Passive Voice

As we have seen in class we use the active form to say what the subject does. For example:

•I speak English every day at work.

•I repaired the flat tire on the car.

We use the passive form to say what happens to people and things, to say what is done to them. For example:

•English is spoken here.

•The car is being repaired.

We use the passive form when we don't know who did the action. For example:

•The car was damaged while it was parked on the street.

•The shirts were made in Turkey.

We use the passive form when what was done is more important than who did it. For example:

•It was approved by Gerry last week.

•I was informed by the Human Resources Manager only two days ago.

Thanks to English Grammar Secrets we can have some practice:

Exercises 1 / exercises 2 / exercises 3 / exercises 4 / exercises 5