We use the passive voice when we want to put emphasis on the action and not on the one who does it.( this is only possible with sentences with direct / indirect object).
We form the passive voice with the verb to be and the past participle of the main verb.
To be + past participle ( in the active tense) ( of the main verb ) |
ex:
Active voice : Ali writes the lesson.
(subject) (main verb) (Direct object)
Passive voice: The lesson is written by Ali.
(subject) to be +past participle (agent)
Note : We use the passive voice without by + agent when we are interested more in the action than in the agent, when we don't know the agent or it is easy to understand who the agent is.
| | Active | Passive |
Present simple Present Continuous present Perfect | It makes It is making It has made | It is made It is being made It has been made |
Past Simple Past continuous Past Perfect | It made It was making It had made | It was made It was being made It had been made |
Future Simple | It will make | It will be made |
Modals (Must, can, may,etc) | It must /can/ may /make | It must /can /may be made |
Infinitive (present) -ing form | to make making | to be made being made |
Practice:
A) Turn these sentences into the passive:
- Willy brought a limousine.
- Ziryab composed some beautiful love songs.
- Hind lost her family in a road accident.
- The customer ordered a green salad and a cheese sandwich.
- I was cleaning my room when the light went out.
- My wife was making a Pizza when I arrived home.
- The teacher was explaining the irregular verbs to the students.
- She had taken all my books.
- I replied the teacher's question politely.
- Pablo Picaso had painted Guernica in 1937.
B)
- Jalil and Jamal will finish the job tomorrow.
- The dog will eat the bone.
- They will move before June.
- He will have begun the job by next week.
- Man will have set colonies in the moon by the year 2050.
- He will have completed his high studies by the end of next year.
- They are going to offer me a watch for my coming birthday.
- She is going to invite her freinds for lunch next weekend.
C)
- Jalil can speak two foreign languages.
- The firm may give a high rise to the workers.
- The lazy students might get weak marks in the test.
- Jamal should learn the irregular verbs.
- Drivers ought to respect the trafic law.
- Obese people had better practise sport everyday.
- Moroccan people must apply for visas to travel to the UK.
- The prisoners have to clean their cells every weekend.
D)
- My little brother should have broken the vase.
- He should have got a bad mark in the French test.
- Students ought to have learned the irregular verbs by heart.
- The bank may have received my fax.
- The boss may have offered jamal a new duty in the company.
- She might have done the homework correctly.
- They might have had dinner in a chinese diner.
- The ministers of foreign affairs might have talked about the world economic crisis.
E)
- The firm is building a new factory.
- A doctor books after the man.
- He gave me a valuable present.
- She has lost her handbag.
- Will you make the beds at once?
- Did he examine the baby?
- Where did I put my purse?
- Why didn't you mend the roof before it fell in?
- You can't leave your bicycle here.
- You haven't slept in the bed.
- Someone broke into the house.
- When will you answer the letters?
- Somebody has cleaned my shoes.
- They prepared a meal for us.
- You did the exercise.
- He is examining the baby carefuly.
- They will solve the problem.
- The boys have broken all the windows.
Correction
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