English – The Passive Voice: Advanced Structures – BAC Literary Stream

English – The Passive Voice: Advanced Structures – BAC Literary Stream

The passive voice is used when the action is more important than the doer, or when the doer is unknown or obvious. In the BAC exam, you need to master the transformation between active and passive voice across all tenses.

Formation of the Passive Voice:

The passive voice is formed with: Subject + be (conjugated) + past participle (+ by agent)

• Present Simple: “The house is cleaned every day.”
• Present Continuous: “The house is being cleaned now.”
• Past Simple: “The house was cleaned yesterday.”
• Past Continuous: “The house was being cleaned when I arrived.”
• Present Perfect: “The house has been cleaned.”
• Past Perfect: “The house had been cleaned before we arrived.”
• Future (will): “The house will be cleaned tomorrow.”
• Future (going to): “The house is going to be cleaned.”
• Modal verbs: “The house must be cleaned. / can be cleaned.”

Active to Passive Transformation:

Step 1: The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
Step 2: Change the verb to the appropriate form of ‘be’ + past participle.
Step 3: The subject of the active sentence becomes the ‘by agent’ (optional).

Active: “Shakespeare wrote Hamlet.”
Passive: “Hamlet was written by Shakespeare.”

Passive with Two Objects:

Some verbs have two objects (direct and indirect). Both can become the subject of a passive sentence:

• Active: “She gave me a gift.”
• Passive 1: “I was given a gift.” (indirect object as subject)
• Passive 2: “A gift was given to me.” (direct object as subject)

Impersonal Passive (It is said that…):

Used with reporting verbs: say, believe, think, know, report, consider, etc.

• Active: “People say that he is a genius.”
• Passive 1: “It is said that he is a genius.”
• Passive 2: “He is said to be a genius.”

Common Mistakes to Avoid:

• Don’t use “by” when the agent is obvious or unknown: “My car was stolen.” (not “by someone”)
• Don’t forget to change the verb tense correctly.
• Intransitive verbs (sleep, arrive, go, die) cannot be passive.

BAC Exercise:

Rewrite in the passive voice:
1. The students wrote the essays. → The essays ________.
2. Someone has stolen my wallet. → My wallet ________.
3. They are building a new school. → A new school ________.
4. You must complete the form. → The form ________.
5. People believe that he is honest. → He ________.

Answers: 1. were written by the students, 2. has been stolen, 3. is being built, 4. must be completed, 5. is believed to be honest

Similar Lessons

• English – The Passive Voice: Formation and Uses
• English – Reported Speech: Statements, Questions, and Commands

📍 دروس مشابهة

• English – Expressing Cause and Result: So, Such, Too, Enough – BAC
• English – Prepositions of Time, Place, and Movement – BAC
• English Grammar and Writing — Causative Verbs: Have, Get, Let, Make — BAC Practice Part 14 — 3rd Year Secondary — Literary Stream