What is passive voice?

Passive voice is formed by making the object of the sentence into the subject of the sentence.

e.g. The dog bites Sam.

Sam is bitten by the dog.

When do we use passive voice?

We use passive voice when:

• focusing on the person or thing affected by the action. That means the object of the action is more important than those who perform the action.

e.g. The dog bites Sam.

(In this sentence, we want to focus on the action done by “the dog”.)

e.g. Sam is bitten by the dog.

(In this sentence, we want to focus on “Sam”. He is the victim.)

When do we use passive voice?

We use passive voice when:

• we don’t know who did the action.

e.g. Someone broke the window.

(In this sentence, we don’t know who broke the window, so we use someone as a subject. However, we can use passive voice instead.)

e.g. The window was broken.

(If we don’t know who did the action, we can skip the subject by using passive voice.)

How do we form passive voice?

Active Voice Passive Voice

Present Tense:

My mother washes dishes every night.

is/ am/ are + past participle

Dishes are washed by my mother every night.

Past Tense:

Natalie broke the window last night.

was/ were + past participle

The window was broken by Natalie.

All the children like climbing up the tree and swinging from the branches.

What does the tree say?

The children break my branches.

My branches are broken by the children.

(break)

Peter and Mary are having a lesson, they talk throughout the lesson.

What does the teacher do?

The teacher punishes Peter and Mary.

Peter and Mary are punished by the teacher.

(punish)

Johnny and his friends go camping.

What does Johnny do?

Johnny sets up the tent.

The tent is set up by Johnny.

(set up)

Chinese New Year is coming.

What do May and David do?

May and David clean their bedroom.

The bedroom is cleaned by May and David.

(clean)

There is a car accident. I am injured.

What do “I” say?

The car hits me.

I am hit by the car.

(hit)

Jack watched a boring movie.

How did Jack feel?

The movie bored Jack.

Jack was bored by the movie.

(bore)

It was my birthday yesterday, I got a surprising gift.

How did “I” feel?

The gift surprised me.

I was surprised by the gift.

(surprise)

It was Susan’s birthday yesterday.

What did Susan do?

Susan invited us to go to her party.

We were invited to go to Susan’s party.

(invite)

Alan is asking Alex a question.

Who taught Alex last year?

Mr. Chan taught him last year.

He was taught by Mr. Chan last year.

(Mr. Chan)

Who taught you English last year?

Mr. Chan.

• Change the sentences into passive voice.

They built a house.

A house was built by them.

Help!

Our uncle took Susan to the hospital.

Susan was taken to the hospital by our uncle.

Help!

We clean the car.

The car is cleaned by us.

Help!

A robber broke the window of the shop.

The window of the shop was broken by a robber.

Help!

I painted my room blue.

My room was painted blue by me.

Help!

That company publishes a new book.

A new book is published by that company.

Help!

Present Past Past Participle

wash washed

break broke

clean cleaned

hit hitbore bored

punish punished

set set

washed

broken

set

cleaned

hitbored

punished

Present Past Past Participle

surprise surprisedinvite invited

take took

paint paintedpublish published

teach taughtbuild built

surprisedinvited

builttaken

paintedpublished

taught

break broke brokenclean cleaned cleaned