Rule I.
We use the
passive voice when it is
not important who or what does the action. We use the
active voice when we know or it is
important who or what does the action. The passive voice is
less usual than the active voice.
Example
This book
was published a week ago.
(“
Was published” is a
passive voice. We don’t know who has published this book,
it’s not important who. But the fact is that the book is published.)
Example
Mr. Smith/The publishing house “X”
published this book a week ago.
(Here is the
active voice.
We know exactly who has published the book.)
When we want to say who does or what causes this or that action, we use
by or
with.
Examples
a) This book
was published by Mr. Smith.
b) The room
was filled with smoke.
We form the
passive voice with the help of auxiliary verb “
to be” and the
past participle of the main verb.
To be (am, are, is, was, were, have been, had been) +
Past Participle II :
| Tenses | Voices | Examples |
|---|
| Present simple | active: tell(s)
passive: am/is/are told | She tells
She is told |
| Past simple | active: told
passive: was/were told | She told
She was told |
| Future simple | active: will tell
passive: will be told | She will tell
She will be told |
| Present continuous | active: am/is/are telling
passive: am/is/are being told | She is telling
She is being told |
| Past continuous | active: was/were telling
passive: was/were being told | She was telling
She was being told |
| Future continuous | active: will be telling
passive: …(doesn’t exist) | She will be telling
…(doesn’t exist) |
| Present perfect simple | active: have/has told
passive: have/has been told | She has told
She has been told |
| Past perfect simple | active: had told
passive: had been told | She had told
She had been told |
| Future perfect | active: will have told
passive: will have been told | She will have told
She will have been told |
|
|
|
Modal verbs
Can/could, may/might, must/have to, ought to, shall/should, will/would +
be done/
have been done:
Examples
a)
Will your room
be cleaned?
b) This lesson
mustn’t be learned.
c) Tigers
can be seen in our Zoo.
d) My bag
must have been stolen.
Rule II.
We don’t use
intransitive verbs in the
passive voice.
There are:
To be,
to become,
to have,
to consist,
to belong,
to possess,
to arrive,
to fly,
to fit,
to hold,
to resemble,
to seem,
to go,
to come,
to appear.
Examples
a) Tom
has a nice car.
b) Kate
has become a great gift.
c) You
seem to be aghast.
Rule III.
It is also very important to know that there are some verbs that can have
two objects.
So, that’s mean that it’s possible to make
two passive sentences.
Example
Mr. Smith offered
Kate the job. (Kate and the job are
two objects)
Let’s make the first passive sentence:
1. Kate was offered the job.
And now the second passive sentence:
2. The job was offered to Kate.
But it is more
usual for the passive sentence to begin with the
person. There are other verbs which can have two objects.
Here they are:
ask,
pay,
tell,
teach,
give,
show,
allow,
promise,
refuse,
deny.
Examples
a)
Tom will be paid for his work next week.
b)
We were given the information about our final exam.
c)
Have you been shown the books?
Rule IV.
We can use the structure
have something done to talk about things we pay or employ
other people to do for us.
Examples
— Kate
made the dress. (here she made the dress
herself)
— Kate
had the dress made. (here she employed somebody to make the dress, so
she didn’t make it herself)
We form this construction in this way:
We use the verb
have +
object +
past participle.
Examples
a) Kate
had the dress made. (here is the
past form)
b) We
have the office cleaned every evening.
But we should be very careful with the
word order. We put the
object before the
past participle, not after it.
Examples
— We have cleaned the office every evening.— We
have the office cleaned every evening. (It’s right!)
Rule V.
We can also use “
get something done” instead of “
have something done“. But it is
less formal.
Examples
a) We
get the office cleaned every evening.
b) Kate
get the dress made.
Rule VI.
We use “have something done” or “get something done” in different tenses.
But we should use the correct form of the verb “
have” or the verb “
get“.
| Tenses | Examples |
|---|
| Present simple | Kate has the dress made. |
| Past simple | Kate had the dress made. |
| Future simple | Kate will have the dress made. |
| Present continuous | Kate is having the dress made. |
| Past continuous | Kate was having the dress made. |
| Future continuous | Kate will be having the dress made. |
| Present perfect simple | — Has Kate had the dress made?
— Kate has had the dress made. |
| Past perfect simple | — Had Kate had the dress made?
— Kate had had the dress made. |
| Present perfect continuous | Kate has been having the dress made. |
| Past perfect continuous | Kate had been having the dress made. |
____________________________________________________
Try now on some of these exercises to see if you fully understood it:
http://www.ihbristol.com/free-english-exercises/test/esol-smc-passive-causative-sentences
http://www.englishlab.net/hp/quiz28_mixed_tenses_4_active_passive_story.htm
http://grammar-quizzes.com/passive1d.html
http://grammar-quizzes.com/passive1c.html
http://grammar-quizzes.com/passive1b.html
