Look at these examples to see how the passive voice is used.
A lot of olive oil is produced in Italy.
This book was written by Angela Davis.
The suspect will be released tomorrow.
This product has not been tested on animals.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
We use the passive voice to change the focus of the sentence.
My bike was stolen. (passive – focus on my bike)
Someone stole my bike. (active – focus on someone)
We often use the passive:
- 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)
- so that we can start a sentence with the most important or most logical information
- in more formal or scientific writing.
How we make the passive
We make the passive using the verb be + past participle. We start the sentence with the object.
| Avatar | was | directed by James Cameron. |
| ↓ | ↓ | ↓ |
| Object | + be + | past participle |
It is not always necessary to add who or what did the action.
| My flight | is | cancelled. |
| ↓ | ↓ | ↓ |
| Object | + be + | past participle |
Only the form of be changes to make the tense. The past participle stays the same. Here are examples of the passive in its most common tenses.
| Tense | Example | Structure |
| Present simple | Alioli is made from oil, garlic and salt. | is/are + past participle |
| Present continuous | The hall is being painted this week. | is/are being + past participle |
| Past simple | John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. | was/were + past participle |
| Past continuous | The signs were being put up last week. | was/were being + past participle |
| Present perfect | Oranges have been grown here for centuries. | has/have been + past participle |
| Past perfect | When he got home, he found that his flat had been burgled. | had been + past participle |
| Future simple | The work will be finished next week. | will be + past participle |
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
First of all thank you for your tremendous job. My question is about the phrase: "my talk". In the section "Grammar test 2", question 7, it says: Someone [saw] my talk at the conference and recommended me as a speaker.
Can we consider "my talking" a better grammar, because of the formal structure which is: [possessive adjective + Gerund]?
Would you explain which one [My talk or My talking] is correct (or more correct) and why?
Hi Emad.E2022,
I'm glad to hear you find the site useful!
Talk is a noun. It means a conversation, discussion or speech. It's the best word choice in this sentence because the context is a conference, which has speeches or presentations.
My talking is grammatically possible, but less preferred in this sentence since the gerund means the general doing of the activity (while talk is a particular unit of talking).
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Good explanation. It is well understood.
Hi Mr Jonathan, i would like to know if i can get a certificate from the british council doing all the free lessons, thanks!
Hi Fran96,
Certificates and digital badges (here) are available with our subscription courses (here) but not with our free access courses.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Nice
Hi Peter
They report the defence minister is to resign.
1) It is reported that the defence minister is to resign.
They claim the terrorist is living abroad.
1) It is claimed that the terrorist is living abroad.
2) The terrorist is claimed to be living abroad.
Can you please tell me why the first sentence can’t have the number 2) construction of the second sentence.
I mean why can’t we say ;
The defence minister is reported to resign.
Is there a grammatical rule to prevent that?
Best regards
Andi
Hi Andi,
It is possible to use the second construction:
> The defence minister is reported to be resigning.
The meaning here is an ongoing action, similar to a present continuous construction.
When we use the construction 'reported to + verb' there is a general meaning; it describes a state or a typical action:
> He is reported to live abroad.
> She is reported to work in a hospital in London.
Obviously, a resignation is a single event, not a typical or habitual action or a state. Thus, 'reported to + verb' is not appropriate.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Peter
Thanks a lot for your explanation
Everyone thought he didn’t take the prize.
He was thought not to have taken the prize.
All the experts in the congress thought our wine was the best.
Our wine was thought to be the best by all the experts.
As you can see for two similar active sentences we have two different passive constructions.
Why the passive in the second sentence isn’t;
Our wine was thought to have been….
Or the passive in the first sentence isn’t;
He was thought not to take the prize.
Best regards
Andi
Hello again Andi,
The perfect form here (to have taken / to have been) is used when we want to make clear that the action described happened before and ended before the report. An example will help here:
> She was thought to have lived in Paris.
> She was thought to live in Paris.
In the first sentence she lived in Paris at some point but this ended before the time of the thinking, so to speak. In the second sentence she still lived in Paris at the time of the thinking.
In other words, we can use the normal infinitive form when something is still true at the time of thinking/expecting/believing etc.
In your examples, 'Our wine was thought to be...' is used because it is a fact which is still true at the time. However, the other example must be 'to have taken' because 'take' is an action which was completed at some point before the thinking took place.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Peter
Thanks for your broad explenation
Very useful to me
Best regards
Andi
Hello, Sir!
I'm sorry for asking a question which is not in the this context.
e.g. Everything in the sale has been reduced/lowered/decreased to half price.
The correct option is 'reduced' as it is associated with 'price'. The option, 'decreased' is not right because it has the structure 'something decreases' which personally it's not right in the passive sentence above. However, I think 'lowered' is also right in the sentence. So, I was wondering why 'lowered' is not correct in the sentence above.
Your explanation is a great help for me.
Best Wishes!
Hello Sokhom,
Generally, we don't explain answers from elsewhere as we have no way of knowing what the thoughts of the authors were, or even if we agree with them. The place to go with a question like this is to the authors of the task, who may have indicated particular guidelines in their instructions.
The question is really which of the options best collocates with 'everything'. Price here is not the subject, so 'reduced' is the best option in my view: lower a price, decrease a cost, reduce an item.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you very much for your reply, Sir. :)
e.g. Average house prices decreased by 13% last year. (Long man dictionary)
I was wondering if I could replace 'decreased' with 'reduce' and 'lower'.
e.g. Average house prices were reduced/lowered by 13% last year.
