THE PASSIVE VOICE INTRODUCTION The passive of an active tense is formed by putting the verb to be into the same tense as the active verb and adding the past participle of the active verb. The subject of the active verb becomes the „agent‟ of the passive verb. The agent is very often not mentioned. When it is mentioned it is preceded by by and placed at the end of the clause. Active: My grandfather planted this tree. Passive: This tree was planted by my grandfather. Short answers To make short answers: S we use the verb to be (am/is/are/was/were) for Present Simple, Past Simple, Present Continuous, PASSIVE VERB TENSES ACTIVE VOICE PASSIVE VOICE Present Simple He delivers the letters. The letters are delivered. Past Simple He delivered the letters. The letters were delivered. Future Simple He will deliver the letters. The letters will be delivered. Present Continuous He is delivering the letters. The letters are being delivered. Past Continuous He was delivering the letters. The letters were being delivered. Going to He is going to deliver the letters. The letters are going to be delivered. Present Perfect He has delivered the letters. The letters have been delivered. Past Perfect He had delivered the letters. The letters had been delivered. Infinitive He has to deliver the letters. The letters have to be delivered. Modals He must deliver the letters. The letters must be delivered. SIMPLE CONTINUOUS PERFECT + S + am/is/are + Ptp S + am/is/are + being + Ptp S + have/has + been + Ptp PRESENT - S + am/is/are + not + Ptp S + am/is/are + not +being + Ptp S + have/has + not + been + Ptp ? Am/Is/Are + S + Ptp ? Am/Is/Are) + S + being + Ptp ? Have/Has) + S + been + Ptp ? + S + was/were + Ptp S + was/were + being + Ptp S + had + been + Ptp PAST - S + was/were + not + Ptp S + was/were + not + being + Ptp S + had + not + been + Ptp ? Was/Were + S +PtpV ? Was/Were + S + being + Ptp? Had + S + been + Ptp + S + will + be + Ptp FUTURE - S + will + not + be + Ptp ? Will + S + be + Ptp ? + S + V to be (am/is/are) + going to + GOING TO - b + V to be (am/is/are) + not + going ? V to be (am/ i s/are) + S + going to + Past Continuous and Going To questions. S we use the verb have (have/has/had) for Present Perfect and Past Perfect questions. S we use will for Future Simple questions. USE The Passive is used: 1. when the agent (=the person who does the action) is unknown, unimportant or obvious from the context. Jane was shot. (We don’t know who shot her.) This church was built in 1815. (Unimportant agent) He has been arrested. (Obviously by the police) 2. to make more polite or formal statements. The car hasn’t been cleaned. (more polite) (You haven’t cleaned the car. - less polite) 3. when the action is more important than the agent, as in processes, instructions, events, reports, headlines, new items, and advertisements. 30 people were killed in the earthquake. 4. to put emphasis on the agent. The new library will be opened by the Queen. AGENT To say who did the action that we are talking about, ie. to refer to the agent, we use the preposition by and the name (by Peter) , noun (by the teacher) or pronoun (by him) at theend of the sentence. We usually only refer to the agent when it gives us some important information which otherwise would be missing from the sentence. Our house was designed by a famous architect. We don‟t mention the agent: 1. if we don‟t know who has done what we are talking about. Our car was stolen last night. (We don’t know who stole it) 2. if we are not interested in who has done what we are talking about or it is not important to mention it. He has been taken to hospital. (What we are interested in is the fact that he has been taken to hospital and not who has taken him.) 3. if it is easy to understand who did something without it being mentioned. The murderer was arrested last night. (It is not necessary to mention that he has been arrested by the police because it is self-evident.) 4. if the subject of the active voice sentence is something like somebody, people, they, you, etc. Someone broke the window. ^ The window was broken. ACTIVE TO PASSIVE To change a sentence from the active voice to the passive voice: Agatha Christie wrote this book. This book was written by Agatha Christie. FLY HIGH ENGLISH CENTER 3 HOW TO CHANGE Step 1: Clarify the part of sentence : S, V, O? ( Xác định thành phần câu) Step 2: Clarify the tense of the verb ( Xác định thì của động từ) Step 3: Start to change ( see above diagram ) - Chuyển ( xem sơ đồ bên trên) Notes: Câu chủ động có bao nhiêu thành phần, câu bị động có bấy nhiêu thành phần, Câu chủ động cấu trúc như thế nào, câu bị động cấu trúc như thế BY OR WITH? In the passive voice, we use: S by with