PASSIVES

PASSIVES

• When the person who performs the action is unknown.

• When the event or action is more important than the agent.
• When we want to avoid taking responsibility.
• To emphasize the agent.
• To make statements more formal or polite.

USE

The ball was thrown by the boy.

Venus in Stitches will be performed nightly on May 24–26.

EXAMPLES

Six story circles have been organized.

FORM

To form the passive voice, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.

To form the present perfect passive, we use have + been + past participle.

• Over 200 local people have been employed so far.

• To form passives with modals, we use the modal verb + be + past participle.

• Cars should be parked in the public lot.

TENSES