PASSIVE VOICE

La voz pasiva es una categoría gramatical que hace posible ver la acción de una frase de
dos formas, sin cambiar los hechos mencionados.

A.- Mrs. Smith murdered the detective = active voice

B.- The detective was murdered by Mrs. Smith = passive voice

La voz pasiva se forma usando el verbo to be como auxiliar, poniéndolo en el mismo

tiempo que el verbo de la oración en voz activa y añadiendo el participio (past participle) del
verbo activo.
- el sujeto activo se transforma en agente pasivo
- el objeto activo se transforma en sujeto pasivo
- la preposición “by” es introducida antes del agente. La formula del agente
preposicional de las frases pasivas es un elemento opcional de la frase

Los tres cambios pueden ser mostrados de la siguiente manera

Sujeto verbo activo objeto

The waiter serves refreshments

Refreshments are served by the waiter

Sujeto verbo pasivo agente

El efecto del cambio es la posición inversa de la frase nominal en al voz pasiva.

Noun phrase1 active verb phrase noun phrase2

noun phrase2 passive verb phrase by noun phrase1

Ejemplos:
Active: We keep the butter here
Passive: The butter is kept here (by us)

Active: They broke the window

Passive: The window was broken (by them)

La voz pasiva de los tiempos continuos requiere el uso de las formas continuas de to be,
los cuales no son muy usados.
Active: They are repairing the wall
Passive: The wall is being repaired (by them)

Las formas: auxiliar (modal) + (combinación de) infinitivo se hacen pasivas cuando el
infinitivo es pasivo.
Active: You must / should close the door
Passive: The door must / should be closed
Active: He ought to have asked them
Passive: They ought to have been asked

Existen otras combinaciones de infinitivo:

Verbos que indican emoción o sensación + objeto + infinitivo
Active: He wants me to wash his car

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 Passive: He wants his car to be washed

Verbos que indican mandato, consejo, invitación + objeto +infinitivo

Active: They invited her to go out
Passive: She was invited to go out

Con verbos como: advise, beg, order, recommend, urge +objeto + infinitivo + objeto, se
puede hacer de dos maneras:
- poniendo el verbo principal en voz pasiva como en el anterior
- o bien advise, beg, etc + that ...... should + infinitive passive

active: He advised me to reduce the speed

passive: I was advised to reduce the speed
He advised that the speed should be reduced

Verbos como: agree, be anxious, arrange, be determined, determined, decide, demand +

infinitivo + objeto se expresan en voz pasiva:
- THAT......SHOULD

active: We decided to sell the car

passive: We decided that the car should be sold.

Cuando se trata de combinaciones de gerundio en verbos como:

advise, insist, propose, recommend, suggest + gerund + object
Se expresa en pasiva con:
- THAT......SHOULD

active: They recommend wearing a neoprene suit

passive: They recommend that a neoprene suit should be worn

En otras formas se utiliza el gerundio pasivo:

active: She remembers him taking her to the museum
passive: She remembers being taken to the museum

En el inglés coloquial se usa en algunas ocasiones GET en vez de BE

- The eggs got (=were) broken

- You’ll get (=be) sacked if you take more time off.

Verb Form Active voice Passive voice

Pres. Simple keeps am/are/is kept

Pres. Conti. am/are/is keeping am/are/is being kept
Past Simple kept was/were kept
Past Conti was/were keeping was/were being kept
Pres Perfect has/have kept have/has been kept
Pres. Perfect Cont has/have been keeping have/has been being kept

Past Perfect had kept had been kept

Past Perfect Cont. had been keeping had been being kept
Future Simple will keep will be kept
Future Perfect will have kept will have been kept

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 Conditional would keep would be kept
Cond. Perfect would have kept would have been kept
Pres. Infinitive to keep to be kept
Perfect Inf to have kept to have been kept
Pres Part/Gerund keeping being kept
Perfect Part. having kept having been kept

Modals: can / could keep can / could be kept

may / might keep may / might be kept
must keep must be kept
have to keep have to be kept
ought to keep ought to be kept
should keep should be kept

Cambios en los pronombres

I by me
you by you
he by him
she by her
it by it
we by us
they by them.

