This lesson is to help you practice changing the active voice to the passive, and changing passive to active.

The passive: form

The active voice shows what something does. The passive voice shows what happens to something. We make the passive with a form of the verb be + past participle.

When changing a sentence written in the active voice into the passive:

  • the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence
  • the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped)

Example:

Active Five board members run the company.
Passive The company is run by 5 board members.
Tense Passive form: be + past participle (+by + agent)
present simple The company is run by 5 board members.
present continuous The company is being run by 5 board members.
past simple The company was run by 5 board members.
past continuous The company was being run by 5 board members.
present perfect The company has been run by 5 board members.
past perfect The company had been run by 5 board members.
going to The company is going to be run by 5 board members.
will The company will be run by 5 board members.

Other form

infinitive The company is to be run by 5 board members.
-ing form The chief executive insists on the company being run by 5 board members.
used to The company used to be run by 5 board members.
modals The company should be run by 5 board members.
need to/ have to The company needs to/ has to be run by 5 board members.
need + -ing The company needs running by 5 board members.

Exercise

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