VOZ PASIVA

Made in Spain

Made in China

(A fruit in a window shop)

Not to be eatenNewspapers sold

in here

(At a restaurant or hotel)

English spoken here

PASSIVE VOICE

Use: The passive voice is used in English when it is more convenient or

interesting to stress the thing done than the doer of it, or when the doer is unknown.

La voz pasiva se usa en Inglés cuando es más conveniente o interesante enfatizar la acción realizada o cuando el que hace la acción es desconocido

Structure: The students paint the tables

the studentsThe tables are painted by

Subject verb object

Active voice

Passive voice

verb Agent ComplementSubject of the passive

By : preposición usada para introducir el complemento agente “por”

Simple Present (be) am /is /are + past participle

Present continuous (be) am /is /are + being + past participle

Nota: El verbo BE tiene que coordinar en singular o plural con el sujeto

EXAMPLES

Nota: Cuando el sujeto es desconocido o no es concreto (they/someone/anyone/nobody/people…)no se usa el complemento agente: e.g. by someome, by them, by people…

Simple Past (be) was/were + past participle

Verbal Tenses

ACTIVITIESPUT THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES INTO THE PASSIVE

USING THE PART UNDERLINED AS THE SUBJECT

1. Someone reads to the old lady every morning. 2. A car ran over our dog. 3. People will simply laugh at you for your trouble. 4. They asked Maisie why she went about with a silly person like me. 5. The wind blew my hat off. 6. People will laugh at you if you go out dressed like that. 7. Someone has stolen my collection of knives. 8. Nobody had eaten the dinner before they finished the conversation 9. Did the noise frighten you?. 10.A new company has taken the business over. 11. I hate people looking at me. 12.He wishes to see that they have carried out his instructions

Doble object

If the active voice sentence has two objects (a direct object and an indirect object), we can make the passive voice in two different ways Si la oración en voz activa tiene dos objetos (uno directo y otro indirecto), podremos construir la voz pasiva de dos maneras diferentes. Tengamos en cuenta que en español no se admite el objeto indirecto como sujeto de la pasiva, siendo en inglés, sin embargo, la forma más usada)

e.g. My mother gave me a beautiful present for my birthday O.I. O.D.

1.A beautiful present was given to me for my birthday by my mother 2.I was given a beautiful present for my birthday by my mother

Sentences with doble object

Put the following sentences into the passive voice. (Write them in the two different ways)

1.She showed the visitors the new baby. 2.They gave me 10€ change at the shop 3.She promised him some money for his birthday. 4.They didn't tell me the truth about the situation. 5.The police gave me 5€ reward

More activities1. An announcer is reading the news. 2. Horses pull carts. 3. The Queen is opening that hospital next week. 4. The Prime Minister is making a speech this evening. 5. A policeman is using the phone. 6. A greengrocer sells potatoes. 7. Teenagers buy a lot of pop records. 8. Architects design buildings. 9. Father is cooking the dinner. Mother is cleaning up the kitchen afterwards. 10. A group of small boys are feeding the monkeys. 11.  Bees make honey. 12. They have arrested the thief. 13. An unemployed labourer was repairing my roof. 14. Floods swept away the wooden bridge. 15. They were drinking toasts. 16. They close the shop at one o’clock. 17. Prisoners are building the new road. 18. The Mayor is judging the fancy dress parade. 19. A fourteen-year-old boy was driving the car. 20. Mice must have eaten the cheese that the maid left out of the table.

AUXILIARY VERBS

Sentences using auxiliary verbs1. People will simply laugh at you for your trouble. 2. People ought not to speak about such things in public. 3. Teachers should make lessons more interesting for pupils. 4. People will laugh at you if you go out dressed like that. 5. We shall lock the house up for the summer and the old gardener will look

after it. 6. You must not throw away empty bottles. 7. Nobody can answer that question. 8. They should not make the party an excuse for getting drunk. 9. You must account for every penny. 10. I should love someone to take me to dinner. 11. They ought to finish this job by tomorrow. (infinitive) 12. You must not hammer nails into the walls without permission. 13. Will they mend the roof of their old house? 14. We will not admit children under sixteen. 15. Children couldn’t have done this damage.

Much more activities (advanced)1. Somebody must have taken it while I was out 2. You must iron this dress for tonight 3. Did the noise frighten you? 4. The orchestra played that piece beautifully 5. He’s so good at golf that nobody can beat

him 6. The doctor had to operate on him to find out

what was wrong 7. Didn’t anybody ever teach you how to

behave? 8. They did nothing until he came 9. I can assure you I will arrange everything in

time (two passives) 10. Somebody will meet the visitors at the

station 11. A sudden increase in water pressure would

break the dam 12. One cannot eat an orange if nobody has

peeled it 13. They took the collection half-way through

the meeting 14. The police are sure to ask you that question

15. Her beauty struck me deeply 16. You needn’t think your joke took me in 17. They should made the celebration an excuse

