Passive

Form

to be + past participle

Present simple

Active: My mother washes my clothes
Passive: My clothes are washed by my mother.

Present continuous

Active: My mother is washing my clothes
Passive: My clothes are being washed by my mother.

Present perfect

Active: My mother has washed my clothes
Passive: My clothes have been washed by my mother.

Past simple

Active: My mother washed my clothes
Passive: My clothes were washed by my mother.

Past continuous

Active: My mother was washing my clothes
Passive: My clothes were being washed by my mother.

Past perfect

Active: My mother had washed my clothes
Passive: My clothes had been washed by my mother.

Future "will"

Active: My mother will wash my clothes
Passive: My clothes will be washed by my mother.

Future "going to"

Active: My mother is going to wash my clothes
Passive: My clothes are going to be washed by my mother.

Future continuous

Active: My mother will be washing my clothes
Passive: My clothes will be being washed by my mother.

Future perfect

Active: My mother will have washed my clothes
Passive: My clothes will have been washed by my mother.

Modal verbs

Active: My mother might wash my clothes
Passive: My clothes might be washed by my mother.

Active: My mother can wash my clothes
Passive: My clothes can be washed by my mother.

Active: My mother must wash my clothes
Passive: My clothes must be washed by my mother.

Functions and examples

We use the passive when who or what causes the action is not important or is not known, or when we want to focus on the action.

The rubbish is taken out every day.
-- We don't know who takes the rubbish out, or maybe it's not important

The Great Wall of China was built thousands of years ago.
-- It's not important exactly who built it, we want to focus on the action of building

The money has been stolen.
-- We don't know who stole it, and we want to emphasise the action of stealing

My windows are cleaned once a month.
-- It's not important who cleans them. The action of cleaning is more important

Important points

1. If there are two objects in the active sentence, two passive sentences are possible.

Active: They gave me 50 dollars to do it.
Passive: I was given 50 dollars to do it / 50 dollars was given to me to do it.

2. Get is often used instead of be in informal spoken English.

I got offered the promotion.
The table got damaged in the fire.
I got asked to present the award.

3. The subject of the active verb (sometimes called the agent) is not usually expressed in passive sentences, because it is unknown or unimportant. However, if it is used, it is usually preceded with by.

The painting was done by Picasso.

4. When we talk about a tool used by an agent, it can be preceded by with.

The painting was done with oils on canvas.

See also: Causative 'have'

Teaching Passive

•   Students practice using passive by playing charades- one student acts out a series of steps in a simple procedure (e.g. making coffee), while the others must say what the student is doing using the passive voice (eg. "Sugar and milk are added")."
  Jennifer
  
•   I normally present two sentences - one is active and the another is passive. I let my student analyse the difference between the two sentences, and if they are able to distinguish, I present the lesson (form, meaning and purpose). After that, exercises and homework and possibly some materials (conversion of passive to active and vice versa, story telling etc.)"
  Richelle
  
•   I give students some old newspapers and ask them to read the news headlines and also some news items. Then I ask them to point out the passive sentences - headline language such as: TWO ARRESTED to help me explain the function of the passives."
  Laxmidhar Panda
  
•   I ask students how to prepare a sandwich. First, I elicit the ingredients and write them on board, then the actions (mayonaise - spread). Then, I make the sentences in passive. Students then asked me to prepare something together, so we decided as an additional activity, to prepare a quick snack while explaining the process using only present simple form of passive. They decided to film themselves as if they were in a cooking show."
  Claudia, Mexico
  
•   I get students to write questions for a quiz using the passive. For example: When will the next World Cup be held? Who was the telephone invented by? etc. Then do the quiz as a class, writing the answers in the passive to get as many points as possible."
  Flo
  
•   I usually come up with a quiz. Questions such as "Who discovered radioactivity?". The answers to the quiz are actually on the whiteboard in no particular order. e.g. Marie Curie etc. This way students have a better chance of guessing the correct answer. I call out the questions to one team at a time. They get one point for the correct answer (e.g. Marie Curie) and one point for responding in a full and correct passive sentence. "Radioactivity was discovered by Marie Curie". It's good to encourage the spoken use of the passive once they have learned the grammar structure as this is often where they struggle."
  Gemini
  

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