Unit

42 Passive 1 (is done / was done)

A Study this example:

This house was built in 1981.

‘This house was built’ is passive.
Compare active and passive:
Somebody built this house in 1981. (active)
subject object

This house was built in 1981. (passive)

subject

When we use an active verb, we say what the subject does:

My grandfather was a builder. He built this house in 1981.
It’s a big company. It employs two hundred people.
When we use a passive verb, we say what happens to the subject:
‘How old is this house?’ ‘It was built in 1981.’
Two hundred people are employed by the company.

B When we use the passive, who or what causes the action is often unknown or unimportant:
A lot of money was stolen in the robbery. (somebody stole it, but we don’t know who)
Is this room cleaned every day? (does somebody clean it? – it’s not important who)
If we want to say who does or what causes the action, we use by:
This house was built by my grandfather.
Two hundred people are employed by the company.

C The passive is be (is/was etc.) + past participle (done/cleaned/seen etc.):

(be) done (be) cleaned (be) damaged (be) built (be) seen etc.
The past participle often ends in -ed (cleaned/damaged etc.), but many important verbs are
irregular (built/done/stolen etc.). See Appendix 1.
Compare active and passive, present simple and past simple:

Present simple
Somebody cleans this room every day.
active: clean(s) / see(s) etc.

passive: am/is/are + cleaned/seen etc. This room is cleaned every day.

Many accidents are caused by careless driving.

I’m not invited to parties very often.
How is this word pronounced?

Past simple
Somebody cleaned this room yesterday.
active: cleaned/saw etc.

passive: was/were + cleaned/seen etc. This room was cleaned yesterday.

We were woken up by a loud noise during the night.

‘Did you go to the party?’ ‘No, I wasn’t invited.’
How much money was stolen in the robbery?

84 Passive 2–3 ➜ Units 43–44 by ➜ Unit 128

 Unit
Exercises 42
42.1 Complete the sentences. Use these verbs in the correct form, present or past:
cause damage find hold injure invite
make overtake own send show surround

1 Many accidents are caused by careless driving.

2 Cheese from milk.
3 The roof of the building in a storm a few days ago.
4 A cinema is a place where films .
5 You to the party. Why didn’t you go?
6 This plant is very rare. It in very few places.
7 Although we were driving fast, we by a lot of other cars.
8 In the US, elections for president every four years.
9 There was an accident last night, but fortunately nobody .
10 You can’t see the house from the road. It by trees.
11 I never received the letter. It to the wrong address.
12 The company I work for by a much larger company.
42.2 Write questions using the passive. Some are present and some are past.
1 Ask about glass. (how / make?) How is glass made?
2 Ask about television. (when / invent?) When
3 Ask about mountains. (how / form?)
4 Ask about DNA. (when / discover?)
5 Ask about silver. (what / use for?)
42.3 Put the verb into the correct form, present or past, active or passive.
1 a Two hundred people are employed (employ) by the company.
b The company employs (employ) 200 people.
2 a Water (cover) most of the earth’s surface.
b How much of the earth’s surface (cover) by water?
3 a While I was on holiday, my camera (steal) from my hotel room.
b While I was on holiday, my camera (disappear) from my hotel room.
4 a Robert’s parents (die) when he was very young.
b Robert and his sister (bring up) by their grandparents.
5 a The boat hit a rock and (sink) quickly.
b Fortunately everybody (rescue).
6 a Bill (fire) from his job. He wasn’t very good at it.
b Sue (resign) from her job because she didn’t enjoy it any more.
7 a It can be noisy living here, but it (not / bother) me.
b It can be noisy living here, but I (not / bother) by it.
8 a Maria had an accident. She (knock) off her bike.
b Maria had an accident. She (fall) off her bike.
9 a I haven’t seen these flowers before. What (they / call)?
b I haven’t seen these flowers before. What (you / call) them?
42.4 Instead of using somebody, they, people etc., write a passive sentence.
1 Somebody cleans the room every day. The room is cleaned every day .
2 They cancelled all flights because of fog. All .
3 Somebody accused me of stealing money. money.
4 How do you use this word? How used?
5 The price includes all taxes. All in the price.
6 People warned us not to go out alone. We .
7 We don’t use this office any more. This .
8 They invited five hundred people to the Five hundred
wedding. .
85
Unit
43 Passive 2 (be done / been done / being done)
A Infinitive
active: (to) do/clean/see etc. Somebody will clean this room later.

passive: (to) be + done/cleaned/seen etc. This room will be cleaned later.

