B2 Grammar: All about the passive

The passive

Form

The passive is formed by the verb to be + done / eaten / cleaned, etc.

Active They ate all the food very quickly. We’ve sold the car. It’s nice when people invite me to dinner. On a clear day you can see Ibiza from the mainland.

Passive All the food was eaten very quickly.. The car has been sold. It’s nice when I’m invited to dinner. On a clear day Ibiza can be seen from the mainland.

Uses

The passive is used when:

• The speaker doesn’t know who or what does/did something: My car has been stolen!
• The speaker doesn’t need to say who or what does/did something because it’s obvious from the situation or context: The law was passed earlier this year (obviously by parliament).
• What happens is more important than who does it: The car has been repaired so we can go away this weekend.
• When writing in a formal style: Your ticket has been booked and can be collected from our office.

The passive with get

• You can use get instead of be to form the passive, especially when you want to say that something happened to someone or something: He got hurt playing football yesterday (He was hurt). I’m afraid we were playing football and one of your windows got broken (one of your windows was broken).
• Only use get when something happens or changes: He got arrested by the police. It is not possible with state verbs (see page 169): The car got owned by a film star. The car was owned by a film star.
• Get is used mainly in informal spoken English.

The passive with reporting verbs

The passive is often used to report what people say, think, etc. especially when we don’t know who said it or thought it, or it’s not important: The Queen is thought to be suffering from a heavy cold. Fernando Alonso is considered to be the best Spanish Formula One driver of all time.

This use of the passive in common in news reports.

We use three possible forms.

• He/She is said, thought, considered, etc. + infinitive: Lions are known to hunt in this area. Elena is thought to be highly intelligent.

Verbs that can be used with this pattern are: considerer, discover, expect, feel, know, say, suppose, think, understand.

To talk about the past we can use: She is said to have played / eaten / been, etc.: The Prime Minister is understood to have spoken to the rebels on the phone.

• It is said, thought, considered, etc. + that + a sentence: It is thought that Elena is highly intelligent. It is known that lions hunt in this area.

Verbs that can be used with this pattern are: agree, announce, consider, decide, discover, expect, feel, find, know, mention, propose, recommend, say, suggest, suppose, think, understand.

• It is agreed, planned, etc. + infinitive: It has been agreed to change the dates of the meeting.

Verbs that can be used with this pattern are: agree, decide, forbid, hope, plan, propose.