Passive Voice

A.      The office is cleaned everyday

The office was cleaned everyday

Compare active and passive:

Somebody cleans the office everyday                   [active]

The office is cleaned everyday                                  [passive]

Somebody cleaned the office everyday                                [active]

The office was cleaned yesterday                            [passive]

B.      The passive is:

Present simple

Past simple

Am/is/are/wa/were [not] + cleaned, invented, injured, done, taken, built, etc.

The past participle of regular verbs is –ed [cleaned/damaged, etc].

For a list f irregular past participles [done/built/taken, etc]

·         Butter is made of milk.

·         Oranges are imported into Britain.

·         How often are these rooms cleaned?

·         This house was built 100 years ago.

·         These houses were built 100 years ago.

·         When was the telephone invented?

·         We weren’t invited to the party last week.

·         Was anybody injured in the accident? Yes, two people were taken to hospital.

C.      Was/were born

·         I was born in London in 1962 [not I’m born]

·         Where were you born?

D.      Passive + by …

·         We were woken up by a loud noise. (= the noise woke us up)

·         The telephone was invented by Alexander Bell in 1876.

·         My brother was bitten by a dog last week.

Word Formation

Suffixes which form nouns referring to people

·         Verb + er/or/ar [teacher, governor, liar]

·         Verb/noun/adjective + ist [typist, motorist, specialist]

·         Verb +ant/ent [assistant, correspondent]

·         Noun + an/ian [American, Italian, historian]

Using Causative Verbs: Make, Have, Get

(a)    I made my brother carry my suitcase. (b)   I had my brother carry my suitcase. (c)    I got my brother to carry my suitcase.	Make, have, and get can be used to express the idea that “X” causes “Y” to do something. When they are used as causative verbs, their meanings are similar but not identical. In (a): My brother had no choice. I insisted that he carry my suitcase. In (b): My brother carried my suitcase because I asked him to. In (c): I managed to persuade my brother to carry my suitcase.
Forms X makes Y do something (simple form). X has y do something (simple form). X gets Y to do something (infinitive).
Causative Make (d)   Mrs. Lee made her son clean this room. (e)   Sad movies make me cry.	Causative make is followed by the simple form of a verb, not an infinitive. (INCORRECT: She made him to clean his room.) Make gives the idea that “X” forces “Y” to do something. In (d): Mrs. Lee’s son had no choice.
Causative Have (f)     I had the plumber repair the leak. (g)    Jane had the waiter bring her some tea.	Causative have is followed by the simple form of a verb, not an infinitive. (INCORRECT: I had him to repair the leak.) Have gives the idea that “X” requests “Y” to do something. In (f): The plumber repaired the leak because I asked him to.
Causative Get (h)   The students got the teacher to dismiss class early. (i)      Jack got his friends to play soccer with him after school.	Causative get is followed by an infinitive. Get gives the idea that “X” persuades “Y” to do something. In (h): The students managed to persuade the teacher to let them leave early.
Passive Causative (j)     I had my watch repaired (by someone). (k)    I got my watch repaired (by someone).	The past participle is used after have and get to give a passive meaning. In this case, there is usually little or no difference in meaning between have and get. In (j) and (k): I caused my watch to be repaired by someone.

The Perfect Progressive Tenses

Form: have + been + ing (present participle)

Meaning:  The perfect progressive tenses give the idea that one event is in progress immediately before, up to, until another time or event. The tenses are used to express the duration of the first event.

Present Perfect Progressive	a.       Tom has been studying for two hours.	Event in progress: studying. When? Before now, up to now. How long? For two hours.
Past Perfect Progressive	b.      Tom had been studying for two hours before his friend came.	Event in progress: studying. When? Before another event in the past. How long? For two hours.
Future Perfect Progressive	c.       Tom will have been studying for two hours by the time his friend arrives.	Event in progress: studying. When? Before another event in the future. How long? For two hours.

The Perfect Tenses

Present Perfect	(a)    Tom has already eaten.	Tom finished eating sometime before now. The exact time is not important.
Past Perfect	(b)   Tom had already eaten when his fiend arrived.	First Tom finished eating. Later his friend arrived. Tom’s eating was completely finished before another time in the past.
Future Perfect	(c)    Tom will already have eaten when his friend arrives.	First Tom will finish eating. Later his friend will arrive. Tom’s eating will be completely finished before another time in the future.