اللغة الإنجليزية — Grammar: The Passive Voice (Formation and Use) — 3 ثانوي — شعبة آداب — بكالوريا — المنهاج الجزائري

English Grammar: The Passive Voice (Formation and Use) — BAC Literary Stream

The passive voice is an essential grammatical structure in English, particularly important for the baccalaureate exam. It allows us to focus on the action or the recipient of the action rather than the doer.

1. Formation of the Passive Voice

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

Tense Transformations:

• Present Simple: am/is/are + past participle. Ex: The letter is written by John.
• Present Continuous: am/is/are being + past participle. Ex: The house is being built.
• Past Simple: was/were + past participle. Ex: The car was repaired yesterday.
• Past Continuous: was/were being + past participle. Ex: The dinner was being cooked.
• Present Perfect: have/has been + past participle. Ex: The project has been completed.
• Past Perfect: had been + past participle. Ex: The film had been watched.
• Future Simple (will): will be + past participle. Ex: The exam will be held next week.
• Modals: modal + be + past participle. Ex: The work must be finished today.

2. When to Use the Passive Voice

• When the agent is unknown: My phone was stolen.
• When the agent is obvious: The thief was arrested. (by the police)
• When we want to emphasize the action or the receiver: The president was elected.
• In formal or scientific writing: The experiment was conducted.

3. Transforming Active to Passive

Steps:

1. The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
2. The verb changes to be + past participle (in the same tense).
3. The subject of the active sentence becomes the agent introduced by “by” (optional).

Example:
Active: Shakespeare wrote Hamlet.
Passive: Hamlet was written by Shakespeare.

4. Special Cases

Verbs with two objects

Some verbs (give, send, show, tell, offer) have two objects. Two passive forms are possible:
Active: The teacher gave the students a test.
Passive 1: The students were given a test.
Passive 2: A test was given to the students.

Impersonal Passive

With verbs like say, believe, think, report:
Active: People say that he is rich.
Passive: He is said to be rich. / It is said that he is rich.

Exercises

Transform the following sentences into passive voice:

1. The students wrote the essays.

2. Someone has stolen my wallet.

3. The company will launch a new product.

4. The chef is cooking the meal.

5. They must complete the project by Friday.

Related Lessons

For more English grammar lessons:
Conditional Sentences and
Used to / Be Used to / Get Used to.

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