The passive voice Auxilio Englischkurs D.D.Zethmeier

The passive voice Which grammer do you need to know before you learn the passive voice: The English tenses The forms of “to be“ The past participle (3rd form) The English word order (Subject – Verb – Object) Allright? Let´s get started:

The passive voice The passive voice is used when we want to express that something happens to the object  The focus is being put on the object I paint the Empire State Building The Empire State Building is painted by me

The forms of “to be“ in the passive voice As you know, the verb to be is an irregular verb. It´s three forms are: be was/ were been

The forms of “to be“ in the passive voice The structure of the passive voice looks like this: form of “to be“ + past participle (3rd form) The verb “to be“ tells us in which tense the passive voice sentence has: Simple Present: is/am/are Simple Past: was/were Present Perfect: has/have + been Past Perfect: had + been Will-Future: will + be

The forms of “to be“ in the passive voice Since the past participle cannot take –ing form (progressive form) there is a word needed that tells us that the sentence is in the –ing form: Structure: “to be“ + being + past participle Present Progressive: is/am/are being

The forms of “to be“ in the passive voice Exercise: Transform the following sentences into the passive voice  The construction workers are building this road This road is being built by the construction workers. The lady was singing the famous song The famous song was being sung by the lady

The past participle stays in all tenses! A car is bought by … A car is being bought by … A car was bought by … A car was being bought by … A car has been bought by… A car has been being bought by … A car had been bought by… A car will be bought by … A car is going to be bought by …

How can I profit from knowing the passive voice? Firstly, you are able to express that something happens to the object. Secondly, and most important, the passive voice counts to complex English sentences. When using them in your guided writing you earn extra points!

Thank you for your attention Finally, I would like you to convert the following sentences either from active to passive, or the other way around: The ball was hit by John They have designed a brand new car The gangsters were being caught by the police He had bought this expensive painting before he overpainted it. She is baking this delicious cake.