Passive Voice | English Grammar Lesson | C1-Advanced

Hello and welcome everyone to this presentation,  which is about the passive voice. So let me share  

my presentation so that you can see what we're  going to discuss regarding the passive voice.  

There are two common questions I get. The first  one is 'when should we use the passive voice'? And  

the answer is very simple to that. It's when we  don't know or don't need to mention who performs  

an action. So, let's look at the example. If your  active sentence is: 'Someone left the window open  

last night'. When we don't know who that someone  is, it's more appropriate to use the passive voice  

and say: 'The window was left open last night'.  And the second question about the passive voice  

always is: 'What are the common mistakes because  it's kind of a tricky structure to formulate'? So,  

you've got the answer to the first question.  Now, for the answer to the second question,  

let's review briefly how we formulate the passive  voice. Right, there are five steps really. Let's  

go through them. So, our active sentence was:  'Someone left the window open last night'. The  

first thing to do is to remove the subject, which  is either unimportant or unknown. Things like  

'someone', 'they', 'we'. Not knowing exactly  who we're referring to. So, we remove that,  

replace that. So, step two is replace that  by the object of your sentence. In this case,  

the window (the action was performed on the  window), and that's why it's called the object  

of the sentence. So, you put the window at the  beginning. You replace someone by the window.  

The third step, important very important step, is  to conjugate the verb 'be' in the same tense. So,  

we look at our active sentence, and the verb is  left. So it's past simple, and therefore you must  

put the verb 'to be' in the past simple tense.  In this case, 'was'. Why 'was'? Because it's the  

window. It's it, so we need 'was' not 'where'. And  then the fourth step, now we have to add the past  

participle of the original verb. So, the verb  was 'left'. So, we go leave, left, left. Okay,  

the past participle is the same. Looks the same  as the past simple. So, we keep put that in there,  

and then we add the remaining information. So,  we end up with: 'The window was left open last  

night'. Now, I'm sure you have reviewed these  steps many many times. It's just about remembering  

not to miss one of those steps. And we will look  at the common mistakes soon. But before we do,  

I have three notes on the formulation of  the passive sentence. First of all, you can  

mention the subject if you want. Remember, we have  eliminated the subject because it was unimportant.  

Now, if you absolutely want to mention it,  you can. And in this case, you have to use the  

preposition 'by'. So, you can say: 'The window  was left open by someone last night. However,  

if the actor is really unknown, like someone or  unimportant like in this example, it is usually  

dropped from the sentence. So, my recommendation  is that you only add the actor if it is still a  

little important. If it's still an important  piece of information you want to convey. But,  

it is less important than the action. But, don't  go saying things like: 'This was done by me'. If  

you're going to mention yourself, 'me' the actor  and it's important, then just stay with the active  

sentence: 'I did this'. Okay, note two. Sometimes,  I get a question: 'Why can't we put this into a  

passive sentence'? And it's usually because the  verb of that active sentence is an intransitive  

verb. An intransitive verb is a verb that  doesn't need an object. Its meaning is complete  

without an object. Like 'sleep', 'happen',  'arrive'. So, if you have a sentence like:  

'I arrived at work at 8 A.M'. There is no object  here to use to create a passive sentence. So,  

be careful that only transitive verbs can be  put into the passive form. And finally, number  

three. Avoid putting perfect continuous tenses  into the passive voice. So, don't say things like:  

'The road has been being repaired for 3 days.  The reason is it's phonetically very awkward to  

have two similar sounds like 'been' and 'being'  next to each other. Or 'be' and 'being'. So,  

avoid putting these sounds together. In the case  of the example here, present continuous tense,  

just use the active form. Even if you don't know  the actor or it's unimportant. So, it's always  

things like: 'They have been repairing the road  for three days'. The other two perfect continuous  

tenses, past and future, are very uncommon even  in the active form. So, don't worry about those.  

Just make sure that you don't formulate the  present perfect continuous passive sentences.  

Alright, these are the three notes. So now,  what are the common formulation mistakes? Let's  

have a look. I've got six of those to mention to  you. The first one, very simple but very common,  

I come across this quite a lot, is forgetting  the verb 'to be'. Every passive sentence needs  

to have the verb 'to be' conjugated in one  tense or other. So, let's look at the example:  

'Someone took the car to the garage'. The mistake  would be saying: 'The car taken to the garage'.  

