Teaching English through e-learning

THE PASSIVE

 The passive: present simple and continuous, will future and –ing forms

Form the present simplne passive with am/is/are + past participle.

          The castle is protected by high walls

Form the presernt continuous passive with am/is/are being + past participle

          We´re being watched.

Form the future simple passive with will be + past participle.

          The new bridge will be opened next year.

!The form of be agrees with the subject of the passive verb.

          A bag was stolen.

          Ten bags were stolen.

Form the passive of –ing forms with being + past participle, for example after prepositions.

          The children insisted on being taken to the zoo.

          I don´t like being watched.

Instransitive verbs(verbs which don´t have an object) cannot be made passive.

          The train was arrivedon time. X

We often use the passive when:

• the agent is obvious from the context.

           The man was arrested yesterday. (obviously by the police)

     I´m going to be given a promotion. (obviously by my boss)

• the agent is unknown or isn´t  important.

My watch has been stolen.

The house has been demolished.

 The passive: past simple and continuous, present perfect, infinitives

Form the past simple passive with was/were + past participle.

           The building was demolished in 2005.

Form the past continuous passive with was/were being + past participle.

           The rooms were being decorated so we couldn´t go in.

Form the present perfect passive with has/have been + past participle.

            The factory has been designed by a Spanish architect.

Form the past perfect passive with had been + past participle.

            The flight had been cancelled because of fog.

Form the passive of infinitives with to be + past participle.

             The builders are scheduled to complete the work within two years.->The work is      

             scheduled to be completed within two years.

             I wanted somebody to help me. -> I wanted to be helped.

 Use of the passive

In English we prefer to start a new sentence with a familiar subject(something that has already been mentioned.) The passive can help us do this.

             The house is in Illinois. Frank Lloyd Wright designed it.                    X

             The house is in Illinois. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.        

We usually prefer to put short subjects at the beginning of a sentence and longer expressions at the end. The passive helps us do this.

             An engineer who had previously worked on a bridge in Spain designed the new bridge  X

             The new bridge was designed by an engineer who had previously worked on a bridge in

              Spain.