the agent to refer to by whom the action is being done. The door was opened by Mr Black. (Mr Blak = agent) S with to refer to the instrument, object or material that was used for something to be done. The door was opened with a key. (a key = the object that was used) The omelette was made with eggs, cheese and peppers. (eggs,cheese and peppers = the material that was used) DIFFERENT TYPES OF PASSIVE VOICE 1. DOUBLE OBJECT VERBS When we have verbs that take two objects like, for example, give somebody something, we can convert the active sentence into a passive one in two ways: a. by making the indirect (animate) object the subject of the passive voice sentence, which is also the way that we usually prefer. b. By making the direct (inanimate) object the subject of the passive voice. Rick gave me (indirect object) this book (direct object). I was given this book by Rick. This book was given to me by Rick. Some of the verbs that take two objects are: give, tell, send, show, bring, write, offer, pay, etc. When the indirect object is alone after the verb in the passive voice sentence, it needs the preposition to. To : GIVE, SEND, SHOW For: BUY, MAKE, GET Leslie took this photograph yesterday. SUBJECT ACTIVE VERB ACTIVE VERB OBJECT TIME COMPLEMENT This photograph was taken by Leslie yesterday . HOW TO SUBJECT PASSIVE VERB AGENT TIME COMPLEMENT If the indirect object of the active voice sentence is a personal pronoun it has to be changed into a subject pronoun to be the subject of the passive voice sentence. 2. PASSIVE WITH WH QUESTION 1. When did you see him in that bank? * 2. How many lessons are you going to be learn? * 3. What language do people speak in your country? * 3. HAVE SOMETHING DONE Take a look at these two sentences. What is the difference in meaning between them? “ I cut my hair” “ I have my hair cut” “ I cut my hair” means that I do it myself “ I have my hair cut” means someone cuts my hair for me ( in this case it‟s probably a hairdresser) SUBJECT OBJECT I < > me You < > you He < > him She < > her It < > it SUBJECT We OBJECT us You you They them FLY HIGH ENGLISH CENTER 5 We use have something done to mean another person does a service for us. The grammar for this is pretty simple Have somebody do something ^ HAVE SOMETHING DONE Get somebody to do something ^ GET SOMETHING DONE Let‟s take a look at a few more examples”. We did not want to cook so we had a pizza delivered. I had my car washed at that new place by by the station. 4. PREDICA TE OF THE PASSIVE VOICE If the predicate of the passive sentence is a verb transitive like: believe, think, find, say, report, consider, understand, expect, tell, know the you can change the active sentence into passive using two ways. Look at the examples: a) People say that he is handsome ( in the present) ^ It is said that he is handsome. ^ He is said to be handsome b) They knew he stole my handbag ^ It was known that he stole my handbag ^ He was known to steal my handbag These are formal structures. They are often used in news reports and on TV. PRACTICE 1. Rewrite these sentences in the passive voice. 9. They didn‟t pay me much for that job. 10. Have they offered him a better job? 1. They sell oysters in the shop next door. 2. They haven‟t delivered the food yet. 3. Shakespeare wrote King Lear. 4. They have to answer the questions on this sheet. 5. Has anybody put the cases upstairs? 6. Someone should take this rubbish away. 7. They‟ll ask you a lot of questions. 8. Someone‟s going to send her some flower 31. Have they offered him a better job? 11. They told us a secret. 12 . Would they lend me their car? 13 . People should send their complaints to the head office. 14 . They had to postpone the meeting because of illness. 15 . They are going to hold next year‟s congress in San Francisco. 16 . The bill includes service. 17 . People don‟t use this road very often. 18 . They cancelled all the flights because of fog. 19 . Somebody accused me of stealing the money. 20 . They are building a new ring-road round the city. 21 . I didn‟t realize that someone was recording our conversation. 22 . They have changed the date of the meeting. 23 . Brian told me that somebody had attacked and robbed him in the street. 24 . You should open the wine about three hours before you use it. 25 . Somebody had cleaned my shoes and brushed my suit. 26 . We use this room only on special occasions. 27 . In some districts farmers use pigs to find truffles. 