Passive voice

1. 2n Batxillerat. Unit 3
The Passive Voice

2. How much can you
remember?
SB p. 36 ex.A

3. Contents
1. Form and main points: brief
summary. Tense changes
2. Verbs with two objects
3. Reporting Verbs
4. Causative Have

4. Consumers buy many products online
Many products are bought online (by consumers)

5. Consumers buy many products online
Many products are bought online (by consumers)
• Subject: person or object that suffers/enjoys the result
of the action.
• Verb To be in the tense the action occurred.
• The past participle that represents the action itself.
• Complements (when necessary).
• If we want to say who or what causes the action we use
by + agent complement

6. REMEMBER:
1) We use a passive verb when the action is more
important than the person or thing that does it.
Many products are bought online

7. REMEMBER:
1) We use a passive verb when the action is more
important than the person or thing that does it.
Many products are bought online
2) We can omit by + agent from a passive sentence:
a) when the agent is unknown
My bag has been taken (I don’t know who took it)
b) when the agent is obvious or not important
The thief was arrested (the police is obvious here)
c) if we do not want to name the agent
The mirror was broken while we were moving it (we
don’t want to say who)

8. 3) In the passive voice we respect prepositions should
they appear.
Fleming had looked into infections before he
discovered penicillin.
Infections had been looked into by Fleming before he
discovered penicillin.

9. Remember: Intransitive verbs (arrive, come,
die, exist, go, happen, like, occur, sleep,...) do
NOT have a passive form as nothing can
become their subject in the passive voice.

10. Verb Forms Active Voice Passive Voice
Infinitive to buy
Present Simple buy (s)
Present Continuous is/are buying
Present Perfect simple has/have bought
Past Simple Bought
Past Continuous was/were buying
Past Perfect Simple had bought
Future Will will buy
Future going to going to buy
Future Continuous will be buying
Future Perfect will have bought
Modal Verbs should buy
Modal Perfect should have bought

11. Verb Forms Active Voice Passive Voice
Infinitive to buy to be bought
Present Simple buy (s)
Present Continuous is/are buying
Present Perfect simple has/have bought
Past Simple Bought
Past Continuous was/were buying
Past Perfect Simple had bought
Future Will will buy
Future going to going to buy
Future Continuous will be buying
Future Perfect will have bought
Modal Verbs should buy
Modal Perfect should have bought

12. Verb Forms Active Voice Passive Voice
Infinitive to buy to be bought
Present Simple buy (s) is /are bought
Present Continuous is/are buying is/are being bought
Present Perfect simple has/have bought has/Have been bought
Past Simple Bought was/were bought
Past Continuous was/were buying was/were being bought
Past Perfect Simple had bought had been bought
Future Will will buy will be bought
Future going to going to buy going to be bought
Future Continuous will be buying will be being bought
Future Perfect will have bought will have been bought
Modal Verbs should buy should be bought
Modal Perfect should have bought Should have been bought
SB p. 36; ex 1,3

13. 2. Verbs with two objects
Buy, give, explain, lend, make, offer, pay, promise, refuse, send, show,
teach can have two objects.
He told the truth to the children
He told the children the truth
Therefore, two passives are possible:
Direct object
Direct object
Indirect object
Indirect object

14. 2. Verbs with two objects
Buy, give, explain, lend, make, offer, pay, promise, refuse, send, show,
teach can have two objects.
He told the truth to the children
He told the children the truth
Therefore, two passives are possible:
The truth was told to the children. DO + V + to + IO
The children were told the truth. IO + V + DO (more common)
Direct object
Direct object
Indirect object
Indirect object
SB p. 37 ex. 4p. 94 ex. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

15. 3. Reporting Verbs
The passive is also used to describe impersonal feelings,
beliefs and convictions. News reports often use this passive
structure.
People believe that this man is the thief. (active)

16. 3. Reporting Verbs
The passive is also used to describe impersonal feelings,
beliefs and convictions.
People believe that this man is the thief. (active)
calculate, claim, consider, discover, estimate,
expect, feel, hope, know, prove, report,
rumour, say, show, suppose, think, and
understand.

