Revision of the Present, Past and Future Passive Tenses

—   Hello, friends. My name is Emma Donovan. Martin and James flew away to China to find more material for their lessons.

—   I’ll be instead of them.

—   Welcome to my lesson.

You know I really like fashion, so I decided to visit the website “www.fashion.com”.

I was reading about new fashionable clothes, when I saw the sentence “This dress is wears with this green scarf in cold weather. It’s a great combination”.

I was in shock. Lots of people visit this website. This girl made a huge mistake in the sentence. I found her phone number, so I decided to call this girl on Skype and tell her about that.

—   Hello, Marina! My name is Emma.

—   Hello!

—   Marina, I visited your website yesterday. And I wanted to tell you that you made a huge mistake in one sentence.

—   Really? How awful! Can you tell me where I made a mistake?

—   You wrote “This dress is wears with this green scarf in cold weather”. We need to say: “This dress is worn with this green scarf in cold weather”.

—   Oh, it’s so awful! I made a mistake here, because I’m from Russia and I don’t really understand passive voice.

—   Wow, it’s so cool! I can help you with this rule if you want. Come to my place tomorrow.

—   Oh, thanks! I’d appreciate that! See you.

—   See you.

Today in the lesson we will:

·        Revise the difference between active and passive voice;

and

·        Revise the formation of the Present, Past and Future Simple Passive.

—   Hello!

—   Hello, Marina! I’m glad to see you. Let’s start our lesson! First of all, I’ll tell you about the difference between active and passive voice.

—   Okay. As far as I know we mostly use active voice.

—   Yes, you’re right!

The active voice describes the sentences where the subject performs the action stated by the verb. The construction of such sentences is easy to read.

Let’s look at the example.

The man drinks apple juices every day.

(In this sentence “the man” is a subject that tells us about the person who performs the action. “Drinks” is a verb in the Present Simple Tense. It describes the action, which is completed by the man. “Apple juices” is an object).

The passive voice describes the sentences where the subject is acted upon by the verb. We use this voice when we want to focus on the action. It is not important or not known, however, who or what is performing the action.

Let’s rewrite the first example in the passive voice.

Apple juices are drunk by the man every day.

(In this sentence “apple juices” is the object, not the subject of the sentence. Apple juices are not doing an action. “Are drunk” is a verb in the passive voice. “By the man” describes the person who does the action).

If we want to mention the person who does the action, we can use the preposition by.

For instance:

The pie was made by my grandmother.

The messages are read by his sister.

A round table will be made by my dad.

This wonderful dress was bought by me.

—   Did you understand the information?

—   Yes, I did! Now I know the difference between active and passive voice.

—   Great! Today I’ll also tell you how to form the sentences in the Present, Past and Future Simple Passive. We’ll start with Present Simple Passive.

To form positive sentences, we put the subject in first place, then we put the verb to be in the necessary form. In Present Simple we have the forms: am, is, are. Then we put the past participle of the main verb.

If the verb is regular, we add the ending -ed, for example: The films are watched. The music is played.

If the verb is irregular, we use the third form of the verb, for example: The book is given. The cars are driven.  

To form negative sentences, we put the subject in first place, then we put am, is or are plus not, the short forms are: ‘m not, isn’t and aren’t. After that we put the past participle of the main verb.

For example, if the verbs are regular, we’ll have:

The films aren’t watched. The music isn’t played.

If the verbs are irregular:

The book isn’t given. The cars aren’t driven.  

To form questions, we put am, is or are in first place, then we put the subject and after that, we use the past participle of the main verb.

For example:

If the verbs are regular, we’ll have:

Are the films watched? Is the music played?

And if the verbs are irregular, we’ll have:

Is the book given? Are the cars driven?

Let’s look at the example:

—   Sophia, I really like all your birthday cakes. Are they made by you?

—   No, they aren’t made by me. They are made by my mum. I just deliver them to the clients.

—   Oh, okay. Well, thanks anyway.

—   Any time!

—   In this example we used: positive, negative and interrogative sentences.

—   Marina, now I will tell you how to form the sentences in the Past Simple Passive.

—   Okay! It would be interesting to know.

To form positive sentences, we put the subject in first place, then we put the verb to be in the necessary form. In Past Simple we have two forms: was and were. Then we put the past participle of the main verb.

If the verb is regular, we add the ending -ed, for example: The dogs were washed. The window was opened.

If the verb is irregular, we use the third form, for example: The toys were taken. The cat was found.  

To form negative sentences, we put the subject in first place, then we put was or were plus not, the short forms are: wasn’t and weren’t. After that we put the past participle of the main verb.

For example, if the verbs are regular, we’ll have:

The dogs weren’t washed. The window wasn’t opened.

If the verbs are irregular:

The toys weren’t taken. The cat wasn’t found.  

To form questions, we put was or were in first place, then we put the subject and after that, we use the past participle of the main verb.

For example:

If the verbs are regular, we’ll have:

Were the dogs washed? Was the window opened?

And if the verbs are irregular, we’ll have:

Were the toys taken? Was the cat found?

Let’s look at the example:

—   Oh, it’s so cold. Mary, was the window opened by you?

—   No, Kate! The window wasn’t opened by me. It was opened by John.

—   Oh, I’m sorry. I thought it was you. I’ll ask John not to do that.

—   In this example we used: positive, negative and interrogative sentences.

—   Now let’s discuss how to form the sentences in the Future Simple Passive.

—   Okay!

To form positive sentences, we put the subject in first place, then we put will be. After that we put the past participle of the main verb.

If the verb is regular, we add the ending -ed, for example: The boy will be invited. The door will be closed.

If the verb is irregular, we use the third form, for example: The card will be sent. The article will be written.

To form negative sentences, we put the subject in first place, then we put will be plus not, the short form is: won’t be. After that we put the past participle of the main verb.

For example, if the verbs are regular, we’ll have:

The boy won’t be invited. The door won’t be closed.

If the verbs are irregular:

The card won’t be sent. The article won’t be written.

To form questions, we put will in first place, then we put the subject. After that, we put be. And then we use the past participle of the main verb.

For example:

If the verbs are regular, we’ll have:

Will the boy be invited? Will the door be closed?

And if the verbs are irregular, we’ll have:

Will the card be sent? Will the article be written?

Let’s look at the example:

—   Ruby, will my problem be solved on Wednesday?

—   No, Lexi, it won’t be solved, because we have a lot to do. It will probably be solved on Friday.

—   All right, thank you.

In this example we also used: positive, negative and interrogative sentences.

—   Thank you, Emma! I understood all the information. Now I will correct all the mistakes on my website. And I’m sure that I won’t make such mistakes in the future.

—   No problems, Marina! It was a pleasure for me to explain the rule to you.

—   That’s all for today, my friends! I hope you liked the lesson.

—   See you soon, boys and girls!