28 . John gave Elizabeth that beautiful ring. 29 . They have offered Sarah a very good job. 30 . The estate agent showed the house to the young people. FLY HIGH ENGLISH CENTER 7 2. Rewrite these sentences in the passive or the active voice. e.g.: She was shocked by the accident The accident shocked her. a. My father will buy a new car next year. b. The students were given 15 minutes for the test. c. This restaurant is owned by English people. d. The children were given some toys by their parents. e. His girlfriend is going to buy him a car. f. Tourists are paying a lot of money. g. They built this house in 1900. h. Parents always love their children. i. The film was produced by Spielberg. j. Nobody told me the truth. 3.Use the words in brackets to complete these sentences. Use the structure “to have something done”. We are going to have our house painted next summer. (our house / paint) next summer. a. I have lost my key. I‟ll have to ____________ b. Your hair is a mess. You should…………… c. The floor is very dirty. Why don‟t you ______ d. My father‟s car is not working very well. He e. Many young people today ________________ f. She has got a bad toothache. She __________ g. Summers are very hot in Spain. Many people. (another key made) (your hair / cut). (it/ cleaned) (it / service) tomorrow. (their nose / pierce). (it / remove) in a week. (swimming pools / build) in their garden. HOMEWORK Choose a correct option for each sentence. 1 Judy (implied / was implied) that she was treated unfairly by management recently. 2. Sales (expect/are expected) to decrease as a result of the recession. 3. The budget director (rejected/was rejected) the plan to cut back on spending. 4. The business owner was (frustrating/frustrated) by the lack of adequate capital to make investments. 5. Artists (have painted/have been painted) a large mural on a wall in the conference hall. 6. The plans for the merger (will take/will be taken) at least a month to evaluate. 7. Jason was (exciting/excited) to learn that he was being considered for a promotion. 8. Our appliances will (be serviced, service) for free. 9. We (convey, are conveyed) gratitude to loyal customers. 10. The CEO (was paid, paid) a bonus to the employees at the end of the quarter. 11. Scientists (argue, are argued) that greenhouse gas emissions are a major cause of global warming. 12. Management (required, were required) to develop a good relationship with the new partners. FLY HIGH ENGLISH CENTER 9 13. The process of filling prescriptions should (change, be changed) to prevent mistakes. Decide whether each of the sentences below is correct or incorrect. If it is correct, write “correct”; if It is Incorrect, point out the mistake(s) and provide (a) correction(s). 14. Employee motivation is closely relating to the success of a company. 15. The building will be undergoing renovation for the next three weeks. 16. A proposal for a partnership offered to an Italian firm last week. 17. This product made for busy working mothers who need help in the kitchen. 18. All assembly line workers are advised wearing protective eyewear and gloves while working. 19. A lifelong honorary membership in the firm has granted to the retired CEO. 20. The company is dedicated to its goal of introducing products that are modern, functional, and affordable. PART 5 1.The e-mail addresses and telephone numbers should be…… carefully in the blanks provided. (A) written (B) write (C) wrote (D) writing 2.The mailing of the package, you will need to add five dollars more to the shipping fee. (A) To expedite (B) Expedited (C) To be expedited (D) Will expedite 3.You must fill out the tax form, a copy of which is……………… to the contractual agreement you received on the first day (A) attach (B) attachment (C) attaching (D) attached 4.Ray Murphy submitted a requisition form yesterday to make certain he………………given a projector for today’s presentation. (A) has (B) have (C) is (D) are 5.Though somewhat new at making presentations Paul Blakely is……………………. the best public speaker of the team. (A) consider (B) to consider (C ) considered (D) considering 6.Young businessmen who set up venture companies should guard against being…………………. during the first year of operations (A) disappoint (B) disappointed (C) disappointing (D) disappointment 7.When he took up cooking, Jerry Porter was………………… to learn how easy it was to make inexpensive, great-tasting meals. (A) fascinate (B) fascinating (C) being fascinated (D) fascinated 8.The manager……………….her staff with news of an upcoming bonus if sales figures reached company goals by the end of the quarter. (A) encourage (B) was encouraged (C) encouraging (D) encouraged 9.The accounting team is……………….to providing accurate billing statements and resolving all customer enquiries within twenty-four hours. (A) dedicating (B) dedicated (C) dedicate (D) dedication 10.As a member of our office, you are invited……………………………. the annual charity auction. (A) attending (B) to attend (C) attends (D) attend 11. We are truly………………….with the positive consumer response to our new marketing strategy. [...]