Cuando una oración cuyo verbo puede ir seguido tanto por objeto directo como por el
indirecto: give, ask, tell, send, lend, teach, pay, show, etc; puede realizarse la pasiva de dos
formas:

active: Someone has given him a kitty

passive: He has been given a kitty
A kitty has been given to him

Hay un serie de construcciones de infinitivo después de verbos en pasiva: acknowledge,

believe, claim, consider, find, know, report, say, think, understand que tienen dos posibilidades:

It is believed, considered, thought..... that he is

He is believed, considered, thought .... to be

de igual modo
active : People said that he was jealous of her
passive: It was said that he was jealous of her
He was said to be jealous of her

Verbos con características especiales en voz pasiva

Suppose: en voz pasiva + present infinitive
active: You are supposed to know how to drive
passive: It is your duty / You should know how to drive

Let o infinitives
active: They let us go let se usa sin to
passive: We were let go

active: We saw them go out He made us work

passive: They were seen to go out We were made to work

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 There is / was

active: There was nothing to see

passive: There was nothing to be seen
active: There is a lot of work to do
passive: There is a lot of work to be done

Causatives HAVE / GET SOMETHING DONE/.

Structure : have / get (any verbal tense) + object + past participle

Ej: She’s having her hair cut (present continuous)
Mike has had / got his car fixed (present perfect)

Se usa para hablar de acciones que no sabemos o no queremos hacer nosotros mismos y
precisamos que alguien las haga por nosotros. Esta fórmula se puede utilizar en cualquier
tiempo verbal.
Ej: They are having /getting their house painted this summer
John could have / get his beard shaved

Aun cuando el significado es igual el uso de get es más informal que el de have
Como las oraciones de voz pasiva no siempre necesitamos mencionar el complemento agente.
Ej: Is John having his car fixed?>>> No lo arreglará él, sino un mecánico.
He is fixing his car >>>Si lo arregla él

EJERCICIO.
NAME:............................................................. Nº:................ COURSE:...............

1.- People must not leave umbrellas inside the taxis.

2.- They make these artificial flowers of plastic and silk.

3.- They rang the church bells as a hurricane warning.

4.- We use this flat only on special occasions when we get guests.

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5.- This author has written a special edition of his book for children.

6.- Did Peter’s idea about the party interest you in that moment ?

7.- The judge gave him the details of his uncle’s death.

8.- A thief stole my car and brought it back only when I offered a reward for it.

9.- The government has called out troops and will send them to Bosnia.

10.- Members can keep books for two weeks. Then they must return them to the library.

11.- You must not hammer nails in the walls without permission.

12.-Peter switched on the light and opened the door.

13.- They are pulling down the Empire State Building.

14..- Someone will serve the dinner.

15.- The judge gave her two weeks in which to pay the fine.

16.- Somebody has slashed the picture with a knife

17.- Beavers make these dams

18.- They feed the lions at the zoo once a day.

19.- He will send you the book you asked him for

20.- The thieves have broken the safe to steal the money.

THE PASSIVE

Active Passive
Present Simple Am / is /are + past participle
They collect apples every summer. Apples are collected every summer.

Present Continuous Am / is / are + being + past participle

A new theatre is being built.
They are building a new theatre.

Past Simple Was /were + past participle

Someone stole my car. My car was stolen.

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Past Continuous Was / were + being + past participle
They were repairing the bathroom. The bathroom was being repaired.

Present perfect Has /have + been + past participle

Peter has invited me. I have been invited.

Past Perfect Had + been + past participle

They have made the arrangements. The arrangements had been made.

Will Will + be + past participle

They will deliver the letter next week. The letter will be delivered next week.

Be going to Am /is /are + going to + be + past participle

A meeting is going to be held tomorrow
They are going to hold a meeting tomorrow.

