Professional Documents
Culture Documents
subject
auxiliary verb
be
main verb
past participle
+ by + agent
optional
The auxiliary be is conjugated in all tenses. The main verb is always the past participle. The agent is the
original "doer" of the action.
Look at some examples:
subject
main verb
past participle
auxiliary verb be
by
am
employed
by Apple.
You
will be
woken
at 6.
It
finished
by then.
We
have been
notified
by Head Office.
You
are being
transferred
They
will be
paid.
next week.
Notice above:
Agentless passive
The subject of an active sentence "does" the action. In a passive sentence, we express the doer (or
agent) through a by phrase (the long passive) or, very often, we remove it completely (the short
passive). In the following example, the agent is "the Allies":
active
subject
Are
Has
Is
-? Will
Haven't
?
You
They
they
your wallet
he
they
they
are
will never be
been
not
be
been
main verb
past participle
not paid
employed
cleaned
stolen?
not notified
dismissed?
forgotten?
to watch YouTube.
by us.
regularly?
immediately?
Notice above:
I am paid weekly.
cf: My company pays me weekly.
Potassium was added and mixed in. The solution was heated to 80C and then allowed to cool.
cf: The technician added potassium and mixed it in. The technician heated the solution to 80C
and then allowed it to cool.
8. we want to avoid responsibility for our own actions (typically found in government reports):
Normally we use by to introduce the agent. But the gun is not the original doer of the action. The gun
did not kill him. He was killed by somebody with a gun. In the active voice, it would be: Somebody
killed him with a gun. Somebody is the agent. The gun is the instrument.
The get-passive
Although we normally construct the passive with be + past participle, it is also possible (in informal
language) to use get + past participle. So if France beat England at football, we could turn this to
passive and say "England were beaten by France" (be-passive) or "England got beaten by France" (getpassive). And we might also add: "But France will get thrashed by Russia."
For formal English and exams you should use the be-passive, but in informal language people
sometimes use the get-passive.
Forms of passive
The passive voice is not a tense itself. But for transitive verbs each tense, as well as other verb forms
such as infinitives and participles, can be produced in the passive voice. Some of the more complicated
tenses (mostly perfect continuous) are rarely used in the passive, but they are possible.
Here are some examples of the passive voice with many of the possible forms using the verb sing:
infinitive
perfect infinitive
participle
to be sung
to have been sung
sung
being sung
Continuous
Perfect
active
Present Simple How does one pronounce his name?
Present
Continuous
passive
How is his name pronounced?
Tara's being helped by Ati.
Past Simple
Past Perfect
I wondered why they hadn't invited me. I wondered why I hadn't been invited.
Past Perfect
Continuous
infinitive
participle
perfect
participle
gerund
going to
used to
Is he going to sing Thriller at the party? Is Thriller going to be sung at the party?
Ram used to take care of everything.
might
It might be bought.
must
He ought to be forgiven.
can
could
may
should
ought to
Here are examples of sentences written in both the active voice and the passive voice, with the active voice
sentence appearing first:
Harry ate six shrimp at dinner. (active)
At dinner, six shrimp were eaten by Harry. (passive)
Beautiful giraffes roam the savannah. (active)
The savannah is roamed by beautiful giraffes. (passive)
Sue changed the flat tire. (active)
The flat tire was changed by Sue. (passive)
We are going to watch a movie tonight. (active)
A movie is going to be watched by us tonight. (passive)
I ran the obstacle course in record time. (active)
The obstacle course was run by me in record time. (passive)
The crew paved the entire stretch of highway. (active)
The entire stretch of highway was paved by the crew. (passive)
Mom read the novel in one day. (active)
The novel was read by Mom in one day. (passive)
The critic wrote a scathing review. (active)
A scathing review was written by the critic. (passive)
I will clean the house every Saturday. (active)
The house will be cleaned by me every Saturday. (passive)
The staff is required to watch a safety video every year. (active)
A safety video will be watched by the staff every year. (passive)
She faxed her application for a new job. (active)
The application for a new job was faxed by her. (passive)
Tom painted the entire house. (active)
The entire house was painted by Tom. (passive)
The teacher always answers the students questions. (active)
The students questions are always answered by the teacher. (passive)
The choir really enjoys that piece. (active)
That piece is really enjoyed by the choir. (passive)
Who taught you to ski? (active)
By whom were you taught to ski? (passive)
The forest fire destroyed the whole suburb. (active)
The whole suburb was destroyed by the forest fire. (passive)
The two kings are signing the treaty. (active)
The treaty is being signed by the two kings. (passive)
The cleaning crew vacuums and dusts the office every night. (active)
Every night the office is vacuumed and dusted by the cleaning crew. (passive)