... offered by the Science Department next semester First of all, Science 11 4 - The Planets in Our Solar System has been cancelled because of low registration Instead of Science 11 4, we will offer Science 11 5 - The Living Earth We will also offer Biology 227 - The Study of Earthworms, Biology 19 0 - Whales of the Pacific and Human Anatomy 10 1 - Bones of the Human Body Have a great new semester Prof Yaleson... - to the Internet in our store We‟d like you to show each customer how to apply for 11 (A) connect (B) surf (C) log (D) access their warranty online It will give a good of our store, and help the customer, too 12 (A) imagine (B) show (C) impression (D) sign Thank you 15 PART 7 Reading Comprehension Questions 1 through 3 refer to the following letter -From Professor... Professor Yaleson works in which university department? (A) The Earth Department (B) The Life Department (C) The Science Department (D) The Biology Department 3 What is Human Anatomy 10 1 1 2 Science 11 4 was cancelled for what reason? (A) Low registration (B) The professor is sick (C) The university will close down (D) They have too many courses about? (A) Whales (B) The study of earthworms... (D) delightedly 12 A replacement for the outgoing advertising manager has not yet been……………… ,but the possibilities have been narrowed down to five applicants (A) chose (B) choice (C) chosen (D) choose 13 Each year, Gibbins Foods, a local food manufacturer,………………….five thousand cans of vegetables to the city's homeless shelters (A) donates (B) to donate (C) donating (D) are donated 14 .The contract... requires (C) required (D) requisition 15 .The campaigns that………………… assigned to the broadcasting division have been scrapped due to lack of support (A) having (B) were (C) be (D) had 16 The announcement in the newsletter is meant to…………… Mr.Meyer‟s remarks on the merger between the two communications firms (A) clarified (B) be clarified (C) clarification (D) clarify 17 First-class seats are………………….with... pleasant 18 19 After today‟s planning session is completed the members of each group will be………… a report of their team‟s objectives for the next three years (A) generation (B) generate (C) generated (D) generating 20 We would like you……………….by our assistant manager who will give you a tour of the company‟s offices and facilities (A) escorting (B) to escort (C) to be escorted (D) escort 21 Harwood... Student Name Student ID # Type of Tube (Please check) Plastic Glass Quantity Required (minimum order 10 ) Total Cost Method of payment (Please circle) Date required Cash / Credit Card 8 What will the chemistry and biology Departments no longer be supplying? (A) Text books (B) Test tubes (C) Classes (D) Students 10 .Where can students buy test tubes? (A) In chemistry class (B) In biology class (C) At the Science... (A) restrict (B) to restrict (C) is restricted (D) has restricted FLY HIGH ENGLISH CENTER PART 6 Questions 1 through 4 refer to the following memo To: All teachers From: The principal Re: Promoting Science As you know, we at Grange High School for Girls are actively trying……… the sciences to our 1 (A) to promote (B) promotion (C) promote (D) promoted students Recent school league tables showed the students... designer for Revreal Hair Dyes Inc Please encourage your students to attend these after-school talks Many thanks 13 Volunteers Wanted The Psychology Department of Queenstown University is……… volunteers to take part in an 5 (A) searching (B) looking for (C) necessary (D) investigating experiment We need 15 0 volunteers: 75 men and 75 women Volunteers should be aged 20 and 25 and should not be taking any... end-of-season clearance sale (A) close (B) closes (C) to close (D) closing 22 To meet the special needs of our branches in Asia, a total of twenty-four trained staff will……………to Japan, Hong Kong, and Thailand 11 (A) send (B) be sent (C) be sending (D) have sent 23.Membership at the exclusive sports club…………… benefits ranging from the use of all sports equipment to discounted rates at the club‟s restaurant and . 31. Have they offered him a better job? 11 . They told us a secret. 12 . Would they lend me their car? 13 . People should send their complaints to the head office. 14 semester. First of all, Science 11 4 - The Planets in Our Solar System has been cancelled because of low registration. Instead of Science 11 4, we will offer Science 11 5 - The Living Earth. We will. reports and on TV. PRACTICE 1. Rewrite these sentences in the passive voice. 9. They didn‟t pay me much for that job. 10 . Have they offered him a better job? 1. They sell oysters in the