2.1 Paco was taught English by his sister.

Icono IDevice Listening activity
When reading the item of news in the newspaper, Paco remembers how hard it was for him to learn the passive voice in English. However his sister had helped him understand it. And now, as almost with everything, he has no difficulty in reading newspapers or using sentences to say what is done to people or things. Sonia asked him to watch the following video.
 

Watch the video and guess how the passive voice is formed.


Icono IDevice Important

 

Remember that in the passive voice the subject is not the doer of the action. On the contrary, the subject of the passive voice is affected by the action of the verb.

E.g.: Children are made to dig in diamond mines in Sierra Leone.


Icono de iDevice Solved exercise

One of the greatest difficulties students find when using the passive voice is in the formation of the verb tense. Remember we need the verb to be and the Past Participle of the main verb.

Have a look at the following examples and then fill in the chart!

Tense Active Passive
Present Simple
 give/gives  
Past Simple
 gave  
Present Continuous
 am/is/are giving
  
Past continuous
 was/were giving
  
Present Perfect
 have/has given
  
Past Perfect
 had given
  

 

Active Passive
make/makes am/is/are made
made was/were made
has/have made
 has/have been made

 

 

 

 


Icono IDevice Further knowledge

Before watching the following videos to perfectly understand the Passive voice, click here to have a quick look at the main information you must know about this topic. The videos are a bit long, but it is worth watching them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, you will find further information about the verb tenses in the active and passive voice by clicking here.


Icono de iDevice Self-Assessment

Transform the following short sentences into the passive voice. Pay attention to the subject of the passive!

 

Active Passive
Paco sent a letter A letter (by Paco)
Paco frequently writes postcards Postcards frequently (by Paco)
Andrés is building a kennel
 A kennel (by Andrés)
They have given it to Paco
 Paco it
What did they tell Paco?
 What Paco ?
She had not brought the books before The books not before (by her)
Sonia helped her friends with English
 Sonia's friends with English (by her)
  

Up to now, we've studied how to form simple sentences in the passive voice. Let's have a look at more complex structures in the following section of the topic!
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