Present modals Modal + be + past participle

You can change the date of your trip. The date of your trip can be changed.

Past modals Modal + have been + past participle

You should have done your homework Your homework should have been done
yesterday. yesterday.

-ing Being + past participle

I don’t remember anyone telling me that. I don’t remember being told that.

Infinitive To be + past participle

He wanted her to wash his car. He wanted his car to be washed.

Perfect infinitive To have been + past participle

Someone seems to have made a mistake A mistake seems to have been made

Note: Passive forms of the present perfect continuous, past perfect continuous, future
continuous or continuous infinitives are not normally used.

Using the passive

1. Use the passive when the object of the verb is more important than the subject.
2. Look at these sentences:
a. Charles Dickens wrote the novel “Oliver Twist”
b. The novel “Oliver Twist was written by Charles Dickens
In the first sentence, Charles Dickens, who is the subject of the verb write, is the main topic of
the sentence. Therefore the verb write is in the active form.
In the second sentence, the novel “Oliver Twist”, which is the object of the verb write, is the
main topic. Therefore the verb write is in the passive form.
1. The passive is often used in formal or fairly formal contexts, for example, in media
reports, public information material (rules, brochures, signs, etc.), formal letters,
factual reports, etc.
2. The agent in a passive pattern is the person or thing that did the action. For example,
in the sentence The novel “Oliver Twist” was written by Charles Dickens, Charles
Dickens is the agent. If the verb was active, the agent would be the subject.
3. Use by after the passive verb and before the agent.
4. Use the agent if it is essential to the meaning of the sentence or if it adds important or
interesting information. The second sentence would have no real meaning without

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 agent. The sentence “The novel “Oliver Twist” was written in 1861 by Charles
Dickens makes perfect sense without the agent, but the agent adds important
information.

Verbs with two objects

1. There are several common verbs which can have two objects in the active form. These
verbs are connected with the idea of “doing something for somebody”, for example:
give, bring, buy, take, lend, send, show, sell.
2. In the active, these verbs can be used with both a direct object (the thing that the
subject gives, lends, etc.) and an indirect object (the person who “receives” the direct
object) in these two patterns:
A friend gave /lent /bought me this fountain pen.
A friend gave /lent /bought this fountain pen to /for me.
3. In the passive, the direct object or the indirect object can be used as the subject of the
sentence:
This book was given to me a friend OR
I was given this book by a friend.

HAVE/GET SOMETHING DONE

This pattern is a mixture of active and
passive, use get if the subject causes the
action to be done. Both have and get
something done can be used to express the
following ideas:
1. When the subject of have /get does I’m going to have /get my hair cut
not do the action, someone else I’m having /getting my car repaired.
(usually someone who is paid to do
it) does the action for the subject.

2. To say that something unpleasant She had her bag stolen last week.
happened to the subject, more usual He has her leg broken in the accident
to use have in this pattern.
3. To say that the subject completes an
action rather than leaving it in the I must get this work done this afternoon.
middle or leaving it until later, more Let’s get the room tidied and then we can go
usual to use get in this pattern. out.

RECEIVED INFORMATION
Used said /reported /believed /thought /understood /known
1. When talking about information that has been received, we often use these verbs in the
passive form because it is not known who provided the information or because it is the
information, and not the person who provided it, that is important.
2. These verbs can be used to report information in these patterns.

It + be + said, etc. (that) + subject + active Subject + be + said, etc. + appropriate

verb form of infinitive with to
This area is said to get crowded in the
It is said that this area gets crowded in the summer.
summer. He was reported /understood to be living in
It was reported /understood that he was living another country.

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in another country. He is believed /known to have resigned.
It is believed /known that he has resigned.
It is thought that she has been doing her job He is thought to have been doing her job very
very badly. badly.

Use subject + the supposed + the appropriate form of infinitive with to

To talk about what people say about something or what you have heard about something.
It’s supposed to be a good film. (= the critics, friends, etc. say that is a good film)
He’s supposed to have been making a lot of money. (= people say he’s been making a lot of
money)

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