VOZ PASIVA

Made in Spain

Made in China

(A fruit in a window shop)

Not to be eatenNewspapers sold

in here

(At a restaurant or hotel)

English spoken

here

PASSIVE

VOICE

Form:

Use:The passive voice is used in English when it is more convenient or interesting to

stress the thing done than the doer of it, or when the doer is unknown.La voz pasiva se usa en Inglés cuando es más conveniente o interesante enfatizar la acción realizada o cuando el que hace la acción

es desconocido

Structure:

The students paint the tables

the studentsThe tables are painted by

Subject verb object

Active voice

Passive voice

verbAgentComplement

Subject of the passive

By : preposición usada para introducir el complemento agente “por”

The windows are broken by the child

The child breaks the windows

A song is being sung

Someone is singing a song

Simple Present (be) am /is /are + past participle

Present continuous (be) am /is /are + being + past participle

Nota: El verbo BE tiene que coordinar en singular o plural con el sujeto

EXAMPLES

Nota: Cuando el sujeto es desconocido o no es concreto (they/someone/anyone/nobody/people…)no se usa el complemento agente: by someome

The windows were broken by the children

The children broke the windows

“Hamlet” was written by Shakespeare

Shakespeare wrote “Hamlet”

Simple Past (be) was/were + past participle

Verbal Tenses

Tenses SubjectAuxiliary TO BE Past

ParticipleSingular Plural

Present The car/cars is are designed.

Present perfect The car/cars has been have been designed.

Past simple The car/cars was were designed.

Past perfect The car/cars had been designed.

Future The car/cars will be designed.

Future perfect The car/cars will have been designed.

Present

progressiveThe car/cars is being are being designed.

Past progressive The car/cars was being were being designed.

ACTIVITIES

PUT THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES INTO THE PASSIVE USING THE PART UNDERLINED AS THE SUBJECT

1. Someone reads to the old lady every morning.

2. A car ran over our dog.

3. People will simply laugh at you for your trouble.

4. They asked Maisie why she went about with a silly person like me.

5. The wind blew my hat off.

6. People will laugh at you if you go out dressed like that.

7. Someone has stolen my collection of knives.

8. Nobody had eaten the dinner before they finished the conversation

9. Did the noise frighten you?.

10. A new company has taken the business over.

11. I hate people looking at me.

12. He wishes to see that they have carried out his instructions

Doble object

If the active voice sentence has two objects (adirect object and an indirect object), we canmake the passive voice in two different waysSi la oración en voz activa tiene dos objetos (uno directo y otro indirecto), podremos construir la voz pasiva de dos manerasdiferentes. Tengamos en cuenta que en español no se admite el objeto indirecto como sujeto de la pasiva, siendo en inglés, sin embargo, la forma más usada)

e.g. My mother gave me a beautiful present for my birthdayO.I. O.D.

1. A beautiful present was given to me for my birthday by my mother

2. I was given a beautiful present for my birthday by my mother

Sentences with doble object

Put the following sentences into the passive voice. (Write them in the two different ways)

1. She showed the visitors the new baby.

2. They gave me 10 change at the shop

3. She promised him some money for his birthday.

4. They didn't tell me the truth about the situation.

5. The police gave me 5€ reward

More activities1. An announcer is reading the news.

2. Horses pull carts.

3. The Queen is opening that hospital next week.

4. The Prime Minister is making a speech this evening.

5. A policeman is using the phone.

6. A greengrocer sells potatoes.

7. Teenagers buy a lot of pop records.

8. Architects design buildings.

9. Father is cooking the dinner. Mother is cleaning up the kitchen afterwards.

10. A group of small boys are feeding the monkeys.

11. Bees make honey.

12. They have arrested the thief.

13. An unemployed labourer was repairing my roof.

14. Floods swept away the wooden bridge.

15. They were drinking toasts.

16. They close the shop at one o’clock.

17. Prisoners are building the new road.

18. The Mayor is judging the fancy dress parade.

19. A fourteen-year-old boy was driving the car.

20. Mice must have eaten the cheese that the maid left out of the table.(Two verbs. Change the order of the two parts of the sentence)

AUXILIARY VERBS

CAN

MUST

WILL/SHALL

WOULD/SHOULD

+ BE+ PAST

PARTICIPLE

Nobody can open thatdoor

That door can’t be opened

Sentences using auxiliary verbs

1. People will simply laugh at you for your trouble.2. People ought not to speak about such things in public.3. Teachers should make lessons more interesting for pupils.4. People will laugh at you if you go out dressed like that.5. We shall lock the house up for the summer and the old gardener will look after

it.6. You must not throw away empty bottles.7. Nobody can answer that question.8. They should not make the party an excuse for getting drunk.9. You must account for every penny.10. I should love someone to take me to dinner.11. They ought to finish this job by tomorrow. (infinitive)12. You must not hammer nails into the walls without permission.13. Will they mend the roof of their old house?14. We will not admit children under sixteen.15. Children couldn’t have done this damage.

