module 4 THE PASSIVE VOICE Remember that the Passive Voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is often not important, or not known, who does the action. The Passive is formed with to be + Past Participle. To turn an active sentence into a passive sentence, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject in the passive sentence and the subject of the active sentence becomes the agent preceded by the preposition by in the passive sentence or is left out. GRAMMAR TENSE Present Simple Subject + am/are/is + Past Participle Past Simple Subject + was/were + Past Participle Future Subject +will be + Past Participle Present Continuous Subject + am/are/is + being + Past Participle Past Continuous Subject + was/were + being + Past Participle Present Perfect Subject + have/has + been + Past Participle Past Perfect Subject + had + been + Past Participle Present Conditional Subject + would be + Past Participle Past Conditional Subject + would have been + Past Participle Some verbs like send or give can have two objects; in this case you can have two different forms of the passive voice. For example: They sent a message to everyone (active) 1. A message was sent to everyone (Passive 1). 2. Everyone was sent a message (Passive 2). Complete the sentence with the passive forms of the verbs in brackets a. Susan (injure) in a car accident two months ago. b. It s the first time that Bob . (stop) by the Police. c. Small gifts . (offer) to all subscribers at the moment. d. She . (interview) when she fainted. e. Chinese (speak) by 50% of the world population. f. The History Museum . (close) next Monday. g. This digital camera .. (not make) in Japan. h. All the flights . (cancel) because of the fog. i. When .. the letters . (to send)? j. Where . the football match .. (to play) yesterday? Change the following sentences into the passive form. a. They gave him a golden watch when he retired. b. He offered me a place at London University. c. They have promised Juan an mp3 player for his birthday. d. They will show the visitors the park, the castle and the adjacent museum. e. You should have invited Tracy to your dinner party. 150