds of patients are treated in this hospital.

• Hundreds of patients are treated in this hospital by doctors.

Structure of the passive voice (Present Simple)

• Subject + am/are/is + past participle + (by)

• Active: Workers send the boxes at 8 am.

• Passive: The boxes are sent at 8 am.

Structure of a passive voice (Past simple)

• Subject + was/were + past participle + (by)

• Active: Picasso painted “El Guernica”.

• Passive: “El Guernica” was painted by Picasso.

CAREFUL! Subject-Verb agreement

• Roald Dahl wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was written by Roald Dahl.

• Roald Dahl wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda.

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda were written by Roald Dahl.