How to use Passives in English
Compare these two English sentences:
Active = "The doctor gave me a prescription"
Passive = "I was given a prescription"
In the first sentence, the focus is on 'the doctor'. In the second sentence, the focus is on 'I'.
When to use the passive
To change the focus of a sentence.
In the passive sentence above, we can make the object and action ('me' and 'gave a prescription') more important than the subject ('the doctor').
If we don't know who does an action.
"My bicycle has been stolen" – I don't know who has stolen it.
If we don't want to say who did something.
"The lights were left on all night." (I don't want to say that you left the lights on.)
If it is obvious who does something.
"I was given a prescription" – I know that only doctors give prescriptions, so I don't need to add "by the doctor".
"He was arrested" I know that the police arrest people, so I don't need to add "by the police".
Forming a passive sentence in English
Firstly, you need to make the object into the new subject.
me – I
you – You
him / her – He / She
us – We
them – They
Then you make the verb passive.
Put the verb "to be" into the same tense as the verb in the active subject. For example "gave" is the past simple tense. The past simple form of "to be" is "was" or "were".
Present simple – is /are
Present continuous – is / are being
Present perfect – has / have been
Simple past – was / were
Past continuous – was / were being
Modals will, can etc – will be, can be etc.
Then add the past participle of the verb. For example "gave" – "given".
i need to know how to change has been +ing into passive voiceWe don't change the present perfect continuous tense into the passive voice, as there would be too many auxiliary verbs and it would be confusing.
I have question about the word update. Do we say "The data updates everyday. The data is updated everyday?""The data is updated every day."
Which is the correct sentences: 1. The document was not completed.Correct - means that someone didn't complete the document.2. The document was not complete.Correct - not a passive sentence, but means that the document was unfinished.3. The document didn't complete.Not correct.
Hello,My question: When can we use "get" with passive meaning instead of "be"?Yes, you can in some tenses (present simple, past simple), although using "get" instead of "be" is more informal.For example: He got punished for breaking the window (informal) He was punished for breaking the window (more formal)He gets told off every day (informal) He is told off every day (more formal)
Is my sentence gramatically correct? The government is believed to be considering to pass a law making it a crime to import any kind of weapon.
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