The situation is serious. Something must be done before it’s too late.
A mystery is something that can’t be explained.
The music was very loud and could be heard from a long way away.
A new supermarket is going to be built next year.
Please go away. I want to be left alone.

B Perfect infinitive
active: (to) have + done/cleaned/seen etc. Somebody should have cleaned the room .

passive: (to) have been + done/cleaned/seen etc. The room should have been cleaned.
I haven’t received the letter yet. It might have been sent to the wrong address.
If you had locked the car, it wouldn’t have been stolen.
There were some problems at first, but they seem to have been solved.

C Present perfect
active: have/has + done etc. The room looks nice. Somebody has cleaned it .

passive: have/has been + done etc. The room looks nice. It has been cleaned.
Have you heard? The trip has been cancelled.
Have you ever been bitten by a dog?
‘Are you going to the party?’ ‘No, I haven’t been invited.’

Past perfect
active: had + done etc. The room looked nice. Somebody had cleaned it .

passive: had been + done etc. The room looked nice. It had been cleaned.
The vegetables didn’t taste good. They had been cooked too long.
The car was three years old, but hadn’t been used very much.

D Present continuous
active: am/is/are + (do)ing Somebody is cleaning the room at the moment.

passive: am/is/are + being (done) The room is being cleaned at the moment.
There’s somebody walking behind us. I think we are being followed.
A new bridge is being built across the river. It will be finished next year.

Past continuous
active: was/were + (do)ing Somebody was cleaning the room when I arrived.

passive: was/were + being (done) The room was being cleaned when I arrived.
There was somebody walking behind us. I think we were being followed.

86 Passive 1, 3 ➜ Units 42, 44

 Unit
Exercises 43
43.1 Complete these sentences. Use the following verbs in the passive:
arrest carry cause delay do forget keep knock know make repair send

Sometimes you need have (might have, would have etc.).

1 The situation is serious. Something must be done before it’s too late.
2 I haven’t received the letter yet. It might have been sent to the wrong address.
3 A decision will not until the next meeting.
4 These documents are important. They should always in a safe place.
5 This road is in bad condition. It should a long time ago.
6 The injured man couldn’t walk and had to .
7 If you hadn’t shouted at the policeman, you wouldn’t .
8 I’m not sure what time I’ll arrive tomorrow. I may .
9 It’s not certain how the fire started. It might by an electrical fault.
10 A new school is being built. The old one is going to down.
11 The election is next Sunday. The full results will on Tuesday.
12 Last week they weren’t speaking to one another. Now they’re happy again. The problem seems to
.

43.2 Make sentences from the words in brackets. Sometimes the verb is active, sometimes passive.
1 There’s somebody behind us. (We / follow) We’re being followed.
2 This door is a different colour, isn’t it? (you / paint?) Have you painted it?
3 My bike has disappeared. (It / steal!) It
4 My umbrella has disappeared. (Somebody / take) Somebody
5 A neighbour of mine disappeared six months ago.
(He / not / see / since then) He
6 I wonder how Jessica is these days.
(I / not / see / for ages) I
7 A friend of mine was stung by a bee recently.
(you / ever / sting / bee?) you
8 The bridge was damaged recently.
(It / repair / at the moment) It
9 Tom’s car was stolen recently.
(It / not / find / yet)
10 I went into the room and saw that the table and chairs were not in the same place.
(The furniture / move) The

43.3 Instead of using ‘somebody’, ‘they’ etc., write a passive sentence.

1 Somebody has cleaned the room. The room has been cleaned .
2 They are building a new road around the city.
A around the city.
3 They have built two new hotels near the airport.
Two near the airport.
4 When I last visited, they were building some new houses here.
When I last visited, some .
5 The meeting is now on 15 April. They have changed the date.
The date of .
6 I didn’t know that somebody was recording our conversation.
I didn’t know that our .
7 Is anyone doing anything about the problem?
anything the problem?
8 The windows were very dirty. Nobody had cleaned them for ages.
The windows were very dirty. They .

➜ Additional exercises 22–24 (pages 314–15) 87