The Passive Voice

                                          When to use it?
 

   When it’s NOT important or unknown WHO has done something.

- The pyramids were built thousands of years ago.
Do we know who built them? Well, there must have been a lot of people working there.
- This shirt was made in Italy.
Do we know who made it? No. Somebody made it and now I can wear it.

If you would like to add WHO has done a certain thing – keeping in mind that it is still not the most important or emphasized part of your sentence -, you’ll have to use ‘by’:

- They were built by slaves.
or:
- It was made by a young designer.

Sometimes we use it when wanting to sound diplomatic or to avoid taking responsibility for something:

Boss: - Have you finished the report?
Me: - No, it hasn’t been finished yet.
(note: I didn’t say it was ME who hasn’t done it, so it’s not really my fault)

Form = BE + PAST PARTICIPLE
Let’s look at the verb ’to be’ first- it can take many forms depending on the time aspect you want to express:

Present Simple: am/ is/ are
Present Continuous: am being/ is being/ are being
Present Perfect: has been/ have been
Past Simple: was/ were
Past Continuous: was being/ were being
Past Perfect: had been
’going to’ Future: am going to be/ is going to be/ are going to be
Future Simple: will be
Future Perfect: will have been
With modals: can be/ should be/ must be etc.
This is followed by the 3rd form of a verb: the Past Participle. For example, done/ built/ painted/ directed.

Below you will see examples for each time aspect, together with their ‘active’ equivalents.

- Millions of e-mails are sent every day.
= People (not important who) send millions of e-mails every day.

- Hundreds of e-mails are being sent at this very moment.
= People are sending hundreds of e-mails at this very moment.

- The e-mail has been sent.
= Somebody has sent the e-mail.

- Ten years ago much fewer e-mails were sent than today.
= Ten years ago people sent much fewer e-mails than today.

- The e-mail was just being sent when you called.
= Somebody was just sending the e-mail when you called.

- The e-mail had been already sent by the time you called.
= Somebody had already sent the e-mail by the time you called.

- The e-mail is going to be sent tomorrow.
= Somebody is going to send the e-mail tomorrow.

- I think an e-mail will be sent to you.
= I think somebody will send an e-mail to you.

- The e-mail will have been sent by Friday.
= Somebody will have sent the e-mail by Friday.

- The e-mail must be sent.
= Somebody must send the e-mail.

Notice how the Past Participle ‘sent‘ remained the same in all the above sentences. What changed was the verb ‘to be’. So, just remember to choose the correct form of ’be’ and to always use the Past Participle after that.
To make questions using the Passive Voice, you’ll just have to change the word order in the sentence, as you would normally do when using the verb ’to be’.

Am I… ? Is it… ? Are they… ?
Is it being… ? Are they being… ?
Has it been… ? Have they been… ?
Was it…? Were they… ?
Was it being…? Were they being… ?
Had it been… ? Had they been… ?
Is it going to be…? Are they going to be… ?
Will it be… ? Will they be… ?
Will it have been… ? Will they have been… ?
Can it be… ? Must they be… ?
+
Past Participle

- Is whiskey made in France?
= Do people make whiskey in France?
- Are the children being looked after?
= Is somebody looking after the children?
- Has the letter been sent?
= Has somebody sent the letters?
- Was Mona Lisa painted by Michelangelo?
= Did Michelangelo paint Mona Lisa?
- Were you being looked after when you were ill?
= Was somebody looking after you when you were ill?
- Had all the tickets been sold by the time you got there?
= Had somebody sold all the tickets by the time you got there?
- Are the invitations going to be sent out this week?
= Is somebody going to send out the invitations this week?
- Will you be invited?
= Will somebody invite you?
- Will the invitations have been sent out by Friday?
= Will somebody have sent out the invitations by Friday?
- Can this plant be kept indoors?
= Can people keep this plant indoors?

And finally, the negative form. I’m sure you’ve guessed it: it’s the verb ‘to be‘ that has to be negative and the Past Participle remains the same.

- Whiskey isn’t made in France.
- The children aren’t being looked after.
- The letter hasn’t been sent.
- Mona Lisa wasn’t painted by Michelangelo.
- I wasn’t being looked after when I was ill.
- The tickets hadn’t been sold by the time we got there.
- The invitations aren’t going to be sent out this week.
- I won’t be invited.
- The invitations won’t have been sent out by Friday.
- This plant can’t be kept indoors.

I hope by now you can see that the Passive Voice can be learnt.