Passives

Do you know how to use the passive voice to change the focus of a sentence? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

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: Grammar B1-B2: Passives: 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: Grammar B1-B2: Passives: 2

Try another grammar lesson

Language level

B1 Intermediate

Teacher, do we have “will be being+v3/ed?”? Thanks

Hello KatherineThu,

Yes, that form exists. It's a modal verb followed by a passive continuous infinitive. For exmaple:

I put the bread into the oven an hour ago. In 30 minutes it will have been being cooked for an hour and a half. Do you think that will be enough?

It's an unusual form and quite a long construction so we often avoid it by, for example, turning the verb into active voice. But it is a correct form.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Dear teachers, what are active and passive infinitives?

And how can we categorized infinitives in different categories?

Many thanks 👍

Hello jassa,

I want to see it. [active infinitive with 'to']

I want to be seen. [passive infinitive with 'to']

Infinitives can have aspect (perfect and continuous) and voice (active or passive).

You can read more about some of these forms here:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/uk/grammar/british-grammar/infinitive-active-or-passive

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/perfect-infinitive-with-to-to-have-worked

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you very much dear teacher 🙏

One another question-

Non finite verbs don't show tense, person and number and verbals(infinitives, gerund and participles) are non finite verbs so verbals(infinitives,gerunds and participles)also don't show tense, person and number?

Thanks.

Hello again jassa,

Yes, that's correct. Infinitives, participles and the -ing form are not marked for tense, number or person.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Ok, many thanks my teacher 🙏👍

It will be more helpful if you describe what is aspect and what is voice (active and passive) and why we use passive or active voice?

And only 'to-infinitives' have all four aspects, right?

Infinitives(without 'to')don't have four aspects?

Please make this clear dear teacher?

Hello again jassa,

You can easily look up definitions of aspect and voice online - wikipedia is a good starting point:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_(grammar)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_aspect

Infinitives with or without 'to' can be marked for aspect and voice:

You should do it / It should be done

You should be doing it / It should be being done [continuous]

You should have done it / It should have been done [perfect]

You should have been doing it / It should have been being done [perfect continuous]

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you sir.

Can you please give examples of infinitives(without 'to')in all four aspects and examples of their active and passive voices?
It will help me a lot if i read their examples.please
Thanks