Passive Notes

Overview: Passive Verbs

English has more than one word order

Active	agent action receiver Mary helped the boy.
Passive	receiver action agent The boy was helped by Mary.
make the passive with be + past participle (+ by phrase) (the by phrase isn’t always used) Change be to show · singular or plural · affirmative or negative · time frame & aspect · modal information	The Nazca Lines were made by removing soil and rocks. The Nazca Lines weren’t discovered until the 1930s. Many theories explaining their existence have been proposed. The Nazca Lines may be destroyed, if further protection can’t be provided.
Intransitive verbs don’t have a passive form! (p. A1)	Active: An Accident happened. Passive: None

When To Use The Passive /When to include the Agent 211

Use passive verbs To describe situations when the agent is unknown or unimportant. To avoid taking blame. To focus attention on the receiver of the action To make general statements where the agent is unimportant	Rice is grown in India. A mess was made when the teacher was absent. I have many rugs. This rug was made by my aunt. ID photos are being taken today.
Include the agent (by . . . ) When the agent gives us new information. When the information is too important to leave out. When the agent is surprising.	Science has helped humanity. Many important scientific discoveries have been made by women. Radioactivity for example was discovered by Marie Curie in 1903. That picture was painted by a monkey.

Active and Passive: Sample sentences

		Active (agent action receiver)	Passive (receiver action agent)
Past	Simple	Mary helped the boy.	The boy was helped by Mary.
Present	Simple	Mary helps the boy.	The boy is helped by Mary.
Future	Simple	Mary will help the boy.	The boy will be helped by Mary.
	be going to	Mary is going to help the boy.	The boy is going to be helped by Mary.
Past	Progressive	Mary was helping the boy.	The boy was being helped by Mary.
Present	Progressive	Mary is helping the boy.	The boy is being helped by Mary.
Future	Progressive	Mary will be helping the boy.	The boy will be being helped by Mary.
Past	Perfect	Mary had helped the boy.	The boy had been helped by Mary.
Present	Perfect	Mary has helped the boy.	The boy has been helped by Mary.
Future	Perfect	Mary will have helped the boy.	The boy will have been helped by Mary

Questions: Move the auxiliary to the front!

• Is the boy being helped by Mary?
• Has the boy been helped by Mary?

Direct and Indirect Objects Can Both be Passive Subjects 213, Holt 59

We can think about sentences as agent→action→receiver receiver→action→agent or as subject→verb→object The subject is what the sentence is about. The object tells what receives the action or to whom or for whom the action is done	agent action receiver Juan ate the pizza. subject verb object receiver action agent The pizza was eaten by Juan subject verb
Longer sentences may have two objects. A direct object tells who or what receives the action or it shows the result of the action. An indirect object tells to whom, to what, for whom or for what the action is done.	S V I.O. D.O. My little sister sang me a song. S V I.O. D.O. Someone gave Mrs. Lee an award
Either an indirect object or a direct object may become the subject of a passive sentence.	I was sung a song by my little sister. A song was sung for me by my little sister. Mrs. Lee was given an award. An award was given to Mrs. Lee.
When the direct object becomes the subject, put to or for in front of the indirect object.

Intransitive Verbs Can’t Be Used in the Passive (Holt 19, A1)

Transitive verbs have a receiver. Sentences with transitive verbs can be rearranged to make the passive.	When will Neil ring the bell? Juanita mailed the package. When with the bell be rung by Neil? The package was mailed by Juanita.
Intransitive Verbs don’t have a receiver. There is no way to rearrange these sentences to make the passive.	Last Saturday we stayed inside. The boat floated on the sea.
Sometimes a verb can be either transitive or intransitive.	Marcie studied the textbook. [transitive] Marcie studied very late. [intransitive]