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Practicenglish 417
MUSIC VIDEO
4 The Passive
4.1 Passive forms
The passive is formed with the verb to be + Past Participle.
Affirmative
The clothes
aremade
by hand.
The flight
has beencancelled
The company
wasfounded
in 1909.
The goods
should be delivered
tomorrow.
Negative
The
is not going
held in this room.
Meeting
to be
We
weren’tinvited
to the talk.
Question:
Has
the invoice
been sent out?
When
will
the decision
be announced
?
Why
was
the meeting
postponed?
The passive is always used for a reason. It is not simply another Way of saying the active form. We use the passive in three ways:
When we do not know or are not interested in the person or thing which performs the action (the agent) e.g.
The figures are checked very carefully. (we are not interested in who checks them.)
The present simple passive in commonly used in process description to avoid mentioning the agent (usually a machine).E.g.
The chocolates are wrapped and packed into boxes (by the machine)
If the agent is important, by + agent is used.E.g.
The factory will be officially opened by the Mayor.
To focus on the object of the actives sentence by shifting it to the beginning of the passive sentence (subject position) e.g.
Television was invented by John Logie Baird.
The use of the passive allows television to be the main theme of the sentence.
When we want to create a create forma, impersonal style e.g.
Shoplifters
will be prosecuted
.
Protective clothing
must be worn.
You
will be notified
in due course.
In informal language, to avoid using the passive, we often use the pronouns you, we, they. E.g.
They’re bringing in
a new law.
(They = the government)
4.2 Have/get something done
Have/get + noun + past participle is used when we get someone else to do something for us. E-g-
We only
had
the copier
serviced
two weeks ago.
It is often used after modal verbs. E.g.
We
need to get
the printer
repaired
.
We
must have
the windows
cleaned
.
business management 4/17