Level: beginner
Transitive verbs have both active and passive forms:
| active | passive | |
|---|---|---|
| The hunter killed the lion. | > | The lion was killed by the hunter. |
| Someone has cleaned the windows. | > | The windows have been cleaned. |
Passive forms are made up of the verb be with a past participle:
| be | past participle | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| English | is | spoken | all over the world. |
| The windows | have been | cleaned. | |
| Lunch | was being | served. | |
| The work | will be | finished | soon. |
| They | might have been | invited | to the party. |
If we want to show the person or thing doing the action, we use by:
She was attacked by a dangerous dog.
The money was stolen by her husband.
- Active and passive voice 1
- Active and passive voice 2
- Active and passive voice 3
Level: intermediate
The passive infinitive is made up of to be with a past participle:
The doors are going to be locked at ten o'clock.
You shouldn't have done that. You ought to be punished.
We sometimes use the verb get with a past participle to form the passive:
Be careful with that glass. It might get broken.
Peter got hurt in a crash.
We can use the indirect object as the subject of a passive verb:
| active | 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. |
We can use phrasal verbs in the passive:
| active | passive | |
|---|---|---|
| They called off the meeting. | > | The meeting was called off. |
| His grandmother looked after him. | > | He was looked after by his grandmother. |
| They will send him away to school. | > | He will be sent away to school. |
- Active and passive voice 4
- Active and passive voice 5
Level: advanced
Some verbs which are very frequently used in the passive are followed by the to-infinitive:
| be supposed to | be expected to | be asked to | be told to |
| be scheduled to | be allowed to | be invited to | be ordered to |
John has been asked to make a speech at the meeting.
You are supposed to wear a uniform.
The meeting is scheduled to start at seven.
- Active and passive voice 6
- Active and passive voice 7
Comments
Is it grammatically correct to say: (I know who is going to be our new head of department but I've been asked not to tell anyone.) instead of (I know who our new head of department is going to be but I've been asked not to tell anyone).
Hello mousab7
Yes, that is correct, though if I were writing this, I would choose the second option over the first one.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi, Is there any refrence to show how each tense of verbs change in passive form
Hello parisaach
The passive is essentially formed of two parts: 1) the verb 'be' (used as an auxiliary verb) and 2) the past participle of the verb. It's only 1 that changes for tense or subject, so that means you could just list out all the forms of 'be' in the different tenses and then add 2 to the end to get a list.
For example, following the order of the tenses on the present tense page: it is written, it is being written, it has been written, it has been being written. The past tense page: it was written, it was being written, it had been written, it had been being written. Then there are also forms with 'will' and 'would': it will be written, it will be being written, it will have been written, it will have been being written, it would be written, it would be being written, it would have been written and it would have been being written.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi,
"The cleaner has cleaned the office" --> active voice. But is "the office has been cleaned" the correct passive, or "the office has been cleaned by the cleaner".
Is there a rule regrading "the cleaner"??
Hello Cleo
In the passive sentence, you can include the agent ('the cleaner') by using the word 'by': 'The office has been cleaned by the cleaner'. There is nothing wrong with this, but often we use the passive voice because we consider the agent (in this case, the cleaner) irrelevant or something that we don't want to discuss. So in many cases, people would probably leave out the agent.
But the passive can be used for other reasons, too, and in these cases people might choose to include the agent.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
"Will they not work in the banks regularly?" How to change the voice?
Hello Nidhi
Perhaps 'Will the banks not be worked in regularly?'?
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
hi i have a few questions.
they dont help you (how many ways are there to make this sentence passive?)
you wont be helped
you are not helped
you dont get helped
you are not getting helped
if any of these is wrong i would like to know why exactly.
Hello miladghasemiofficial
Those are all correct, except for being misspelled (won't, don't). 'they don't help you' is in the present simple, so the closest version in the passive would also be in the present simple -- the second and third versions you give are in the present simple.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
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