We use the passive voice to focus people's attention to the important part of our message or when we don't know who or what carried out an action.
In this lesson you will learn how to use and make the passive form of active sentences, have fun!
English sentences can be either active or passive, but... what does it mean?
A sentence is ACTIVE when the subject of the sentence carries out the action:
A sentence is PASSIVE when the subject doesn't carry out the action:
Let's see how to make the passive form of a sentence.
The passive is made with the appropriate form of the verb BE + the PAST PARTICIPLE of the mai verb + BY + the thing/person that carries the action:
| Active sentence | Verb tense | BE + PAST PARTICIPLE | Passive sentence |
| I EAT AN APPLE | EAT = Present simple | IS EATEN | AN APPLE IS EATEN BY ME |
| WE WROTE A STORY | WROTE = Past simple | WAS WRITTEN | A STORY WAS WRITTEN BY US |
| THEY HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE | HAVE SEEN = Present perfect | HAS BEEN SEEN | THE MOVIE HAS BEEN SEEN BY THEM |
We use the informal passive to report what is generally understood by people/society. We use IT + PASSIVE + THAT when we don't want to tell the source of that information.
