Advanced passives review
Look at these examples to see how the passive voice is used.
The interview was recorded yesterday.
Cleaner sources of energy must be developed.
An electrical fault is believed to have caused the power cut.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Grammar explanation
We can use the passive voice to change the focus of the sentence.
Aliya Monier directed the film.
(focus on Aliya Monier)The film was directed by Aliya Monier.
(focus on The film)
We often use the passive:
- so that we can start a sentence with the most important or most logical information
- when we prefer not to mention who or what does the action (for example, it's not known, it's obvious or we don't want to say)
- in more formal or scientific writing.
Be + past participle
The most common way to form the passive is subject + be + past participle.
The new smoke alarm was installed yesterday.
The 'doer' of the action is called the agent. Most of the time, the agent is not mentioned, but if important, the agent can be mentioned using the preposition by.
The new smoke alarm was installed yesterday by the company director herself.
We can also use the passive voice with modal verbs such as can, must and should, by using modal + be + past participle.
A podcast can be made with minimal resources.
The accident must be reported to the police.
New laws should be created to regulate electric scooters.
The passive with get
In informal English, get is sometimes used instead of be to form the passive.
My bicycle got stolen last night.
(= My bicycle was stolen last night.)
The impersonal passive
The impersonal passive is used with reporting verbs such as allege, believe, claim, consider, estimate, expect, know, report, say, think, understand, etc. It reports what an unspecified group of people say or believe.
The impersonal passive has two forms:
it + be + past participle + (that) + subject + verb:
It is estimated that millions of people visit the site every year.
It is believed that the walls date from the third century BCE.
It is reported that mosquitoes transmit the disease.
someone/something + be + past participle + infinitive:
Millions of people are estimated to visit the site every year.
The walls are believed to date from the third century BCE.
Mosquitoes are reported to transmit the disease.
Note that the infinitive can be simple (as above), perfect (for a past action) or continuous (for an action in progress).
Millions are estimated to visit the site this year. (simple infinitive)
The walls are believed to have been built in the third century BCE. (perfect infinitive)
Mosquitoes are reported to be transmitting the disease. (continuous infinitive)
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
How could you be made to be understood this situation well?
Just my opinion:3
"How can you be made/helped to understand the situation better?" probably. Though it's better not to directly force passive in sentences with causatives.
Hello team,
I am confused about which is the correct answer to these questions.
I am asked to change these sentences into passive voices. But I really find it confusing to keep the correct word order.
Q1. Archaeologists have just discovered a new tomb in Egypt.
Q2. The organizers must display a great number of goods in a minimum space.
There are some other sentences like those two above, which I can't exactly say which answer is the answer with the correct word order.
So please kindly explain which one is a correct answer and why.
I hope your answer will help me a lot in answering other similar questions as well.
**The most difficult part for me is that I am not quite sure about which phrase should come first in the sentence.
Thank you in advance sir.
Hello Bo Bo Kyaw,
Q1. Archaeologists have just discovered a new tomb in Egypt.
There's not right or wrong order here. The phrase 'in Egypt' can be put in various positions. I think the most sensible thing to do in a transformation task like this is to put it in the same place as it is in the original sentence: at the end.
Q2. The organizers must display a great number of goods in a minimum space.
The same point applies here to 'in a minimum space'.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
May I ask you a follow-up question, sir?
When we put those phrases "in Egypt" and "in a minimum space" in various positions in those sentences like you said, will both sentences convey the same meaning?
Hello again Bo Bo Kyaw,
The position of the phrase depends on what it describes.
What is in Egypt: the tomb or the archeologists? Obviously, the most likely answer is 'both' but you could imagine a situation where a tomb in Egypt has been discovered by archeologists elsewhere studying satellite images or ancient documents. Similarly, you could imagine archeologists in Egypt using their skills to discover a tomb in, say, China by similar means.
You could think of similar considerations with the second example. Are the goods currently in a minimal space (we need to display them but they are hard to unpack) or do we have minimal space for the display (it's going to be hard to organise the display)?
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
𝔸𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕡𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕧𝕠𝕚𝕔𝕖 𝕒𝕕𝕧𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖𝕕 𝕚𝕟 𝕣𝕖𝕡𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕖𝕔𝕙:
𝟏-𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞:
Infinitives are formed by placing “to” in front of the base form of a verb.
They are negated by placing “not” in front of them: to sleep / not to sleep.
e.g.:
-𝘏𝘦 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘳.
-𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘵.
-𝘞𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘱 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦.
𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲: Verbs followed by a to-infinitive:
want to - need to - hope to - plan to - decide to - try to - learn to - promise to - expect to - offer to - agree to- refuse to - manage to - forget to - begin to.
𝟐-𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞:
Bare infinitives (infinitive without "to") are always used with the modal verbs: can (ability), could (past ability), may / might (possibility), must (strong obligation), shall (suggestion), should (advice), will (future), and would (polite request).
𝟑-𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐬:
𝐚- 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞:
These verbs combine with infinitives to express the conditional mood, which conveys a sense of necessity or possibility. The combination of a modal verb and a bare infinitive can take the place of the main verb of a sentence.
Form: modal + infinitive
e.g.:
-𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘬.
-𝘞𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦.
-𝘏𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬.
𝐛-𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞:
Form: modal + be + past participle
Note: be + past participle = passive infinitive
e.g.:
-𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘬 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗱.
-𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘻𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.
-𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.
𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬:
- You should clean your desk. ---> Emphasizes you must do it.
-The desk should be cleaned. ---> Emphasizes the desk needs cleaning.
𝟒-𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞:
𝐚-𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞.
Form: to + verb
-𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵.
-𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴.
- 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺.
𝐛-𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞.
The passive infinitive is used when the receiver (object) of the action is more important than the doer (agent).
Forms:
-to be + past participle (for the “to-infinitive”)
-be + past participle (for the bare infinitive after a modal verb)
e.g.:
-𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲𝗱 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺.
-All the required documents need 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 by the weekend.
-All the required documents must 𝗯𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 by the weekend.
𝟓-𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞:
The action is completed before the time of the main verb.
𝗮-𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲:
Form: to have + past participle
e.g.:
𝘐𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝘣𝘢𝘥.
-𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.
-𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘵.
-𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.
𝙗-𝙋𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚:
Form: to have been + past participle
e.g.:
-𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.
-𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗻 𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.
-𝘏𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘵.
-𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥?
𝟔-𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞: 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞:
Use: The continuous infinitive expresses an action in progress at a certain time.
𝐚-𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞:
Forms:
-to be + verb-ing + past participle.
-be + verb-ing + past participle. (bare infinitive)
e.g.:
-𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺.
-𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮.
-𝘏𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵.
𝐛-𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞:
Form: to be being + past participle
Note: It is formal and awkward.
ex.:
-𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝 𝘣𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬.
𝟳- 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲:
The action is continued over a period of time.
General form: It combines perfect (completed before) + continuous (duration) + infinitive.
𝗮-𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲:
Form: to be + verb-ing
e.g.:
-𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺.
-𝘏𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘯.
-𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘴.
𝐛-𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞:
Form: to be being + past participle.
Note: It is formal and awkward.
e.g.:
-𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘹𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘴.
It is amazing and so beneficial.
Superb !
I find these exercises very useful to improve my passive voice grammar.