UNIVERSIDAD DE BUENOS AIRES FACULTAD DE

CIENCIAS VETERINARIAS

CATEDRA: INGLS TCNICO

PASSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS

Prof. Manuel Balda 2015

Prof.: Manuel Balda Page 1 09/04/2017

 PASSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS

Form

The Passive constructions are used in English to describe actions:

a) When we do not know the doer of the action.
My suitcase was stolen yesterday (I dont know who)

b) When it is not important to know who the doer of an action is.

The cars are taken to Europe every week.
These televisions are made in Japan.

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. The subject of the active verb
becomes the agent of the passive verb. The agent is very often not mentioned, except in those
cases where our interest in the predicate has led us to use the passive construction, but the active
subject has some interest of its own and is necessary for complete sense, e.g. this poem was
written by Walt Whitman (the speaker shows interest in the poem but the poet is also necessary to
complete the sense). If it is necessary to mention the agent, it is introduced by the preposition by
Turandot was composed by Puccini.
Harry Potter was written by Joanne Rowling

Have a look at these examples:

My mom makes a cake every Saturday A cake is made by my mom every Saturday
Tom can translate this letter This letter can be translated by Tom
Somebody has broken a glass A glass has been broken

Cases:
a) Active voice with two objects:
I gave her a present She was given a present / A present was given to her
I.O. D.O.
b) Active voice with adverb of manner:
She plays the piano beautifully The piano is beautifully played (by her)

c) Active voice with a negative element

Nobody saw the cougar The cougar wasnt seen
I cant understand anything Nothing can be understood

The Passive: all tenses, simple and continue

Present: is/are/am + past participle
Present Continuous: is/are/am + being + past participle
Past: was/were + past participle
Past Continuous: was/were + being + past participle
Present Perfect: has/have been + past participle
Future: will be + past participle
Infinitive (modals): can/must/have to/ be + past participle

Prof.: Manuel Balda Page 2 09/04/2017

How to construct passive sentences

To change an active clause into a passive clause,

a) Replace the active verb phrase by the matching passive verb.
b) Make the object of the active clause the subject of the passive clause.
c) Make the subject of the active clause the agent of the passive clause.

These three changes can be pictured as follows:

SUBJECT ACTIVE VERB OBJECT

Flemming discover Penicillin

Penicillin was discovered by Flemming

SUBJECT PASSIVE VERB AGENT

Verbs with two objects in the passive

Some verbs can have two objects, e.g. my father gave me this watch. In this pattern, it is usually the
first object (the indirect object) that becomes subject of the passive clause. There is, however,
another passive construction in which it is the direct object that is made subject. Thus both of the
following sentences are possible.

SUBJECT ACTIVE VERB IND. OBJECT DIR. OBJECT

The Biology teacher gave me this article

I was given this article by the Biology teacher

SUBJECT PASSIVE VERB AGENT

This article was given to me by the Biology teacher

SUBJECT PASSIVE VERB AGENT

SUBJECT ACTIVE VERB IND. OBJECT DIR. OBJECT

The Biology teacher gave me this article

I was given this article (by the Biology teacher) This article was
given to me by the Biology teacher
SUBJ. PASS. VERB AGENT SUBJECT PASS. VERB
AGENT

Prof.: Manuel Balda Page 3 09/04/2017