THE PASSIVE

Tense/verb form

Active voice

Passive voice

Present Simple

keeps

is kept

Present Continuous

is keeping

is being kept

Past Simple

kept

was kept

Past Continuous

was keeping

was being kept

Present Perfect

has kept

has been kept

Past Perfect

had kept

had been kept

Future

will keep

will be kept

Conditional

would keep

would be kept

Perfect Conditional

would have kept

would have been kept

Present Infinitive

to keep

to be kept

Perfect Infinitive

to have kept

to have been kept

Present Participle/Gerund

keeping

having kept

Perfect Participle

having kept

having been kept

AGENT and INSTRUMENT Agent is the person who performs an action in a passive sentence. It's introduced by by. It may or may not be mentioned. My purse was found by one of the cleaners. Instrument is an object which causes something to happen. It's introduced by with. He was hit on the head with a hammer.

TRANSITIVE and INTRANSITIVE VERBS

Transitive verbs are verbs which can be changed into the passive.

Some transitive verbs cannot be changed into the passive, e.g. become, fit (be the right size), get, have, lack, let, like, resemble, suit.

Intransitive verbs are verbs which cannot be changed into the passive.

Some verbs have both transitive and intransitive meanings.

We arrived at the hotel at eight. (cannot be made into passive)

Who was the answer arrived at? (passive with a different meaning)

CHANGING FROM ACTIVE INTO PASSIVE

• If the verbs take two objects such as bring, tell, send, show, teach, promise, buy, throw, write, award, hand, sell, owe, grant, allow, feed, pass, post, read, take, offer, give, pay and lend we can make two different passive sentences.

active: Patrick gave Laura some flowers.

passive: Laura was given some flowers by Patrick. (more usual)

Some flowers were given to Laura by Patrick. (less usual)

Some verbs have a noun or adjective which describes their object. When these are made into passive, the complement goes directly after the verb. active: We elected Jim class representative. passive: Jim was elected class representative. active: Everyone considered him a failure. passive: He was considered a failure. The passive can change the emphasis of a sentence. active: Jack won the prize. passive: The prize was won by Jack. Get can be used instead of be to form the passive in spoken language. Martin got arrested at a football game. It is possible to end a sentence with a preposition in a sentence where a prepositional verb is made into passive. active: Someone broke into our house. passive: Our house was broken into. active: We must write to him. passive: He must be written to.

When the verb of the active sentence is followed by a preposition, the preposition is kept in the passive sentence as well. active: They presented him with a medal. passive: He was presented with a medal. When we want to find out who or what did something, then the passive question form is as follows: Who/ What ... by? Who was Australia discovered by? What was the fire caused by? The agent is not mentioned if: unknown the subject is `people in general' or `you' it is obvious it has already been mentioned the agent is not important. Bicycles are widely used in the city instead of public transport. Linda has been arrested! I was advised to obtain a visa in advance.

• With is used after participles such as filled, packed, crowded, crammed.

The place was packed with commuters.

• The difference between by and with may involve the presence of a person.

Dave was hit by a branch. (an accident)

Dave was hit with a branch. (a person hit him with one)

• Cover and verbs with similar meaning, such as surround, decorate can use by or with.

HAVE/ GET SOMETHING DONE

We use HAVE + object + past participle to: describes a service performed for us by someone else I've just had my car serviced. I'm having my flat painted next week. describes something unfortunate that happens to someone We have had our car stolen so we need a lift.

We use GET + object + past participle: where there is a feeling that something must be done I must get my car serviced. it is common in orders and imperatives Get your hair cut! where there is a feeling of eventually managing something in some uses I eventually got the car fixed.

NEED DOING

We use NEED + verb with -ing when there is a need to have a service done.

Your hair needs cutting.

MAKE SB DO STH/ LET SB DO STH

active: make sb do sth e.g. My boss made me work hard.

passive: be made to do sth e.g. I was made to work hard

active: let sb do sth e.g. They didn't let me go out at night.

passive: be allowed to do sth e.g. I wasn't allowed to go out at night.

PERSONAL and IMPERSONAL CONSTRUCTION

With verbs such as think, believe, say, report, know, expect, consider, understand etc. a passive construction is used to avoid a weak subject, and to give a generalized opinion.

Present reference: active: People think that Smith is in England. passive: It is thought (that) Smith is in England. Smith is thought to be in England active: They know she is living abroad. passive: It is known (that) she is living abroad. She is known to be living abroad.

Past reference: active: People believe that Smith left England last week. passive: It is believed (that) he left England last week. Smith is believed to have left England last week. active: They think the driver was doing a U-turn. passive: It is thought (that) the driver was doing a U-turn. The driver is thought to have been doing a U-turn.

• If the reporting verb is in the past, the past infinitive tends to follow, though not always if the verb be is used.

active: People thought Sue had paid too much.

passive: Sue was thought to have paid too much.

• With passive infinitive.

Everyone knows the portrait was painted by an Italian.

The portrait is known to have been painted by an Italian.

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