The passive - Form
The passive is formed is formed with the verb " to be" (in the right tense) + the past participle of the main verb.
FORM 1 So, if a sentence in the active is in the present simple . In the passive sentence , you'll have the present simple of the verb "to be"+ the past participle of the main verb.
My mother
cleans
my house every day
My house is cleaned
every day by my mother
If a sentence in the active is in the present perfect simple . In the passive sentence , you'll have the present perfect simple of the verb "to be"+ the past participle of the main verb.
Someone
has invited
my sister to a wedding
My sister has been invited
to a wedding
ACTIVE PASSIVE
| Present Simple | cleans | is cleaned |
| Present Continuous | is cleaning | is being cleaned |
| Past Simple | cleaned | was cleaned |
| Past Continuous | was cleaning | was being cleaned |
| Present Perfect | has cleaned | has been cleaned |
| Past Perfect Simple | had cleaned | had been cleaned |
* Perfect Continuous Passives (have/had+been being cleaned) are very uncommon.
THE AGENT. Compare these sentences:
Active:
My father
built
this house
in 1960
Passive: This house
was buillt by my father
in 1960.
The object in the active sentence becomes the subject of the passsive sentence and the subject of the active sentence becomes the agent in the passive sentence. Agents are preceded by the preposition "by".
In
most cases the agent is not mentioned.
Compare these two sentences:
Active:
Someone
has invited
my sister
to a wedding.
Passive: My sister
has been invited to a wedding
The agent is not mentioned because it is not important or it is unknown.
The agent is not
mentioned because it is
obvious:
The bank was robbed
It is an
impersonal
sentence.
The match has
been cancelled
The passive infinitive (be cleaned) is used after modal verbs (can, will, would...) and a number of other verbs (have to, be going to...)
ACTIVE PASSIVE
| can clean | can be cleaned |
| will clean | will be cleaned |
| would clean | would be cleaned |
| must clean | must be cleaned |
| is going to clean | is going to be cleaned |
Active:They might send
Tom abroad.
Passive: Tom
might be sent abroad
There is a past infinitive form : ( have been cleaned)
ACTIVE PASSIVE
| can be cleaned | can have been cleaned |
| should be cleaned | should have been cleaned |
| would have cleaned | would have been cleaned |
Some
Someone must have stolen
my car
My car must have been stolen
