Hello students! Today I am going to explain the
passive voice, an important point and section of the English language. Passive
voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not
unknown; however , who or what is performing the action.
Before I start I am going to explain an example:
My bike was
stolen.
In the
example the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen . I don’t know,
however, who did it.
We make the passive by putting the
verb 'to be' into whatever tense we need and then adding the past participle. For regular verbs, we make
the past participle by adding 'ed' to the infinitive.
Tense Active Passive
Present
simple I
make a cake a
cake is made (by me)
present continuous I am making a cake A cake is being made (by me).
past simple I made a cake. A cake was made (by me).
past
continuous I was making a cake. A cake was being made(by me).
present
perfect I have made a cake. A
cake has been made (by me).
present
perfect
continuous I have been making a cake. A cake has been being made (by me).
continuous I have been making a cake. A cake has been being made (by me).
past
perfect I had made a cake. A cake had been made (by me).
future
simple I will make a cake. A cake will be made (by me).
future
perfect I will have made a cake. A
cake will have been made (by me)
Uses:
- The agent is unkown:
My car has been stolen.
- The action is more important than the agent.
A new office block is being built in the city centre.
- Only the verbs with an object can be made passive.
They sent the letter- The letter was sent.
- Some transtivies verbs not be made passive in some uses, such as like and love that a passive form is not possible.
- The agent is too well known to be mentioned:
The suspect was questioned before being released.
Verbs with two objects:
Some verbs that have two objects can make two different active sentences, and so two different passive sentences too. For example, the verb ‘give’ is like this:- Active: He gave me the book / He gave the book to me.You can choose either of the two objects to be the subject of the passive sentence.- Passive: I was given the book (by him)/ The book was given to me (by him).Other verbs like this are: ask, offer, teach, tell, lend, promise, sell, throw.
Some verbs that have two objects can make two different active sentences, and so two different passive sentences too. For example, the verb ‘give’ is like this:- Active: He gave me the book / He gave the book to me.You can choose either of the two objects to be the subject of the passive sentence.- Passive: I was given the book (by him)/ The book was given to me (by him).Other verbs like this are: ask, offer, teach, tell, lend, promise, sell, throw.
These are all passive form, i hope you liked it and if you have some questions or doubts only say to me!


That was a very clear explanation and there are so many examples that you are unlikely to be left in doubt.
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