43.1 – Passive
Active: Business students do their self-study every week.
Passive: Self-study is completed by business students every week
Structure:
VERB `TO BE` + PAST PARTICIPLE
Use
- not interested in `who’ does the action
- to describe a process
- to sound impersonal, perhaps more formal
| Tense | Example |
| · Present simple | English is taught every day. |
| · Present continuous | Dinner is being prepared in the mensa. |
| · Past simple | This college was founded as the HTL in 1965. |
| · Past continuous | This handout was being prepared when the phone rang. |
| · Present perfect | Passive has been explained many times before. |
| · Past perfect | The dictionary had been recommended by the bookshop. |
| · Future | Your English will be improved through reading. |
| · Modals | English can be studied without a teacher! |
Note:
- Intransitive verbs cannot be used in the passive.
An intransitive verb is one that does not have an object. Dictionaries show this with an I or a T. Some verbs can be both.
- John drove (T) a car. The car was driven by John.
- The train arrived (I) on time. No passive form.
2 The `agent` is added to the sentence with the word `by`.
The `agent` is not used:
– when it is not important / when it is obvious who it is:
She was told to do her homework.
- when the agent is unknown: The door had been opened.
- when the agent has already been referred to : Ford‘s first cars were made in the 20‘s. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Task. Rewrite each sentence using the passive voice.
1. We do not assemble all the components here in the factory.
2. The new students attended the introductory week.
3. Do they use LEDs in the alphanumeric displays on things like clocks?
4. The phosphors in the diode absorb the radiation.
5. They interview the candidates on three separate occasions.