Prof Marisa Fidalgo

PASSIVE VOICE NOTES

A. General
- Passive voice= transformation of the sentence, the person or thing that is the centre
of the action is placed as subject.
Active Passive
Subject agent ( by)
Object subject
Active Verb passive verb ( to be ( active tense) + past participle ( active verb)
EX: ACTIVE: She gave presents in her office
S V Direct obj place adverbial

PASSIVE: Presents were given in the office by her

S V place adv agent
- Used when:
- The active subject is unknown or not very important, impersonal sentences
Ex: He was killed yesterday ( we don’t know the killer)
It is thought that he was the author / he was thought to be the author
( se pensaba que era el autor)
- The active subject is self-evident from the context
Ex: Peter………. He was sent there by the Government
- For modesty, to avoid mentioning the subject
Ex: As it has been stated before ( as I have stated before…)
- When the object is more important than the subject
Ex: My father was sent to Mexico / Gifts were bought
B. Passive Verb ( auxiliary + past participle)
- Auxiliaries: Be ( the most common) My brother was brought some books
Get ( getting into a state or situation) I got dressed
Get / have ( causative) I got/ had my hair cut
- Tenses
Active Passive
Present Simple give/gives am/is/are given
Present continuous is/are giving is/are being given
Present perfect has/have given has/have been given
Past Simple gave was/were given
Past continuous was/were giving was/were being given
Past perfect had given had been given
Future Simple will give will be given
Going to future am/is/ are going to give am/is/ are going to be given
Simple conditional would give would be given
Infinitive to give to be given
Modal verbs can give can be given
Prof Marisa Fidalgo

C. TYPES OF PASSIVE
1. AGENTIVE passive ( with direct object/ complement)
( the agent is avoided when it’s a pronoun,” people” or an indefinite pronoun)
EX: They sent a present A present was sent yesterday
Her mother kissed her She was kissed by her mother

2. Passive with TWO OBJECTS/ COMPLEMENTS

The indirect object is used as subject if people interest more than things or if it is longer.
EX: They gave her two presents She was given two presents ( preferred)
I. Obj D. Obj Two presents were given to her

3. CAUSATIVE USE
It is used when you ask, require someone to do something for you. You “get” a benefit.
We use GET or HAVE as the auxiliary + object+ past participle. There’s no agent here.
Ex: Someone fixes my car for me ( I got a benefit ( my car fixed) from other people’s work)

I get/ have my car fixed ( me arreglaron el coche)

Beneficiary auxiliary object past participle
ex: The hairdresser is cutting my sister’s hair my sister is getting/having her hair cut
Someone will repair his watch he will get/have his watch repaired

4. NON- AGENTIVE passive: impersonal sentences without agent, with reporting verbs
Used with verbs like: believe, report, consider, know, think, suppose, say, expect etc.
EX: We are supposed to return next week ( se supone que volveremos la semana que viene)
She was thought to know about it ( se pensaba que ella lo sabía)
You can use a bare infinitive or a perfect one ( to have+ past participle) if you refer to a past
situation
Ex: My mother was expected to have arrived sooner ( se esperaba que mi madre
hubiese llegado antes)
5. Passive with THAT CLAUSE or INFINITIVE as complement / object
a) That clause
- Place “it” as subject + passive verb + that clause
- Place the subject of the ‘that clause’ as the subject + passive verb + infinitive of the verb
in the ‘that clause’ ( bare or perfect infinitive)
EX: They wanted that she made the cake.
Direct comple = that clause
1. It was wanted that she made the cake ( se quería que hiciera el pastel)
They wanted that she made the cake.

2. She was wanted to have made the cake

( se quería que hiciera el pastel)
b) Infinitive
- Place “it” as subject + passive verb+ infinitive
They desired to have success
It was desired to have success (se deseaba tener éxito)