Thank you so much for your valuable time.
Best Wishes!
Hello again Sokhom,
You could use 'were reduced' or 'were lowered' here. This would be a passive form rather than the intransitive verb in the original.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Iryna_hn,
Yes, the sentence is correct!
The whole phrase you highlighted is a to-infinitive phrase (which shows the purpose of the action 'putting pins in their mouths'). It contains a passive -ing form ('being kissed'). The -ing form is needed because it follows the verb avoid (this verb requires the next verb to be in the -ing form).
Does that make sense?
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Iryna_hn,
OK, great! We have two pages about this verb pattern. Have a look at page one and two. I hope they are useful.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Mussorie,
It's often ambiguous whether a given item is a past participle or an adjective. Often the sentence can be read either way, and each is equally plausible. This is true even of very simple sentences:
It's really only a question of nomenclature. Personally, I prefer to use the term 'third form' to focus on the meaning and use of the item in the sentence rather than to attempt to label it as either an adjective or a passive construction. Thus, your example would be [verb3 (third form) + to infinitive]. You can use various other words in place of scheduled in this construction: expected, anticipated, believe, hoped etc.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Mussorie,
As you say, the sentence is correct. The adjective 'red' here is an object complement: the verb is 'painted'; its object is 'the walls'; the object complement 'red' describes the object by stating what it becomes.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Andi,
We often use present tenses to tell stories that actually occured in the past. In the story you cite, the events unfold in the present simple and so for 1 it makes sense to continue with the present simple since it's another action in sequence of actions. In 2, however, it's referring to something further in the past and so a perfect infinitive is used to show this.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Andi,
In this case, 'be amused' is not a passive verb -- it's just the link verb 'be' with the adjective 'amused'. We don't normally use link verbs in continuous tenses.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Andi,
'are being amused' would probably be a passive form, actually, precisely because we don't normally use link verbs in the continuous, and so the use of a continuous form here would show that it was something different.
But using 'are being amused' would just not be correct here for the reason I mentioned aboe, as well as the infinitive 'to see' that follows.
Best wishes,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Kirk
I came across this sentence;
The reason behind the new government strategy is impossible to understand.
Why is there an active infinitive instead of a passive one? I mean why the sentence isn’t;
The reason ……. Is impossible to be understood.
It is believed that the largest sea coral is near Norway.
Can we also say ;
The largest sea coral is believed to be near Norway.
Best regards
Andi
Hi Andi,
I'm not sure I can give you a reason why the structure exists but I can confirm that adjective + to infinitive is quite a common structure:
> That's hard to do.
> The task is difficult to do in one hour.
> The reason is impossible to know.
There is an implied prepositional phrase here:
> That's hard (for us) to do.
> The task is difficult (for anyone) to do in one hour.
> The reason is impossible (for anyone) to know.
Both sentences about the sea coral are correct.
You can see a list of some common adjectives which are followed by to-infinitive on this page:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/english-grammar-referen…
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Peter
Thanks a lot for your explanation
Best regards
Andi
Hello Jamil Harumi,
Yes, that is grammatically correct.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Mussorie,
Yes to all your questions :)
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Kaisoo93,
Yes, I understand 'they' to mean 'the changes to the tax system'; I don't see any other possibility in this specific sentence.
It wouldn't be correct to say 'to be enforced' here. The basic structure of the clause is an extremely common one in English: subject + 'be' + adjective + infinitive. In this case: subject ('they') + 'be' ('were') + adjective ('impossible') + infinitive ('to enforce'). Very often, such sentences begin with 'it': 'It's impossible to know the future'.
As far as I can think, the infinitive is always active in such sentences.
Hope this makes sense.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Kaisoo93,
Yes, except for 'These' in 1 (which should be 'The'), those sentences are all correct. Good work!
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Maahir,
Yes, you can use a plural verb here. You can also use a singular verb, so 'hasn't put out' would also be correct.
We can see institutions and organisations as single entities (with a singular verb) or as collections of people (with a plural verb). It's really just about how the speakers sees things.
Examples of institutions like this are: the army, the navy, the air force, Parliament, the health service, sports teams, the government, the police, the European Union, the United Nations etc.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello wasan0909,
We're happy to help you with specific questions about a sentence or two, but I'm afraid our support doesn't include checking our users' texts or homework.
Except for sentences 4, 6 and 8, all of these are run-on sentences and need to be broken into two sentences where the comma is. That is more of a punctuation error than a grammar error, though.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Laura Olivia,
I think the first sentence is the best option, but the reason is rather complex.
First of all, we should note that the question here is not really about passive forms, but rather about the difference between these two constructions:
1. report sb to be + verbing
2. report sb verbing
You could rewrite your examples using 'People have reported...' and still use either form; the fact a passive form is used in your examples does not change the question of which of these forms is used.
I'm going to use a different context for the sake of clarity, and then we'll go back to your context for comparison.
The form report sb to be + verbing has the meaning 'we have information about the person's activity'. For example:
The form report sb + verbing has the meaning 'officially complain about someone while they are engaged in an activity'
For example:
Now, it is possible to see the form report sb + verbing as simply omitting 'to be', but I think this leads to ambiguity, which we generally try to avoid. This is why I think example 1 is the best option.
With reference to your context, I think the context is sufficiently clear that there is very little chance of ambiguity. Reporting theft is an expected action, so the sentence would be immediately understood. Thus, while the first example is better in my view, in this particular context I think the second is also acceptable.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi aattttuujj,
The passive in the past perfect is: had been + past participle. Good luck with your test :)
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team