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PASSIVE VOICE  Recognize the characteristics of passive voice.  How to construct sentences in passive voice. .  Identify examples of passive voice.

The passive voice The Passive is not a tense. You will find it easier to understand the passive if you already know the basic english verb tenses.

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Present Simple Passive (1) You can have passive verbs in all the different tenses. We will start with the present simple. Here is an active verb in the present simple: He loves English weather.

Now let’s change it to the passive voice: English weather is loved (by him).

To make the passive use the verb ‘to BE’ in the same tense as the original sentence – here it is the present simple tense

To make the passive, use the 3rd form or past participle of the main verb.

If you need to mention who is doing the action, use ‘by’ to introduce it. If you have a pronoun it will change from personal pronoun – object to personal pronoun - subject.

‘is loved’ is present simple passive (because ‘is’ is in the present simple).

Present Simple Passive (2) Take a look at some more sentences in the present simple passive.

English teachers are loved (by everybody).

The verb ‘to be’ is plural in this sentence to agree with ‘teachers’.

English teachers are not loved (by everybody) Make the verb ‘to BE’ negative in the usual way.

‘by …’ may not be necessary. If it’s not important, leave it out.

Present Continuous Passive Let’s look at how the passive works in other tenses. Here is a sentence in the present continuous: They are building a house next door.

Now let’s change it to the passive voice:

A house is being built next door (by them) We don’t often use ‘to BE’ in the present continuous tense so this may look unfamiliar!

To make the passive, use the 3rd form or past participle of the main verb.

‘by them’ doesn’t tell us much (who are they?) so leave it out.

Past Simple Passive Here is a sentence in the past simple: Someone stole money from the bank.

Now let’s change it to the passive voice:

Money was stolen from the bank (by someone) ‘to BE’ in the past simple tense is ‘was’ (singular) or ‘were’ (plural)

To make the passive, use the 3rd form or past participle of the main verb.

‘by someone’ doesn’t tell us much (who was it?) so leave it out.

Present Perfect Passive Here is a sentence in the present perfect.

We have forgiven her.

Now let’s change it to the passive voice:

She

has been forgiven.

‘to BE’ in the present perfect tense is ‘has been’ (singular) or ‘have been’ (plural)

To make the passive, use the 3rd form or past participle of the main verb.

Passive Voice Now, let’s practice!

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This presentation did not cover all the tenses but maybe it gave you an idea about how to form the passive. Now try some activities on other websites.

•- http://www.nonstopenglish.com/allexercises/Grammar/Grammarpassive_voice.asp •http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/passive.htm •http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/passive