Passive verbs

1. PASSIVE VERBS By Miss Jenny Lou Sasoy

2. The man must have eaten five hamburgers. The man (subject) is doing the eating (verb). ACTIVE Five hamburgers must have been eaten by the man. Hamburgers (subject) are being eaten (verb). PASSIVE

3. When is Passive used? When we want to focus on the receiver of the action rather than the agent (doer) That boy was kicked out of school because of misdemeanors. Examples Lindsay was arrested for violating her probation.

4. When the agent is less important than the receiver The new students’ centre  was completed  last week. (The people who build the centre are unnecessary information for the meaning of the sentence.) The road was blocked because it was being repaired. Examples

5. When the agent is obvious from the context Examples I was born in 1985. (Everyone knows that it was my mother bore me then) Noynoy Aquino was elected as the 15 th president of the Philippines. (Of course, the Filipino people elected him.)

6. When we want to avoid mentioning the agent Examples The rules were deliberately broken . The money was stolen . (We may not want to say who is responsible for the wrongdoing) (The agent is unknown.)

7. Passive Verb Forms

8. be + past participle

9. Change the auxiliary be to indicate singular or plural. is recognized are watched was booked were forgotten Change the auxiliary be to indicate affirmative or negative. isn‘t heard aren‘t remembered wasn‘t called weren‘t allowed

10. Change the auxiliary be to indicate time frame and aspect. is helped was written has been applied had been caught Modal information ( prediction, possibility, ability etc.) may be recalled could be damaged

11. Let’s Dig Deeper

12. Past Progressive was/were + being+ past participle Simple Present is/am/are+ past participle Present Progressive is /are/ am + being+ past participle Simple Past was/were + past participle

13. Simple Future will + be+ past participle Present Perfect has/have+ been + past participle Present Perfect Progressive has/have+ been +being+ past participle Past Perfect had + been + past participle

14. Future Perfect will have+ been + past participle Future Perfect Progressive will have+ been + being+ past participle