17. People believe that this man is the thief. (active)
The same idea can be expressed by using the passive in two
different ways:
It + passive of reporting verb + that clause
It
Subject + passive of reporting verb + `to´ infinitive
This man

18. People believe that this man is the thief.
The passive is also used to describe impersonal feelings,
beliefs and convictions. The same idea can be expressed by
using the passive in two different ways:
It + passive of reporting verb + that clause
It is believed
Subject + passive of reporting verb + `to´ infinitive
This man

19. People believe that this man is the thief.
The passive is also used to describe impersonal feelings,
beliefs and convictions. The same idea can be expressed by
using the passive in two different ways:
It + passive of reporting verb + that clause
It is believed that this man is the thief
Subject + passive of reporting verb + `to´ infinitive
This man

20. People believe that this man is the thief.
The passive is also used to describe impersonal feelings,
beliefs and convictions. The same idea can be expressed by
using the passive in two different ways:
It + passive of reporting verb + that clause
It is believed that this man is the thief
Subject + passive of reporting verb + `to´ infinitive
This man is believed

21. People believe that this man is the thief.
The passive is also used to describe impersonal feelings,
beliefs and convictions. The same idea can be expressed by
using the passive in two different ways:
It + passive of reporting verb + that clause
It is believed that this man is the thief
Subject + passive of reporting verb + `to´ infinitive
This man is believed to be the thief.

22. •Present reference, the passive is followed by the present infinitive:
People think that Johnson is in Cardiff.
Johnson is thought to be in Cardiff.

23. •Present reference, the passive is followed by the present infinitive:
People think that Johnson is in Cardiff.
Johnson is thought to be in Cardiff.
•With past reference, the passive is followed by the perfect infinitive:
People believe that Johnson left Cardiff last month.
Johnson is believed to have left Cardiff last month.
The Day of the Kings is a more important celebration than Christmas for many families,
and some wait until then to open their presents said to have been brought by the wise men.
(passive perfect infinitive) (from BBC News Site; January 2017)

24. •Present reference, the passive is followed by the present infinitive:
People think that Johnson is in Cardiff.
Johnson is thought to be in Cardiff.
•With past reference, the passive is followed by the perfect infinitive:
People believe that Johnson left Cardiff last month.
Johnson is believed to have left Cardiff last month.
The Day of the Kings is a more important celebration than Christmas for many families,
and some wait until then to open their presents said to have been brought by the wise men.
(passive perfect infinitive) (from BBC News Site; January 2017)
•The reporting verb can also be past:
People considered the government had spent too much.
The government was considered to have spent too much.
SB p. 95 ex 6, 7 / SB p.37 ex 5

25. 4. Causative Have
Compare:
I cut my hair.
I have my hair cut.

26. Compare:
I cut my hair. (= I did myself)
I have my hair cut. (= someone does it for me)
Causing or ordering something to be done by someone else.

27. Have is conjugated like a main verb with the following
structure:
Subject + have + object + past participle
I had my hair cut
We are going to have our hair cut
Paul has his shopping delivered

28. Verb forms Active voice Causative form
Present Simple We paint the house every year.
Present Continuous Beth is washing her car.
Past Simple He typed three letters
yesterday.
Future Will We will install the lights next
week.
Present Perfect The girls have repaired their
bicycles.
Modal Verbs You should fix this shelf to the
wall.
Verb Tenses. Some examples

29. Verb forms Active voice Causative form
Present Simple We paint the house every year. We have the house painted
every year.
Present Continuous Beth is washing her car.
Past Simple He typed three letters
yesterday.
Future Will We will install the lights next
week.
Present Perfect The girls have repaired their
bicycles.
Modal Verbs You should fix this shelf to the
wall.

30. Verb forms Active voice Causative form
Present Simple We paint the house every year. We have the house painted
every year.
Present Continuous Beth is washing her car. Beth is having her car washed.
Past Simple He typed three letters
yesterday.
He had three letters typed
yesterday.
Future Will We will install the lights next
week.
We will have the lights installed
next week.
Present Perfect The girls have repaired their
bicycles.
The girls have had their bicycles
repaired.
Modal Verbs You should fix this shelf to the
wall.
You should have this shelf fixed.

31. • We can omit the agent if it is obvious who did the action or
if it is not important.
I had/got my car repaired last week
Get can be used instead of have in this structure. It is slightly
more informal.

32. • We can omit the agent if it is obvious who did the action or
if it is not important.
I had/got my car repaired last week
Get can be used instead of have in this structure. It is slightly
more informal.
• This structure can also be used for events (usually
unpleasant) that are outside of the speaker's control. Get
cannot be used here.
John had his car stolen last week.
He had his arm broken in the accident.
I’ve had my Facebook account hacked.
SB p. 95 ex 8, 9 / SB p.37 ex 6, 7, 8, 9