•In the last unit, we talked about the passive voice.

•Do you remember what passive voice is?

•Bingo!Bingo! Passive voice is formed by Passive voice is formed by making the object of the sentence making the object of the sentence into the subject of the sentence.into the subject of the sentence.

•JohnJohn broke broke the windowthe window..

•The windowThe window was broken by was broken by JohnJohn. .

Do you remember Do you remember the functionthe function of the of the passive voice?passive voice?

1.1.focusing on the person or the things focusing on the person or the things affected by the action. In the following affected by the action. In the following dialogue:dialogue:

Uncle Bill comes to visit Mum. Uncle Bill comes to visit Mum.

Mum: Bill, I’m going to show you a Mum: Bill, I’m going to show you a beautiful vase. beautiful vase. It was It was given to me by given to me by my grandpa.my grandpa. (Mum is looking for (Mum is looking for it) it) Susan, have you seen my vase?Susan, have you seen my vase?

Susan: Sorry. Susan: Sorry. It was broken by me It was broken by me yesterday.yesterday.

In the above situation, In the above situation, the vasethe vase is the is the focus/ the topic of the dialogue. focus/ the topic of the dialogue. Therefore, the two underlying Therefore, the two underlying sentences are written in sentences are written in passive voicepassive voice to make the object that being affected to make the object that being affected by the action be the subject of the by the action be the subject of the sentence.sentence.

2.2. we don’t k now who did the we don’t k now who did the action. action.

• My wallet was stolen. My wallet was stolen.

• Mr. Smith was murdered.Mr. Smith was murdered.

• The cak e has been eaten.The cak e has been eaten.

In the above sentences, the In the above sentences, the speaker does not know who did speaker does not know who did the actions. So they use passive the actions. So they use passive voice to avoid mentioning the voice to avoid mentioning the subject, instead of using subject, instead of using “someone” or “somebody” to “someone” or “somebody” to stand for an unknown person.stand for an unknown person.

Forms of PASSIVE:Forms of PASSIVE:

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Present Tense: Present Tense: is / am / are + killed / is / am / are + killed / hurthurt

Past Tense: Past Tense: was / were + broken / was / were + broken / stolenstolen

Future Tense: Future Tense: will be + built / donewill be + built / done

Present Perfect Tense:Present Perfect Tense: has / have has / have been givenbeen given

Verbs with modals: Verbs with modals: can be done/ should can be done/ should be followedbe followed

verb to beverb to be action verb (past participle)action verb (past participle)

The MTR’s Tseung Kwan O line connects Tseung Kwan O to Po Lam.

Tseung Kwan O is connected to Po Lam by the MTR’s Tseung Kwan O line.

The government will build a swimming pool in our neighbourhood.

A swimming pool will be built in our neighbourhood by the government.

The government built an air-conditioned market in our neighbourhood last year.

An air-conditioned market was built in our neighbourhood by the government last year.

The developer will build a new theme park in this area.

A new theme park will be built in this area by the developer.

The developer built a new shopping mall in Kwun Tong last year.

A new shopping mall was built by the developer last year.

The government built Hong Kong Central Library in 2001.

Hong Kong Central Library was built by the government in 2001.

The club house provides laundry services.Laundry services are provided by the club house

The housing estate provides shuttle bus services.Shuttle bus services are provided by the housing estate.

Nancy has booked the badminton court.The badminton court has been booked by Nancy.

Uncle Bill has bought this beautiful villa. This beautiful villa has been bought by Uncle Bill.