Spotlight – September 2019

THE GRAMMAR PAGE

The passive form

ADRIAN DOFF presents and explains this key

point of grammar with notes on a short dialogue.

MEDIUM PLUS

Explanations

1. This is the present simple
   passive. It describes what
   happens to libraries (= peo-
   ple close them down) and
   is formed with “is”/“are” +
   past participle.


2. The past simple passive
   describes what happened
   to the library (= they
   closed it) and is formed
   with “was”/“were” + past
   participle.


3. This is the present perfect
   passive. It describes what
   has happened recently
   (= a company has bought it
   and pulled it down) and is
   formed with “have”/“has
   been” + past participle.
   4. This is the present contin-
   uous passive, used to de-
   scribe what is happening
   now (= they are redevel-
   oping it). It is formed with
   “is”/“are being” + past
   participle.
   5. This is the passive in-
   finitive after going to (=
   people are going to stage a
   protest). It is formed with
   “be” + “going to be” + past
   participle.
   6. Here, the passive is used
   with the verb give, which
   has an indirect object.
   The active form would
   be: “The council has given
   them permission...”

Dialogue

Paul and Julie are talking about the way their town is

changing.

Paul: I read somewhere that more than 100 public

libraries are closed down^1 every year. That’s really

sad!

Julie: Yes, like the public library in our street. That was

closed^2 last year, and now the building has been

pulled down^3.

Paul: What’s happening to the site? It must be worth a

fortune.

Julie: It has been bought^3 by some private company.

It’s being redeveloped^4 as a big supermarket

complex. People are really upset about it.

Paul: Didn’t anyone protest?

Julie: Well, a protest is going to be staged^5 this week-

end, but I think it’s too late. They’ve already been

given^6 permission by the council to start building.

Paul: But I expect that some people would like to have

a new supermarket.

Exercise

Complete each sentence below with the passive form of

the verb given in brackets and in the tense indicated.

A. The fire by some campers.

(start, past simple)

B. Transport to the airport.

(provide, will-future)

C. A lot of useful information in this

guidebook.

(contain, present simple)

D. The match on Sky Sports.

(show, present continuous)

E. The trees aren’t there now. They.

(cut down, present perfect)

Answers

A.

was started

B. will be

provided

C.

is contained

D. is being

shown

E. have been

cut down

Remember!

1. In the passive form, the noun that normally follows the verb
   (the object) becomes the subject of the verb:
   ⋅ The school provides books. Books are provided (by the
   school).


2. The passive is often used when the person who performed
   the action is unknown or unimportant:
   ⋅ The house was built in 1850. (It isn’t important who built it.)
   ⋅ My laptop and smartphone have been stolen. (= I don’t
   know who stole them.)


3. There is a passive verb form corresponding to every active
   verb form. In other words, a passive exists for every verb
   tense, as well as for infinitives and “-ing” forms.

Beyond the basics

Verbs with indirect objects (for example, “give”, “pay”, “show”,

“tell”) can also have a passive form in English:

⋅ They told me that I could attend the conference. I was

told that I could attend the conference.

⋅ The company pays him €100,000 a year. He is paid

€100,000 a year (by the company).

50 Spotlight 9/2019 THE GRAMMAR PAGE

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PLUS

bracket [(brÄkIt]

, Klammer

perform sth. [pE(fO:m]

, etw. ausführen

upset [Vp(set]

, verärgert, aufgebracht