module 6 THE PASSIVE VOICE Remember that the Passive Voice is used when the focus is on the action and it is not important to say who does the action. In the Revenge Tragedy, the avengers are always killed. It is often used when the agent of the action is unknown or obvious: In 1890 the first series of Edwardian musical comedies were introduced in England. Artists were paid very little for their performances. Remember that the Passive is formed with the verb be + Past Participle of the main verb. To turn an active sentence into a passive one, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence and the subject of the active sentence becomes the agent preceded by GRAMMAR the preposition by (if necessary). VERB TENSE PASSIVE FORM 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, we have two different forms of the Passive Voice. For example: They sent a message to everyone. (active) 1. A message was sent to everyone. 2. Everyone was sent a message. 1 Complete the table according to the tense indicated. Present Simple Past Simple Future Present Continuous Past Continuous Present Perfect Past Perfect Present Conditional Past Conditional 280 It is performed by the musicians.