Passive

When people are learning English grammar, they often feel confused by the passive voice. Let’s keep it simple:

Why do we use the passive voice?

1. To sound serious/formal
2. To focus on the object instead of the subject
3. If we don’t know the subject of the sentence

How do we make passive sentences?

Use object + be + past participle + (by subject).

For example:

Object	“Be”	Past participle	(by subject)
The bike	was	stolen	by somebody

To change the tense, change “be”. Everything else stays the same.

Tense	Object	“Be”	stolen	(by subject)
Past simple	His bike	was	stolen	(by somebody)
Present continuous	His bike	is being	stolen	(by somebody)
Present perfect	His bike	has been	stolen	(by somebody)

Compare active and passive sentences

Video lesson on passive sentences 

Passives in English

Exercises:

Change these active sentences into passive sentences.

2. 
4. 
5. 

Answers:

1. The ball was caught by the dog.
2. The bricks were broken by the man.
3. The car was pushed by the children.
4. The baby was thrown by the man.
5. The man was licked by the dog.