English — The Passive Voice: Formation and Uses — BAC Literary Stream

The Passive Voice

The passive voice is used when the action is more important than the doer, or when the doer is unknown or obvious.

Formation

Subject + be (conjugated) + past participle + (by agent). Present Simple: am/is/are + PP. Past Simple: was/were + PP. Present Perfect: have/has been + PP. Future: will be + PP. Modal + be + PP.

Examples

The book was written by Hemingway. The house is being built. English is spoken worldwide. The window was broken. The letter will be sent tomorrow.

Exercises

1. Change to passive: (Shakespeare wrote Hamlet – They are building a school – Someone has stolen my car).
2. Fill: (English … (speak) in many countries – The cake … (eat) yesterday).
3. Write 3 passive sentences about your city.

More: Subject-Verb Agreement | Linking Words

دروس مشابهة

• اللغة الإنجليزية — Vocabulary: numbers and dates (تمارين متقدمة) — السنة الثالثة
• اللغة الإنجليزية — Past Perfect (ملخص) — السنة الثانية ثانوي
• اللغة الإنجليزية — Writing: descriptive paragraph — السنة الأولى متوسط