The passive

In English, many sentences use the active form of the verb. The performer of the action, or the agent, comes first and is the subject of the verb that follows. The receiver of the action is the object of the verb, and it comes after the verb.

For example :

The builders took down the shelves.
The builders painted the wall.

In these sentences, the builders are the agent of the action. The wall and the shelves are the object of the verb, the receiver of the action. The verb is in the active form.

The passive form is used when we want to focus attention on the receiver of the action, not on the agent of the action. In this case, the receiver of the action becomes the subject of the verb, which is now in the passive form.

For example :

The shelves were taken down.
The wall was painted.

a- Making the passive form:

To turn a verb from the active form to the passive form, we use the past participle of the main verb, preceded by the verb 'to be'. The receiver of the action comes before the verb in the passive form. The verb 'to be' agrees with this subject.

Subject + to be + past participle of the main verb

The shelves were taken down.
The wall was painted.

In order to change the tense, you change the form of 'to be'.

Present simple: Many clothes are made in China these days.
Present continuous: The redecoration work is being done.
Present perfect simple: The bath has been changed.
Past simple: The wall was painted.
Modal forms: The flat should be modernised.

In order to make a negative, you use 'not to be' in the correct form.

The computer wasn't delivered yesterday.
The children weren't collected from school.

b- The agent:

When you use the passive form, if you want to give the agent of the action, you use 'by'.

The report was written by David.

c- Choosing to use the passive form:

You can use the passive form when...

1- ...the agent is unknown

My bike was stolen 2 weeks ago.

In this example, the person who stole the bicycle, the agent of the action, is unknown.

2- ....the agent is unnecessary or unimportant

Then, one week later, the thief was arrested.

In this example, we do not say 'by the police' because we do not need to. Only the police can arrest people, so we don't need to mention them in this sentence.

3- ...our focus is on the receiver of the action, not the agent

Football is the number one sport in the world. It is played in most countries and it is loved by people of all ages, from 7 to 70.

In this sentence, our focus is on football, so we choose to use the passive form. This keeps football as the subject of the sentence.

d-Vocabulary

to modernise something : to change something so that it is newer, or more up-to-date

redecoration : when you change the look of a room, by painting it a new colour, for example