The Passive Voice step by step

2. We use the passive voice when the focus is
on the action.
The subject, who or what is performing
the action, is not important or known.

3. Someone built this house in 1895
This house was built in 1895
We often prefer the passive when it is not so
important who or what did the action.
In the passive sentence, if you want to say who did
or what caused the action, use by

4. Present Simple
Somebody cleans this room every day.
This room is cleaned every day.
Past Simple
Somebody cleaned this room yesterday.
This room was cleaned yesterday.
Present Continuous
Somebody is cleaning the room at the moment
The room is being cleaned at the moment.
Past Continuous
Somebody was cleaning the room when I arrived
The room was being cleaned when I arrived
Present Perfect
The room looks nice. Somebody has cleaned it.
The room looks nice. It has been cleaned.
Past Perfect
The room looked much better. Somebody had cleaned it.
The room looked much better. It had been cleaned

5. When we have a sentence with direct and indirect object, there are two ways of
changing from active to passive:
They didn’t offer Ann the job (ANN)
1.Ann wasn’t offered the job. The indirect object is the subject in the passive sentence
They didn’t offer Ann the job (THE JOB)
2.The job wasn’t offered to Ann. The direct object is the subject in the passive sentence.
It is more usual for the passive sentence to begin with the person
Other verbs: ASK, TELL, GIVE, SEND, SHOW, TEACH, PAY…

6. With reporting verbs like: THOUGHT, BELIEVED,
REPORTED, UNDERSTOOD, KNOWN, EXPECTED,
ALLEGED, CONSIDERED, ETC… you can use two
different structures:
It is said that he is 108 years old. (impersonal)
or
He is said to be 108 years old
The second structure is often used in news
reports.

7. 1. Jill had the roof repaired yesterday.
This means: Jill didn’t repaired the roof herself. She arranged for someone else to do it for her.
Compare: Jill repaired the roof (= she did it herself)
Jill had the roof repaired (=she arranged for someone else to do it)
BE CAREFUL!! The word order is important: the past participle (done, repaired etc.…) comes after
the object (the roof).
2.Have sth. Done sometimes has a different meaning.
He had all his money stolen while he was on holiday.
(=this doesn’t mean that he arranged for somebody to steal his money. It
means that “all his money was stolen”.
With this meaning, we use have something done to say that sth. happened to someone.
George had his nose broken in a fight. (=his nose was broken)

8. GET SOMETHING DONE
Get something done is possible instead of “have sth. done” in informal
spoken English.
I think you should get your hair cut.
(= have your hair cut)

9. If a verb takes a particle in the active, you have to
use it in the passive as well.
They asked Peter about the use of his new
invention.
Peter was asked about the use of his new
invention.

10. The modal verb doesn’t change in a passive
sentence. It is the infinitive that follows the one
which changes into a passive infinitive.
He could sell frozen foods in shops
Frozen foods could be sold in shops.

11. Be born is a passive verb and it is usually past.
Where were you born?
But it can be used in the present too:
How many babies are born in this hospital every
day?
Sometimes you can use GET instead of BE in the passive.
There was a fight at the party but nobody got hurt.

12. Sometimes (be) supposed to means “said to”
He is supposed to have stolen £60.
(=he is said to have stolen £60)
But supposed to has a different meaning. You can use
it to say what is planned or arranged, and this is
often different from what really happens.
You were supposed to clean the windows. Why
didn’t you do it?
Mª Mercedes Sánchez Villafranca 2016