Grammar: The Passive Voice (by Carla)

Hello all!

I hope you've enjoyed your weekends. We're reaching the end of the academic year, but there are still many things to be learnt :)

This post is going to be a short recap of the Passive Voice.

What is the Passive Voice?

Sentences can be described as active or passive. For example, an active sentence would be "I eat an apple" and its passive equivalent would be "An apple is eaten". Another example is "The dog broke the window" and its passive version would be "The window was broken by the dog".

Using the passive voice is a way of writing sentences so that the subject has the action 'done' to it. As you can see, two main changes take place:

• The order of the sentence is inverted.

• The verb format changes from the active to the passive.

We use the passive voice to make our writing sound more formal and objective.

This video is a great summary of the Passive Voice:

As you can see, there are several verb tenses that can be modified from the Active Voice to the Passive Voice. The most commonly used tenses are:

• The Present Simple

• The Present Continuous

• The Present Perfect

• The Past Simple

• The Past Continuous

• The Past Perfect

• The Future Simple

The Present Simple

I do my homework. --> My homework is done.

Yo hago mis deberes --> Mis deberes se hacen.

The Present Continuous

I am doing my homework. --> My homework is being done.

Yo estoy haciendo mis deberes --> Mis deberes se están haciendo.

The Present Perfect

I have done my homework. --> My homework has been done.

Yo he hecho mis deberes --> Mis deberes se han hecho.

The Past Simple

I did my homework. --> My homework was done.

Yo hice mis deberes --> Mis deberes fueron hechos.

The Past Continuous

I was doing my homework. --> My homework was being done.

Yo estaba haciendo mis deberes --> Mis deberes se estaban haciendo.

The Past Perfect

I had done my homework. --> My homework had been done.

Yo había hecho mis deberes --> Mis deberes se habían hecho.

The Future Simple

I will do my homework. --> My homework will be done.

Yo haré mis deberes --> Mis deberes se harán.

Exercises

Basic Level

If you want to practise some easier exercises, you will find a quiz at the bottom of this page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z4hrt39/articles/zkttng8

And a useful website here:

https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/complex_tests/passive1/index.php

Intermediate Level

If you want to practise exercises at an intermediate level, you will find these websites useful:

https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/complex_tests/passive2/index.php

https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/active_passive/passive_sentences1.htm

I hope that this recap about the Passive Voice is useful!

Best wishes,

Carla