Much more activities (advanced)1. Somebody must have taken it while I was out

2. You must iron this dress for tonight

3. Did the noise frighten you?

4. The orchestra played that piece beautifully

5. He’s so good at golf that nobody can beat him

6. The doctor had to operate on him to find out what was wrong

7. Didn’t anybody ever teach you how to behave?

8. They did nothing until he came

9. I can assure you I will arrange everything in time (two passives)

10. Somebody will meet the visitors at the station

11. A sudden increase in water pressure would break the dam

12. One cannot eat an orange if nobody has peeled it

13. They took the collection half-way through the meeting

14. The police are sure to ask you that question

15. Her beauty struck me deeply

16. You needn’t think your joke took me in

17. They should made the celebration an excuse for bad behaviour

18. People generally assume that money brings happiness

19. Let me know if there is anything we should do

20. They gave the thief a fair trial and sent him to prison

21. Poverty drove him to desperation

22. You must account for every penny

23. A new company has taken the business over

24. They tell me somebody has shot your uncle

25. Somebody can’t have shut the safe properly

26. They can’t put you in prison if they haven’t tried you

27. We’ll have to examine you again

28. People say that tortoises live longer than elephants

29. I should love someone to take me out for dinner

El “se” pasivo

Se arreglaban bicicletas Bikes were repaired

Se han escrito miles de libros Thousands of books have been written

Se venden coches(No nos interesa quién los vende, nos interesa qué es vendido)

No hay otra forma de traducir este “se” al inglés salvo en forma pasiva.

Cars are sold

(usaremos el mismo tiempo empleado en la activa)

Some tips(algunos consejos)

• Para saber hacer bien una pasiva es importante saber diferenciar correctamente las distintas partes de la oración, sobre todo saber localizar los complementos directos e indirectos dentro de la oración activa

No se debe olvidar que la pasiva se construye para resaltar el objeto sobre el sujeto, esto es, es más importante qué se hace que quién lo hace.

• By es la preposición usada para introducir el complemento agente. Significa por (no se puede confundir con “for”)

• Cuando el sujeto de la activa es negativo Nobody… la oración pasiva será negativa:

Nobody can see you you can’t be seen• Cuando pasamos un objeto indirecto a pasiva como tal, no

podemos olvidar que necesitamos incluir to:My mother gave me a gift---- A gift was given to me

INFINITIVE CONSTRUCTIONS AFTER PASSIVE VERBS

After acknowledge, assume, believe, claim, consider, estimate, feel, find, know, presume, report, say, think, understand etc.

Sentences of the type People think/ consider/ know etc. that he is... have two possible passive forms:

1. It is thought/considered/known that he is.... 2. He is thought/considered/known to be...

People believe that he writes novels1. It’s believed that he writes novels2. He’s believed to write novels

When the thought concerns a previous action we used the perfect infinitive (TO HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE) so that:

People know that he was..... (Nota que el primer verbo está en presente y el segundo en pasado)= It is known that he was.....

(PRESENTE) (PASADO)

or He is known to have been.......(PRESENTE) (INFINITIVO PERFECTO)

People believe that he was a spy= It is believed that he was a spyor He is believed to have been a spy

This is HENRY. He is very old but nobody knows exactly how old he is. But:

It is said that he is 108 years old

He is said to be 108 years oldBoth sentences mean “People say that he is 108 years old”

People say that Henrry eats ten eggs a day

It is said that Henry eats ten eggs a day Henry is said to eat ten eegs a day

You can also use these structures with:thought believed reported understood known

expected alleged considered• It is believed that the wanted

man is living in New York

• It is expected that the strike will begin tomorrow

• It is alleged that he stole $60

• It was alleged that he had stole $60

• It is reported that two people were killed in the explosion

• The wanted man is believed to be living in New York

• The strike is expected to begin tomorrow

• He is alleged to have stolen $60

• He was allegued to have stolen $60

• Two people were reported to have been killed in the explosion

Activities

• Write another sentence with the same meaning1. It is said that many people are homeless after the floods

Many people__________________________________________

2. It is known that the Prime Minister is in favor of the new law

The Prime Minister_____________________________________

3. It is expected that the government will lose the election

The government_______________________________________

4. It is thought that the prisioner escaped by climbing over the wall

The prisioner__________________________________________

5. It is believed that the thieves got in through the kitchen window

6. It is alleged that he drove through the town at 90 miles an hour

7. It is reported that two people were seriously injured during the accident

8. It is said that three men were arrested after the explosion

Supposed to

• Three different examples

1. Let’s go and see that film. It’s supposed to be very good( People say that it is very good=it is said to be very good)

2. I’d better hurry. It’s nearly 8.30. I’m supposed to be meeting Tom at 8.15 (=I arranged to meet Tom)

3. You are not supposed to park here (you aren’t allowed to park

here)

Activities • There are a lot of stories about Arthur but nobody knows whether they

are true. Make sentences with supposed to

Example: People say that Arthur eats spiders Arthur is supposed to eat spiders

1. People say that Arthur is very rich

2. People say that he has 22 children

3. People say that he sleeps on a bed of nails

4. People say that he won a lot of money gambling

5. People say that he writes poetry

• In each of the following example what happens is not what is supposed to happen.

Use supposed to or not supposed to.

Clean come be smoke phone study take

Example: Tom you are smoking! But you are not supposed to smoke in this room

Why are the windows still dirty? You were supposed to clean them

1. What are the children doing at home? They _________ at school

2. He __________ in the evenings but he always goes out

3. Don’t put sugar in your tea. You know you ___________sugar

4. Oh dear! I _________________ Ann but I completely forgot

5. They arrived very early – at 2.00. They ________________ until 3.00