1. THE PASSIVE
VOICE

2. An active sentence has the subject first followed by the verb, and
finally the object
My mother made a cake

3. But, for different reasons, we might
want to change the order and put
the object first
A cake was made by mum

4. A passive sentence has the object
first followed by the verb and the
subject introduced by ‘by’
A cake was made by her

5. Some reasons to use the passive
voice:
• To change the focus of the sentence
• When who or what causes the action
..is unknown, unimportant or obvious
• In factual or scientific writing
• To improve style
• When the subject is very long

6. How to make
the PASSIVE
in English

7. We make the passive by
putting the verb 'to be' into
the tense of the verb in the
active voice and adding the
past participle of the main
verb in the active voice

8. I make a cake
A cake is made

9. I am making a cake
A cake is being made

10. I made a cake
A cake was made

11. I was making a cake
A cake was being made

12. I have made a cake
A cake has been made

13. I have been making a cake
A cake has been being
made

14. I will make a cake
A cake will be made

15. I am going to make a cake
A cake is going to be
made

16. Some verbs have 2 objects
and so two different passive
sentences are possible

17. He gave them the book
The book was given to me
They were given a book

18. SOME PRACTISE