Active or passive infinitives

Active or passive infinitives

What are passive infinitives?

(to) be chosen

(to) have been chosen

(to) be being chosen

(to) have been being chosen

Poll

Women want to be chosen. Do you agree?

• Yes.

• No.

Multiple Choice

Choose the sentence with the simple passive infinitive

• I was glad to see her.

• You composition has to be typed.

• This poem must have been written by Poe.

Multiple Choice

Choose the sentence with the perfect passive infinitive.

• This mess can't have been done by you alone.

• Soon, he'll have been running for an hour.

• I've done my homework this morning.

Multiple Choice

Choose the sentence with the passive continuous infinitive.

• The spy's phone was believed to be being tapped.

• He must have been waiting for ages.

• She doesn't want to be being listening to.

Multiple Choice

Choose the sentence with the passive perfect continuous infinitive.

• The picture is believed to have been being painted for years.

• The organisers were thought to have been preparing for days.

• The room is said to be being painted by an old magician.

Fill in the Blanks

They have seen elephants crying.

Elephants

crying.

Fill in the Blanks

The monkeys loved it when we took their photos!

The monkeys loved

photographed.

Multiple Choice

Which sentence is correct?

• The dog was nowhere to be found.

• The dog was nowhere to find.

• The dog wasn't being found anywhere.

We often use passive infinitives in set expressions.

• be + to be seen/found/congratulated (He was nowhere to be seen)

Multiple Choice

Which sounds better meaning "nobody is responsible for something bad that happened"?

• Nobody was to blame for the accident.

• Nobody was to be blamed for the accident.

Multiple Choice

The girl's parents didn't let her keep snakes in the house.

The girl ___ keep snakes in the house.

• wasn't allowed to

• wasn't let

• wasn't allowed

• wasn't let to

There are some expressions that cannot be used / have different meaning/ sound strange in passive structures.

• The reason behind his actions is impossible to understand. / Isn't it difficult to make yourself understood in a foreign language?

• No one was to blame.

• Let/allowed to

• It's only to be expected.

Modal passives

• modal verb + be + past participle (The castle must not be destroyed)

• modal verb + have + been + past participle (The secret should have been kept.)

Fill in the Blanks

You may forget the rules quickly.

The rules may

quickly.

Fill in the Blanks

Somebody should have written that letter.

That letter should

.

Active and passive infinitive with similar meaning

• obligation

• there is

• something/anything/nothing

• to blame

Multiple Choice

Which sentence is correct?

• I have work to do.

• I have work to be done.

Obligation expressed by infinitives (active or passive)

• If the subject of the sentence is the person who has to do the action, the active infinitive is used. She has got letters to write.

• If the subject of the sentence is the action that has to be done, we use the passive infinitive. These shoes are to be washed.

• 
  

Open Ended

Write a sentence about an important task that you have to complete this week.

Multiple Choice

Do these two sentences have the same meaning?

1. There's a lot of work to do.

2. There's a lot of work to be done.

• Yes

• No

Multiple Choice

Do these sentences have the same meaning?

1. There's nothing to do.

2. There's nothing to be done.

• Yes

• No

something/anything/nothing

• There's nothing to do - I'm bored

• There's nothing to be done - There's no way of putting it right.

Fill in the Blanks

They saw the orang-utans use leaves as gloves.

Orang-utans were seen

leaves as gloves.

Some verbs are followed by an object + infinitive without to in the active but require a to infinitive in the passive.

• make, hear, see, help

• They made me cry. I was made to cry.

Open Ended

When was the last time you were made to wear something you didn't like?

The last time...

Open Ended

Finish this sentence with a meaningful passive structure.

It's not impossible...

We are done :)