Passive active form
Look at these examples:
My father this house in 1995.
This house was built by my father in 1995.
This house was built in 1995. (The subject is not important here, the sentence has a meaning) by?
It is not always important to know who did an action in the sentence.
We do use the correct form to transform the sentences.
ie: ( to be ) am, is , are / was; were/ has been …etc
We can use infinitive after models (can)……….can be done.
Forms:
Let us practice these examples.
The simple present tense: Do, does / am, is, are done.
ACT: Somebody cleans this room every day. / Somebody cleans these rooms every day.
This room is cleaned by somebody every day. / These rooms are cleaned by somebody every day.
Practice: Think about these examples.
Many accidents are caused by dangerous driving.
I am not often invited to parties.
How many people are injured in road accident every day?
The simple past tense: Did / was, were done.
Somebody cleaned this room yesterday. / Somebody cleaned these rooms yesterday.
This room was cleaned by Sb yesterday. / These rooms were cleaned by Sb yesterday.
Practice: Think about these examples.
During the night we were all woken up by a loud explosion.
When was this castle built?
The house was not damaged in the storm but a tree was blown down.
The present continuous tense: Am, is, are doing / am, is, are being done.
Somebody is cleaning this room at the moment. / Somebody is cleaning these rooms at the moment.
This room is being cleaned at moment by Sb. / these rooms are being cleaned by Sb at the moment.
Practice: Think about these examples.
Look at those old houses Ị They are being knocked down.
Are you being served, madam?
He is not painting this room in yellow.
The past continuous tense: Was, were doing / was, were being done.
Somebody was cleaning this room when I arrived. / Sb was cleaning these rooms when I arrived.
This room was being cleaned by Sb when I arrived. / These rooms were being cleaned when I arrived.
Practice:
Suddenly I heard footsteps behind me. We were being followed.
That student was printing papers all the night.
Many pupils were being punished because of their behavior.
The present perfect tense: Has , have done / has, have been done.
The room looks nice; she has just cleaned it. / The rooms look nice; she has just cleaned it.
The room looks nice; it has just been cleaned by her. / The rooms look nice; it have just been
cleaned…
Practice:
Have you heard the news? The president has been shot.
Have you ever been bitten by a dog?
I am not going to the ceremony; I haven’t been invited.
The past perfect tense: Had done/ had been done.
The room looked much better; somebody had cleaned it.
The room looked much better; it had been cleaned by somebody.
The rooms looked much better; somebody had cleaned it.
The rooms looked much better; it had been cleaned by some body.
Practice:
Amine didn’t know about the change of plans. He hadn’t been told.
When I came home all the lamps had been switched off.
She had already informed the police when you called.
Note:
When we transform a sentence from passive into active or active into passive we do
never change the tense of the verb, at that time the auxiliary takes the tense of the
verb followed by the past participle of the verb.
We can have more than two passives in one sentence or active /passive sentences.
After all models we use the infinitive.
Don’t confuse yourselves between passive/ active form and direct/ indirect speech.
Would you mind check the list of English verbs before you transform your sentences:
( regular and irregular verbs)
The agent phrase in a sentence means the subject in a sentence.
In business text we do use much passive better than active to avoid long sentences.
Exercise:
People don’t use this road very often.
They cancelled all the flights because of fog.
They had postponed the meeting because of illness.
That man could steal your car if you left it open.
My friend accused me of stealing the money.
We have stayed at home because of corona virus.
Salim told that someone had attacked and robbed him in the street.
You just follow the rule and apply it before you answer.
Your questions are well come.
