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
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
๐ธ๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ค๐ค๐๐ง๐ ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ก๐ ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ค๐ก๐๐๐๐:
๐-๐๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐:
Infinitives are formed by placing โtoโ in front of the base form of a verb.
They are negated by placing โnotโ in front of them: to sleep / not to sleep.
e.g.:
-๐๐ฆ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ.
-๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต.
-๐๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ.
๐ก๐ผ๐๐ฒ: 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.
๐-๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐:
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).
๐-๐๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐๐๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ:
๐- ๐๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐๐:
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.:
-๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฌ.
-๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ.
-๐๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ.
๐-๐๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐๐๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐:
Form: modal + be + past participle
Note: be + past participle = passive infinitive
e.g.:
-๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฌ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ.
-๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด.
-๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
๐๐จ๐ญ๐๐ฌ:
- You should clean your desk. ---> Emphasizes you must do it.
-The desk should be cleaned. ---> Emphasizes the desk needs cleaning.
๐-๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐๐:
๐-๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐๐.
Form: to + verb
-๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐จ๐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต.
-๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด.
- ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ.
๐-๐ฉ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐๐.
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 โto-infinitiveโ)
-be + past participle (for the bare infinitive after a modal verb)
e.g.:
-๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ.
-All the required documents need ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ป by the weekend.
-All the required documents must ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ป by the weekend.
๐-๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐๐:
The action is completed before the time of the main verb.
๐ฎ-๐๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ:
Form: to have + past participle
e.g.:
๐๐ต ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐จ๐ข๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ.
-๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ค๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
-๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ก๐๐ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต.
-๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ.
๐-๐๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐:
Form: to have been + past participle
e.g.:
-๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด.
-๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐๐ผ๐น๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ค๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
-๐๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต.
-๐๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ?
๐-๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ฎ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐: ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐:
Use: The continuous infinitive expresses an action in progress at a certain time.
๐-๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ฎ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐:
Forms:
-to be + verb-ing + past participle.
-be + verb-ing + past participle. (bare infinitive)
e.g.:
-๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ง๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ.
-๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐๐ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ช๐๐ฎ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ข๐ฎ.
-๐๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ ๐๐ค๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต.
๐-๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ฎ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐:
Form: to be being + past participle
Note: It is formal and awkward.
ex.:
-๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ.
๐ณ- ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ:
The action is continued over a period of time.
General form: It combines perfect (completed before) + continuous (duration) + infinitive.
๐ฎ-๐๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ:
Form: to be + verb-ing
e.g.:
-๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ง๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ.
-๐๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ.
-๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ด.
๐-๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐๐๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ฎ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐:
Form: to be being + past participle.
Note: It is formal and awkward.
e.g.:
-๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐ค๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ข๐น๐ฆ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด.
It is amazing and so beneficial.
Superb !
I find these exercises very useful to improve my passive voice grammar.
Nice & practical. Enjoyed.
Nice exercises
I really enjoyed them
Thanks
It is important to differentiate among three kinds of infinitive
Very useful
good exercises