Notes on the form of the passive

1 Formation: regular and irregular past participles We form the passive with a form of be and a past participle. The past participle does not necessarily refer to past time. For regular and irregular past participles [> Apps 39, 40]. (The past participle is used to form perfect active tenses, e.g. He has left [> 9.22], as well as all passives). Rules applying to the use of tenses in the active [> 9.2] apply in the passive. For example, an action in progress now requires the present progressive in: e.g. Your steak is being grilled and will be ready in a minute

2 Transitive and intransitive verbs The passive occurs only with verbs used transitively, that is, verbs

12 The passive and the causative

that can be followed by an object [> 1.9]: active: Someone found this wallet in the street passive: This wallet was found in the street Many verbs can be used transitively or intransitively. The door opened (perhaps by itself) The door was opened (perhaps by someone)

3 Personal and impersonal subjects The passive can refer to things (a letter was written, etc.) or people: active: The company has sent Smithers to California for a year passive: Smithers has been sent to California for a year.

4 Direct and indirect objects [> 1.9, 1.13] Verbs like bring and give, which can have two objects, e.g. Tom gave me (indirect) a pen (direct), can have two passive forms: / was given a pen by Tom (indirect object becomes subject) A pen was given (to) me by Tom (direct object becomes subject) Because we are often more interested in people (or animals) than things, personal subjects tend to be more common than impersonal ones. Thus, / was given this pen is more likely to occur than This pen was given to me. In sentences like the second example, to (or for) can be omitted before a personal pronoun (This pen was given me) but not usually otherwise: This pen was given to my father

5 Stative verbs [> 9.3, App 38] Many stative verbs cannot be used in the passive, even when they are transitive: / love beans on toast (active.voice only) Verbs like measure, which can be stative or dynamic, can only be passive in their dynamic sense: stative: This desk measures 125 x 60 cms dynamic: This desk has been measured

6 Progressive forms Only present and past progressive forms are common: He is being interviewed now He was being interviewed at 10 However, modals with progressive passive sometimes occur: / know Mark was going to have an interview some time this afternoon He may be being interviewed at this very moment

7 Phrasal verbs [> 8.23-30] Transitive constructions with the pattern verb + adverb particle (A gust of wind blew the tent down) can be used in the passive: Our tent was blown down (by a gust of wind) For possible passives with verb + preposition [> Apps 28-30]: The newsagent's has been broken into

Only a few verbs of the type verb + particle + preposition (We have done away with the old rules) can be used in the passive: The old rules have been done away with

8 The -ing form and the to-infinitive [> 16.13, 16.42, 16.58-59]
Passive constructions are common after verbs followed by the -ing
form, such as enjoy, like and remember;
Most people don't like being criticized
and after verbs followed by a to-infinitive: