Passive sentences

WHAT IS A PASSIVE STRUCTURE?
Active sentences usually focus on who did the action:

• My sister broke the window.

Whereas passive sentences usually focus on who or what suffered the effects of the action:

• The window was broken.

On most occassions the agent (who did the action) is not mentioned but, if relevant, it can be mentioned after the preposition by.

• The window was broken by my sister.
• Don Quixote was written by Cervantes.

HOW IS IT MADE?
Passive structures have these elements:

1. the passive subject (my sister)
2. verb be in the right tense (the same tense that would be used in the corresponding active structure)
3. the past participle of the lexical verb
4. only if necessary, the agent (by + ______)

CHANGING ACTIVE SENTENCES  INTO THE PASSIVE

1. the object of the active sentence becomes the subject in the passive structure
2. verb be in the same tense as the active verb in the active structure
3. past participle of the main verb
4. the subjet of the active sentence becames the object in the passive structure (by + agent)
• Peter builds a house. -> A house is built by Peter.
• They were cooking dinner when we arrived. -> Dinner was being cooked when we arrived.
• I will finish it tomorrow. -> It will be finished tomorrow.

PASSIVE SENTENCES WITH TWO SUBJECTS (ONLY ESO-4)
Some active sentences have both a direct and an indirect object. In English both can be the subject in a passive structure. The indirect object is introduced by to in the passive sentence.

• ACTIVE: My sister asked me a question.
• PASSIVE 1: A question was asked to me.
• PASSIVE 2: I was asked a question.

• ACTIVE. The teacher explained the exercise to the students.
• PASSIVE 1: The exercise was explained to the students.
• PASSIVE 2: The studens were explained the exercise.

EXERCISES

• Exercise 1 (www.isabelperez.com)
• Exercise 2 (www.isabelperez.com)
• Exercise 3 (www.isabelperez.com)
• Exercises 4 (www.englisch-hilfen.de)