Green Owl

Passive information

My dear students I have prepared some informations about passive.
Try to remember one thing:
 * in passive sentences, the thing receiving the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing doing the action is optionally included near the end of the sentence.



You can use the passive form if you think that:
*the thing receiving the action is more important
*the thing should be emphasized
*if you do not know who is doing the action
* if you do not want to mention who is doing the action.

		Active / Passive Overview Tense Active Passive Simple Present Once a week, Tom cleans the house. Once a week, the house is cleaned by Tom. Present Continuous Right now, Sarah is writing the letter. Right now, the letter is being written by Sarah. Simple Past Sam repaired the car. The car was repaired by Sam. Past Continuous The salesman was helping the customer when the thief came into the store. The customer was being helped by the salesman when the thief came into the store. Present Perfect Many tourists have visited that castle. That castle has been visited by many tourists. Present Perfect Continuous Recently, John has been doing the work. Recently, the work has been being done by John. Past Perfect George had repaired many cars before he received his mechanic's license. Many cars had been repaired by George before he received his mechanic's license. Past Perfect Continuous Chef Jones had been preparing the restaurant's fantastic dinners for two years before he moved to Paris. The restaurant's fantastic dinners had been being prepared by Chef Jones for two years before he moved to Paris. Simple Future will Someone will finish the work by 5:00 PM. The work will be finished by 5:00 PM. Simple Future be going to Sally is going to make a beautiful dinner tonight. A beautiful dinner is going to be made by Sally tonight. Future Continuous will At 8:00 PM tonight, John will be washing the dishes. At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes will be being washed by John. Future Continuous be going to At 8:00 PM tonight, John is going to be washing the dishes. At 8:00 PM tonight, the dishes are going to be being washed by John. Used to Jerry used to pay the bills. The bills used to be paid by Jerry.