Remember Passive is more frequently used in English than in Spanish; we also have to Passive forms (including "pasiva refleja") but there is only one system in English.

1. When do you use the Passive Voice?
How do you form Tenses in the Passive?
Is the Agent (BY) necessary?
Examples and Activities

2. H
O Bricklayers and other
U workers
Peter, the builder
S
E

3. When do you use the PASSIVE VOICE?
(Present & Past Tenses)
-We are interested in the object
-or We don’t know who caused the action
Ex.: My bike was stolen.
- There must be an object in the active sentence
Active: Peter built a
house.
Passive: A house was built by Peter,
- Sometimes only the passive voice is possible:
Ex.: I was born in Madrid.

4. How do you form Tenses in the PASSIVE
VOICE? (1)
(Present Tense)
ACTIVE Peter builds a house
PASSIVE A house is built by Peter

5. How do you form Tenses in the PASSIVE
VOICE? (2)
(Past Tense)
ACTIVE Peter built a house
PASSIVE A house was built by Peter

6. Is the AGENT (BY) necessary in the PASSIVE
VOICE?
(Present & Past Tenses)
-We are normally not interested in the "doer" of an action in a passive
sentence. So there is NO AGENT in the passive voice.
- When we do not know who was the "doer", we use someone or
somebody in the active sentence. So there is NO AGENT in the passive
voice.
- When we want to mention who was the "doer" of the action, we use the
preposition by. The whole phrase is called by-agent in English.

7. EXAMPLES AND ACTIVITIES
Write complete passive sentences
1. What do these expressions mean?
2. Where can you find these notices?
English spoken
Book bought
and sold
Children under 16 not
admitted to this club No smoking
Rubbish cleared on
Mondays
Washing Money returned All cars checked
machines if not satisfied before sale
repaired

8. -Complete the sentences using one of these verbs in the correct form:
CAUSE DAMAGE HOLD INCLUDE
INVITE MAKE OVERTAKE SHOW
TRANSLATE WRITE
1. Many accidents ____________ by dangerous driving.
2. Cheese ________________ from milk.
3. The roof of the building _________________ in a storm a few days ago.
4. There’s no need to leave a tip. Service ________________ in the bill.
5. You ______________ to the wedding. Why didn’t you go?
6. A cinema is a place where films ________________ .
7. In the USA, elections for President _______________ every four years.
8. Originally the book __________________ in Spanish and a few years ago it
_________ into English.
9. We were driving along quite fast but we ______________ by lots of other
cars.

9. -CHOOSE between present simple or past simple / active or passive
1. Five hundred people _______________ (employ) in that big factory.
2. Water ____________ (cover) most of the Earth’s surface.
3. Most of the Earth’s surface _____________ (cover) by water.
4. The letter ____________ (post) one week ago and it ____________
(arrive) yesterday.
5. I was born in London but I _____________ (grow) up in the North of
England.
6. While I was in London, my camera ______________ (steal) from my room.
7. While I was in London, my camera ______________(disappear) from my
room.
- REWRITE using passive sentences
1. Somebody cleans the room every day. - …
2. They cancelled all flights because of fog. – All …
3. People don’t use this road very often. - …
4. Somebody accused me of stealing money. – I …
5. People advised us not to go out alone. - …