You must have the verb 'to be'. Which one,  which tense? You look at the first sentence,  

the active sentence. Someone took (past simple).  So, the verb 'to be' in the past simple. 'The car  

was taken to the garage'. That's an easy one to  forget. It's usually just a slip. Now number two,  

common also, is changing the tense to a similar  tense. For example, if the active sentence is:  

'They've cancelled tomorrow's webinar'. I often  hear people using, just now, the past simple:  

'Tomorrow's webinar was cancelled'. Because it's  a finished action, you've got to stay exactly the  

same tense as the original active sentence. So,  we need not 'was' here, which is the past simple,  

but 'has been', which is the present perfect of  the verb 'to be'. 'Tomorrow's webinar has been  

cancelled'. So, stick to the tense, the original  tense. Number three is forgetting the preposition  

in a prepositional or phrasal verb. If the verb  has a preposition, make sure you keep it in the  

passive sentence. I often see this dropped. So, we  have examples of prepositional verbs: 'listen to',  

'rely on', etc. Or phrasal verbs: 'pick up', 'look  after', etc. And the preposition must stay. So,  

examples (active): 'We can't rely on public  transport'. 'Public transport can't be relied  

on'. You finish with 'on'. Phrasal example: 'The  Gardener is looking after the garden'. 'The garden  

is being looked after.' The preposition  stays right next to the verb, okay. Now,  

three more. Number four. It's not respecting  subject verb agreement. For example, if it's:  

'One of the mums is picking up the children at  two'. And now you put the children as the object  

at the beginning of your sentence, and forgetting  that the children is plural. So and you might say:  

'The children is being picked up at two'. Make  sure, every time you check that the object that  

you've started your sentence with is plural or  singular. And maybe you need to adjust. So in this  

case: 'The children are being picked up at two'.  Next one, it's avoiding using a person or people  

as the object. Because you think oh we can't  have a person in the object position in a passive  

sentence. Yes you can, and it's actually very  common. Like in the previous example 'children'.  

So the object of a verb can be a person or people.  And in English, it's really common actually to  

create a passive sentence with a person or people  as the object. For example: 'Someone told John'.  

John here is the object of the verb 'tell' that he  had won a prize.' So, a very common sentence would  

be: 'John was told that he had won a prize'.  A little note on this topic, on this mistake,  

is that a sentence, an active sentence, may have  two objects. A person and a thing. And in this  

case, you have a choice. You can use either the  object or the person. But again, the person is  

more common, interestingly. For example, if the  sentence is: 'They offered Mary a promotion'. So,  

you have Mary as the object, and a promotion as  the object. The better sentence, passive sentence,  

would be: 'Mary was offered a promotion'. The  alternative: 'A promotion was offered to Mary',  

is not that common. It's correct, but not that  common. Particularly because now you have to bring  

in a proposition 'to'. So, it's more complicated.  So, feel comfortable putting people in the object  

position in a passive sentence. And finally,  sometimes we may lose the negation. For example,  

if your sentence begins with a negative word,  like 'nobody': 'Nobody is going to water the  

plants'. You see the verb is positive, and you  may forget that you have to make it negative. So  

in this case, we need to use a negative verb:  'The plants are not going to be watered.' You  

must keep that negative sense in your passive  sentence. But another time, for example: 'No one  

could do anything'. 'Anything' is the object of  this sentence. If you only put 'anything' at the  

beginning, and say: 'Anything could be done',  you are not creating a negative sentence. You  

need to change it to a complete full negative  word. So in this case, your passive sentence is:  

'Nothing could be done'. Right, so that's the end  of the presentation. I hope it has answered your  

two questions when to use the passive voice.  Only if the actor is unknown or unimportant.  

And how to avoid the common mistakes, which I hope  you are now familiar with. I hope you've enjoyed  

this lesson. For more on this topic, click here.  Remember to also check out my complete online  

course, and don't forget to like and subscribe.  Thank you for watching, and happy studies!