The Passive Voice

The Passive Voice

Usage:

• you do not want to say who or what did the action

• you do not know who did the action

• the object is the most important part of the sentence

Active Voice

The children ate the cake.

SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT

Passive

The cake was eaten ....by somebody.

Examples in the Passive

I was born on June, 23rd, 1989.

He is called Tony.

"Deadpool" was directed by Tim Miller.

"The Stand" was written by Stephen King.

Step 1

- identify the subject, the verb and the object;

Step 2

- move the object to become the new subject of the sentence.

Step 3

What is the verb tense in the active sentence?

- check the active sentence;

Step 4

- conjugate the verb "to be";

Step 5

- add the past participle of the main verb after "be".

Step 6

-you need to decide what to do with the subject;

Now...let's see some sentences:

Someone has stolen my neighbour's car.

I will clean the house on Monday.

He built the house for his parents.

They saved many people's lives.

He will sell the car by the weekend.

He had left out the washing in the rain.

Active vs Passive

The hunter killed the lion. >The lion was killed by the hunter.

Someone has cleaned the windows. >The windows have been cleaned.

Active vs Passive

I gave him a book for his birthday. > He was given a book for his birthday.

Someone sent her a cheque for a thousand euros. > She was sent a cheque for a thousand euros.