LESSON 1 - PASSIVE VOICE (PRESENT & PAST SIMPLE)

PASSIVE VOICE is quite common in English, and we need to master it to improve our English.

While in an active voice sentence the subject is the one that has the relevance, in a passive voice sentence is the object the important thing, being possible to obviate the subject.

-My father buys the newspaper every day. (active voice) -The newspaper is bought by my father every day. (passive voice) -The newspaper is bought every day. -This building was built in 1918.

PRESENT SIMPLE PASSIVE VOICE

In present simple, a passive voice express an action that frequently happens, in a given situation.

The structure of a PRESENT SIMPLE PASSIVE VOICE sentences is:

SUBJECT + TO BE (present simple) + PAST PARTICIPLE

-Iphones are made in China. -Tables can be made of wood. -A building is designed by an architect.

PAST SIMPLE PASSIVE VOICE

We use Past Simple Passive Voice to talk about actions in the past, focusing in the event rather than in who was responsible for it.

-The last Geneva Treaty was signed in 1949.  -The project was completed in two weeks. -The first space rocket was launched in 1957 by the Russians.

BY

Because in an passive voice sentence what is important is the action, not the do-er, the second one becomes an agent and we can choose whether to put it or not, after the preposition BY

This house was built in 1897. This house was built in 1987 by my great grandfather. The Paris Treaty was signed in 1947. The Paris Treaty was signed in 1947 by the Allied Powers, Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Finland.

OF / FROM

We use OF / FROM in a passive voice sentence with verbs like MAKE and BUILD to indicate the material used.

-The table was made of wood. -The steel is made of iron and cooper. -Ships are built from aluminium.

EXERCISES

Re-write the active voice sentences into passive voice.

Example: -Francis made an excellent cake for Billy. -An excellent cake for Billy was made by Francis.

1.Romans built aqueducts to get water to their cities. 2.Nowadays, car makers use carbon fibre to build cars 3.USA sent the first man to the moon in 1969. 4.In the past, people made cups of clay. 5.Graham Bell invented the telephone. 6.Dr. Fernández-Morán created the first diamond blade scalpel. 7.80 years ago, the shoemakers used only leather to make shoes. 8.Lázló Biró created the first ballpoint pen in the 1930s. 9.Boston Red Sox won the first World Series in 1903. 10.They use concrete to build modern buildings.