Passive Voice Only Events and Verbs (Part 3)
Passive Voice Only Events and Verbs
Part 3
English Grammar Lesson
Active vs. Passive Verbs in English
Part 1: Active Voice vs. Passive Voice
Part 2: Passive Voice in Different Verb Tenses
Part 3: Passive Voice Only Events and Verbs
Passive Voice
The passive voice is when the focus of a sentence is on the receiver of an action. The focus is much less or sometimes not at all on the doer of the action.
Form
To form the passive voice, use:
“to be” + past participle of a main verb
Example
PASSIVE: “The students were taught math by the teacher.”
Contrast this to the active:
ACTIVE: “The teacher taught the students math.”
Here, the teacher is the doer of the action (teaching). The students are the receivers of the action (the teaching). We can use the passive voice to emphasize the students and their learning, versus the teacher’s actions.
We could also use an active verb to describe the event:
ACTIVE: “The students learned math from the teacher.”
Passive Only Events in English
There are certain events in life, in which the receiver of the action cannot perform the action, and therefore those events do not have both an active and passive verb that can be used to describe them.
Passive-only Events Verbs:
to be born
to be hospitalized
to be jailed
to be scheduled
to be shipped
to be deemed
to be fined
to be staffed
to be suspended
to be rumored
Examples
to be born: “He was born at eight o’clock in the morning.”
(So, you can not say an active *”I borned myself”)
to be hospitalized: “She was hospitalized as soon as her chest pain started.”
to be jailed: “The criminals were jailed as soon as they were found guilty by the jury.”
to be scheduled: “My interview was scheduled for 12 noon, but they had to cancel.”
to be shipped: “The package was shipped two weeks ago, but it never arrived.”
to be deemed: “He was deemed mentally competent (and not insane) to stand trial.”
to be fined: “I was fined $300 for talking on my cell phone while driving.”
to be staffed: “The kitchen was staffed with the best trained chefs in the business.”
to be suspended: “The girls were suspended after they smoked cigarettes in the school bathroom.”
to be rumored: “It was rumored that the president had an affair with his intern, but no one had evidence.”
Passive Voice in Different Verb Tenses
The passive voice can be used in other verb tenses besides the simple verb tenses.
Simple Present
“The new iPhones are sold at the Apple Store in midtown Manhattan.”
“Steve Jobs is given a lot of credit for changing the way we listen to music.”
Modals
“The new iPhone can be bought at the Apple Store in midtown Manhattan.”
“Steve Jobs will be remembered as a visionary.”
Present Perfect
(Learn more about the present perfect verb tense).
“The iPhone has been sold in America for four years now.”
“She has been considered an Apple fanatic since childhood.”
Simple Past
(Learn more about the simple past vs. present perfect verb tenses)
“The iPhones were sold out at every single store we went to.”
“The free iPod was given to the customer as a surprise.”
Past Progressive
“iPhones were being sold illegally on the internet.”
“Apple employees were being worked very hard by Steve Jobs.”
“Be going to” (future)
“The new pink and purple iPhones are going to be designed in 2015.”
“Steve Jobs is going to be remembered as a man who changed how we experience mobile devices.”
The “get-passive”
(With the “get-passive”, English speakers use “get” as the passive instead of the “to be” verb).
Notes:
• This is for casual speaking and writing, not academic or formal writing.
• This only happens in regular, affirmative sentences.
• If you form a question or negative, you also need the verb “do” as an “operator” for your get-passive.
‘Get-Passive’ Examples
Passive: “I was carded at the bar.”
Get-Passive: “I got carded at the bar.”
(“carded” means that someone checked the age on someone’s ID when buying alcohol or cigarettes.)
Passive / Negative: “I look old, so I wasn’t carded.”
Get-Passive / Negative: “I look old, so I didn’t get carded.”
Note the use of the verb “do” with the negative, here written as “didn’t”.
Passive / Question: “Was Jerry carded at the bar? He’s under 21.”
Get-Passive / Question: “Did Jerry get carded at the bar? He’s under 21.”
Note the use of the verb “do” written as “did”.
Passive / Negative Question: “Wasn’t he carded at the bar?”
Get-Passive / Negative Question: “Didn’t he get carded at the bar?”
Note the use of the verb “do” with the negative question, here written as “didn’t”.
Active vs. Passive Verbs in English
Part 1: Active Voice vs. Passive Voice
Part 2: Passive Voice in Different Verb Tenses
Part 3: Passive Voice Only Events and Verbs
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