for bad behaviour 18. People generally assume that money brings

happiness 19. Let me know if there is anything we should

do 20. They gave the thief a fair trial and sent him

to prison 21. Poverty drove him to desperation 22. You must account for every penny 23. A new company has taken the business over 24. They tell me somebody has shot your uncle 25. Somebody can’t have shut the safe properly 26. They can’t put you in prison if they haven’t

tried you 27. We’ll have to examine you again 28. People say that tortoises live longer than

elephants 29. I should love someone to take me out for

dinner

El “se” pasivo

Se arreglaban bicicletas Bikes were repaired Se han escrito miles de libros Thousands of books have been

written

Se venden coches (No nos interesa quién los vende, nos interesa qué es vendido) No hay otra forma de traducir este “se” al inglés salvo en forma pasiva.

Cars are sold (usaremos el mismo tiempo empleado en la activa)

Some tips(algunos consejos)

Para saber hacer bien una pasiva es importante saber diferenciar correctamente las distintas partes de la oración, sobre todo saber localizar los complementos directos e indirectos dentro de la oración activa

No se debe olvidar que la pasiva se construye para resaltar el objeto sobre el sujeto, esto es, es más importante qué se hace que quién lo hace. By es la preposición usada para introducir el complemento agente. Significa por (no se puede confundir con “for”) Cuando el sujeto de la activa es negativo Nobody… la oración pasiva será negativa:

Nobody can see you you can’t be seen Cuando pasamos un objeto indirecto a pasiva como tal, no podemos olvidar que necesitamos incluir to:

My mother gave me a gift---- A gift was given to me

INFINITIVE CONSTRUCTIONS AFTER PASSIVE VERBS

After acknowledge, assume, believe, claim, consider, estimate, feel, find, know, presume, report, say, think, understand etc.

  Sentences of the type People think/ consider/ know etc. that he is... have two possible passive

forms:   1. It is thought/considered/known that he is.... 2. He is thought/considered/known to be... People believe that he writes novels 1. It’s believed that he writes novels 2. He’s believed to write novels

When the thought concerns a previous action we used the perfect infinitive (TO HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE) so that:

  People know that he was..... (Nota que el primer verbo está en presente y el segundo en pasado) = It is known that he was..... (PRESENTE) (PASADO) or He is known to have been....... (PRESENTE) (INFINITIVO PERFECTO) People believe that he was a spy = It is believed that he was a spy or He is believed to have been a spy

This is HENRY. He is very old but nobody knows exactly how old he is. So: “People say that he is 108 years old”It is said that he is 108 years old He is said to be 108 years old

People say that Henrry eats ten eggs a day

It is said that Henry eats ten eggs a day Henry is said to eat ten eegs a day

You can also use these structures with:thought believed reported understood known expected

alleged considered People believe that the wanted man is living in NY It is believed that the wanted man is living in New York

• The wanted man is believed to be living in New York

People expect that the strike will begin tomorrow It is expected that the strike will begin tomorrow

• The strike is expected to begin tomorrow

People allege that he stole $600 It is alleged that he stole $600

• He is alleged to have stolen $600

People alleged that he stole $600 It was alleged that he had stolen $600

• He was alleged to have stolen $600

Activities

Write sentences into Passive Voice 1. It is believed that the thieves got in through the kitchen window 2. It is alleged that he drove through the town at 90 miles an hour 3. It is reported that two people were seriously injured during the accident 4. It is said that three men were arrested after the explosion

Write sentences into the Passive Voice 1. It is said that many people are homeless after the floods Many people__________________________________________ 2. It is known that the Prime Minister is in favor of the new law The Prime Minister_____________________________________ 3. It is expected that the government will lose the election The government_______________________________________ 4. It is thought that the prisioner escaped by climbing over the wall The prisioner__________________________________________

Supposed to

Three different examples

1. Let’s go and see that film. It’s supposed to be very good

( People say that it is very good=it is said to be very good)

2. I’d better hurry. It’s nearly 8.30. I’m supposed to be meeting Tom at 8.15 (=I arranged to meet Tom)

3. You are not supposed to park here (you aren’t allowed to park here)

Activities There are a lot of stories about Arthur but nobody knows whether they are true. Make sentences with supposed to

Example: People say that Arthur eats spiders Arthur is supposed to eat spiders

1. People say that Arthur is very rich 2. People say that he has 22 children 3. People say that he sleeps on a bed of nails 4. People say that he won a lot of money gambling 5. People say that he writes poetry

• In each of the following example what happens is not what is supposed to happen. Use supposed to or not supposed to.

Clean come be smoke phone study take

Example: Tom you are smoking! But you are not supposed to smoke in this room

Why are the windows still dirty? You were supposed to clean them 1. What are the children doing at home? They _________ at school

2. He __________ in the evenings but he always goes out

3. Don’t put sugar in your tea. You know you ___________sugar

4. Oh dear! I _________________ Ann but I completely forgot

5. They arrived very early – at 2.00. They ________________ until 3.00