Why should we use Why should we use the Passive Voice?the Passive Voice?

Why should we use Why should we use the Passive Voice?the Passive Voice?

Where was that found?

It was found at

the scene of the

crime.

We use the Passive when the action is more important than the person who does the action.Example: Active: Someone broke the window.

Passive: The window was broken.

It is not important or not known, however, who or what is performing the action.

Examples: 1.My bike was stolen.

2.Spanish is spoken in South America.

By+ the agent (Object) is used :A. When it is important to know who does the action.The telephone was invented by Alexander Bell.

How to form the Passive

We form the passive from the verb /to be/ and the 3rd form of the main verb (V3). 

/to be/ expresses the tense of the main verb.

Examples: The movie is being shown now.

The movie was shown last night.

The movie will be shown tomorrow.

Present SimpleActive: Subject+V1+Object…

Passive: Subject+am/is/are+V3+by+Object

Example: She writes the letter.

The letter is written by her.

Tenses

Present ProgressiveActive:Subject+am/is/are+V1+ing+ObjectPassive: Subject+ am/is/ are+ Being +V3+by+Object

Examples: She is writing the letter right now.

The letter is being written by her.

Present Perfect Active: Subject+have/has+V3 +Object

Passive: Subject+have/has+been+V3+by+Object

Examples: She has written the letter.

The letter has been written by her.

Past SimpleActive: Subject+V2+ObjectPassive: Subject+ was/were+V3+by+Object

Examples: She wrote the letter.

The letter was written by her.

Past Progressive

Past ProgressiveActive: Subject+was/were+V1+ing+ObjectPassive: Subject+was/were+being+V3+by+Object.

Examples: She was writing the letter.

The letter was being written by her .

Past PerfectActive: Subject+had+V3+ObjectPassive: Subject had+been+V3+by+Object

Examples: She had written the letter.

The letter had been written by her.

Future Simple Active: Subject+will+V1+ObjectPassive: Subject+will+be+V3+by+Object

Examples: She will write the letter to him. The letter will be written by her to him.

Be Going ToActive: Subject+ am/is/are+ going to+ V1+ObjectPassive: Subject+ am/is/are+ going to+be+V3

Examples: She is going to write a letter to him.

The letter is going to be written by her.

ModalsActive:Subject+Modal+V1+ObjectPassive: Subject+Modals+be+V3+by+object

Examples: She can write the letter .

The letter can be written by her to him.

Semi ModalsActive: Subject+ Semi Modal+V1+ObjectPassive: Subject+ Semi Modal+be+V3+by+Object

Examples: She has to send the letter to her uncle.

The letter has to be sent by her to her uncle.

Pay attention:

Not all the verbs can be put into Passive because they have no object (no one to “receive” the action.

Examples of such verbs are include:

Happen, die, sleep, exist, go , come, occur, arrive, have, live.

When rewriting active sentences in the Passive Voice, note the following:

The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence

The verb is changed (to be + past participle).

The subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped)

Passive Exerciseshttp://a4esl.org/q/h/vm/active-passive.html

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/passive/exercises?present-progressive

http://www.nonstopenglish.com/exercise.asp?exid=921

http://www.smic.be/smic5022/passive1.htm

http://www.xtec.net/aulanet/ud/angles/sports/alumnes/pve/ex1pve.htm

Active and Passive Tenses Chart

http://www.english-zone.com/teach/pssvchrt.html

Your personal assignment

Choose one:

Write a poem about love

A newspaper article about crime.

Use the Passive Voice.

Use connectors.

For the newspaper article, use the vocabulary from p.78 in your book.