1. THE PASSIVE
Advanced Grammar
4to “C”
Alejandra Torres Portillo
Rocio Zecua Tapia

2. The passive
◦ How is it formed?
BE Past participle of a transitive verb
Ej:
My car was stolen
We can use a by-phrase after the passive verb to say who or what causes the
action.
My car was repaired by Andrew
We use passive verbs to say what happens to the subject.
Two men were arrested.
Active verbs are used to say what the subject does.
The police arrested two men.

3. Active and Passive
◦ We use an active verb to say
what the subject does.
◦ We use the object of an active
verb as the subject of a passive
verb.
We clear the table and wash the dishes
vs. The table is cleared and the dishes
are washed.
◦ We use a passive verb to say what
happens to the subject.
◦ We cant create passives from
intransitive verbs.
Rick came later NOT Rick was come
later

4. Passive tenses
Tense
Present simple
passive
Am/is/are Past participle
Present continuous
passive
Am/is/are being Past participle
Present perfect
passive
Have/ has been Past participle
Past simple passive Was/ were Past participle
Past continuous
passive
Was/were being Past participle
Past perfect passive Had been Past Participle

5. Passive verbs
Verbs with and without objects
1. We create passives from
transitive verbs not from
intransitive verbs (or
phrasal verbs).
2. We usually create passives
from verbs which describe
action, not states.
That belongs to me NOT That is
belonged to me
Verbs with two objects
◦ We can create two passive structures when we use
those verbs which can have an indirect object and
a direct object.
They awarded Maria first time----- Active
◦ The passive structure we choose depends on
which person or thing we want to talk about.
◦ We put the indirect object as subject or after the
preposition to, not after the verb.
A note was handed to Cecilia NOT A note was handed
Cecilia
◦ We can use a DO as subject of a passive, but not
another noun that classifies it.
They elected Clinton president twice --- Clinton was elected
President twice---- NOT
President was elected Clinton twice.

6. Passives with by-phrases and
ergative
◦ Passives with by-phrases
◦ The agent is the person or thing
that does or causes the action (in
active sentences, the agent is the
subject).
◦ In passive sentences, we don't
usually mention the agent.
◦ We can include the agent in a by-
phrase after the verb when the
meaning is not complete without it
OR for emphasis and contrast.

7. Ergative
◦ Ergatives are transitive verbs that are used without an object: the park closes at
six
◦ We use ergatives to say that an action simply happens, without an agent.
◦ We sometimes use ergatives instead of passives: The park is closed by the guard
◦ We can use ergatives when we want to describe natural processes and
changes or to describe actions, but not mention the cause:
The snow is melting OR I don’t know how it happened, but the string broke.
◦ We don’t use reflexive pronouns with ergatives:
The string broke itself.
◦ Others verbs used like this include: burst, crack, grow, increase, shake,
start…