Reference table - passive formation main verb forms: R4-02G

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To find what you need: type the subject you are looking for into the ‘search’ box >, then click. Highlight, copy and paste into ‘word’ to make this file interactive.

 

To convert from active to passive, start by finding out the tense of the active verb: ‘Dogs sometimes bite postmen.’

The verb is present simple, so -

a) begin with the SAME TENSE of the verb TO BE: ‘are

b) Then add the PAST PARTICIPLE of the verb being used – bite ubitten’: 

‘Postmen are sometimes bitten by dogs.’

NOTE:

1) A plural subject in the active can become a singular one in the passive, or vice versa: ‘This airline welcomes blind passengers.’ u ‘Blind passengers are welcomed by this airline.’ Passengers has become the subject, and it needs a plural verb, rather than ‘welcomes’ which agrees with the singular subject of the active sentence – ‘this airline’.

2) For regular verbs such as ‘welcome’ above, the past participle is the same as the past simple: just add –ed.

Here are the passive forms of the most common tenses in English:

 

VERB FORM

ACTIVE

PASSIVE

EXAMPLE SENTENCE

present simple

takes/take

am / is / are taken

The parts are then taken to Scotland by road.

present continuous

am/is/are taking

am/is/are being taken

My mother is being taken to hospital this afternoon.

past simple

took

was/were taken

He was taken to a prison cell and thrown in.

past continuous

was/were taking

was/were being taken

As we arrived, the dogs were being taken for a walk.

present perfect

has/have  taken

has/have been taken

‘His temperature has already been taken, doctor.’

past perfect

had taken

had been taken.

She told me that, as a child, she had often been taken to the circus.

future

will take

will be taken

‘What you say will certainly be taken seriously, Mr. Smith.’

To-infinitive

To take

To be taken

‘If the children want to be taken for a swim, you’d better get the car out.’

With modals (inf without to)

Can take

Can be taken

This antibiotic can be taken in pill form

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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