Lesson 3 : Passive Constructions
You have difficulties with the active/passive voice? Passive sentences
sound wordy and indirect and make the sentence difficult to follow?
All these worries will disappear once you start the lesson on passive
constructions which is designed to make you understand it in a real
context of a conversation. The latter enables you to distinguish the
active from the passive and be able to use them correctly in your
writings.
A. Presentation (The passive constructions1 are presented in their real occurrence in a
conversation between Sophie and Ollie. Sophie is in China for work and phones home to tell
Ollie about her trip).
Watch the video and try to pick up sentences of the type:
The car was repaired by John
The passive is usually formed by the verb to be + past participle.
Questions:
1. Can you give some examples of the active and passive?
(example of expected answer: My room is being cleaned.)
2. Are there any other uses?
(example of expected answers: a. It’s the biggest outdoor elevator in the world, so I’ve been
informed. b. I think loads of films have been made there.).
3. Can you use a passive and also say who did the action?
1
The passive forms are presented in a totally contextualized lesson with the video acting as a source of passive
forms that the learner extracts after some targeted questions.
(possible answer: Avatar was made by James Cameron.)
4. Is the passive formal?
(possible answer: No, not necessarily. It can be formal or neutral or informal.
I hope to find everything clean and tidy … you’ve been warned!
But we often avoid the passive in very informal spoken language, for example, by using they.
They based the scenery in Avatar on the landscape here.
We don’t know exactly who they are, but we can guess that it’s the people who made the
film).
5. One last question, what about the passive with get? Is that informal too?
(possible answer: Yes, when we’re speaking informally we also often use get rather than the
verb be.
He was sacked from his job. = He got sacked from his job.
But be careful, not all verbs can be used in the passive with get - only verbs for talking about
an action or a change.
She was knocked off her bike by a bus. = She got knocked off her bike by a bus.
Charlie Chaplin was loved by millions. Charlie Chaplin got loved by millions.)
Changing a Sentence from Active Voice to Passive Voice
Did you understand passives? Do these activities to test your understanding.
a. Are the following sentences true or false
1. We use the passive when we don't want or need to specify who did the action.
True
False
2. We use the verb 'have' and the past participle to form the passive.
True
False
3. You can't say who did the action when you're using the passive.
True
False
4. The passive is not always formal.
True
False
5. We also use 'get' instead of 'be' to form the passive sometimes.
True
False
b. Write the words in the correct order to make sentences.
1. stolen! My wallet been has
.........................................................
2. repaired. Our being television is
.........................................................
3. bags made are These by hand.
.........................................................
4. made The one week! film was in
.........................................................
5. not to were They asked do that.
.........................................................
6. decided will be The winners next week.
.........................................................
7. The Hunger were books. based Games films on a series of
.........................................................
8. Over sold. three million have DVDs of Avatar been
.........................................................
3. Complete the sentences using the passive.
1. The theatre has cancelled the play.
= The play ____________________ by the theatre.
2. Did someone tell the students about the trip?
= Were ____________________ about the trip?
3. They haven't announced the opening date yet.
= The opening date ____________________ yet.
4. A car hit my dog.
= My dog ____________________ by a car.
5. Someone had burgled his house.
= His house ____________________.
6. Students will organise the party themselves.
= The party ____________________ by students themselves.
7. Clare didn't write that note.
= That note ____________________ by Clare.
8. Someone is painting our classroom.
= Our classroom ____________________ painted.
9. People saw a meteorite over the North Pole.
= A meteorite ____________________ over the North Pole.
