PASSIVE VOICE
A. Form
1. The passive of an active tense is formed by, putting the verb ‘to
be’ into the same tense as the active verb and adding the past
participle of the active verb.
TENSE/VERB FORM ACTIVE VOICE PASSIVE VOICE
Simple present Keeps Is kept
Present continuous Is keeping Is being kept
Simple past 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 Keeping Being kept
participle/gerund
Perfect participle Having kept Having been kept
2. Auxiliary + Infinitive are made passive by using a passive infinitive:
Active: You must shut these doors.
Passive: These doors must be shut.
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3. The passive gerund is being+ past participle
Active: I remember my father taking me to the Zoo.
Passive: I remember being taken by my father to the Zoo.
B. Use
The passive voice is used in English when is more important or
interesting to stress the thing done than the doer (agent) of
it.
Prepositions with passive verbs
A. In a passive sentence the agent, or doer of the action, is very often not
mentioned. When the agent is mentioned it is preceded by:
Active: Dufy painted this picture.
Passive: This picture was painted by Duffy.
Active: Who wrote it?
Passive: Who was it written by
When we are dealing with materials used, not with the agents
Note the passive form of such sentences as:
Active: Smoke filled the room.
Passive: The room was filled with smoke.
B. When a verb+ preposition+ object combination is put into the
passive, the preposition will remain immediately after the verb.
Active: We must write to him.
Passive: He must be written to.
Active: You can play with these cubs quite safely.
Passive: These cubs can be played with quite safely.
Infinitive constructions after passive verbs
A. After acknowledge, assume, believe, claim, consider, estimate, feel,
find, know, presume, report, say think, understand, etc.
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Sentences of the type:
People/think/consider/know etc
That he is..., have two possible forms:
It is thought/considered/known that he is....
He is thought/ considered/known/ to be....
Similarly:
People said that he was jealous of her = It was said that he was jealous of
her, or
He was said to be jealous of her.
The infinitive construction is the neater of the two. It is chiefly used
with to be though other infinitives can sometimes be used:
He is thought to have information of which will be useful to the
police.
When the thought concerns a previous action we use the perfect
infinitive so that:
People know that he was... = It is known that he was.....
or He is known to have been
People believed that he was...= It was believed that he was...
or He was believed to have been...
B. After suppose.
1. suppose in the passive voice can be followed by the present infinitive of
any verb but this construction usually conveys tan idea o duty and is not
therefore the normal equivalent of suppose in the active:
You are suppose to know how to drive = It is your duty to know/You
should know how to drive, though
He is supposed to be in Paris, could mean either “He ought to be
there” or “People suppose he is there”
2. suppose in the passive can similarly be followed by the perfect infinitive
of any verb. This construction may convey an idea of duty, but very often
does not:
You are supposed to have finished = You should have finished.
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But, He is supposed to have escaped disguised as a woman
= People supposed that he escaped etc.
C. An infinitive placed after a passive verb is normally a full infinitive with
to :
Active: We saw them go out.
Passive: They were seen to go out.
Let, however, is used without to:
Active: They let us go.
Passive: We were let go.
D. The continuous infinitive can be used after the passive of think, know,
believe, understand, report, say, suppose:
He is thought/known/ believed/said/supposed to be living
abroad = People think/know/believe/say/suppose that he is
living abroad.
You are supposed to be working = You should be working
E. An infinitive placed after a passive verb is normally a full infinitive with
to :
Active: We saw them go out.
Passive: They were seen to go out.
Let, however, is used without to:
Active: They let us go.
Passive: We were let go.
F. The continuous infinitive can be used after the passive of think, know,
believe, understand, report, say, suppose:
He is thought/known/ believed/said/supposed to be living
abroad = People think/know/believe/say/suppose that he is
living abroad.
You are supposed to be working = You should be working
