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Passive Voice

How to construct the passive.

1. Check to see if the active sentence contains an object.

John ate an apple. (S V O) Passive is possible.

John ate yesterday. (S V) Passive is not possible.

2. Move the object to the front of the sentence. Put the original subject in a "be" phrase .

An apple (V) by John.

3. Put the verb in the form "be" +3 (of main verb)

An apple У be Ф eaten by John.

4. Put the "be" in the same tense as the original active sentence.

An apple was/were eaten by John. ( past tense)

5. Make the first verb agree with the new subject.

An apple was eaten by John.

(Put other elements of the sentence in grammatical and logical order.)

Yesterday the large green apple was quickly eaten by John, who didnТt realize that it belonged to his sister.

When other (auxiliary) verbs and modals are used in combination with the passive, remember:

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	be + V-ing (Progressive)	be + 3 (Passive)
The apple	should	have	been	being	eaten by John

Combination of auxiliary verbs with the passive.

Present Tense

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	be + V-ing (Progressive)	be + 3 (Passive)
The apple				is eaten	by John

Past Tense

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	be + V-ing (Progressive)	be + 3 (Passive)
The apple				was eaten	by John

Present ProgressiveTense

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	be + V-ing (Progressive)	be + 3 (Passive)
The apple			is	being eaten	by John

Past Tense

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	be + V-ing (Progressive)	be + 3 (Passive)
The apple			was	being eaten	by John

Present Perfect Tense

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	be + V-ing (Progressive)	be + 3 (Passive)
The apple		have		been eaten	by John

Present Perfect Progressive

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	be + V-ing (Progressive)	be + 3 (Passive)
The apple		have	been	being eaten	by John

Past Perfect Progressive

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	be + V-ing (Progressive)	be + 3 (Passive)
The apple		had	been	being eaten	by John

Future/Modal

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	be + V-ing (Progressive)	be + 3 (Passive)
The apple	will			be eaten	by John

Future/Modal

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	be + V-ing (Progressive)	be + 3 (Passive)
The apple	is going to			be eaten	by John

Modal

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	be + V-ing (Progressive)	be + 3 (Passive)
The apple	must			be eaten	by John

Past Modal

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	be + V-ing (Progressive)	be + 3 (Passive)
The apple	must	have		been eaten	by John

Combination

	Modal + 1 (Modal)	Have + 3 (Perfect)	be + V-ing (Progressive)	be + 3 (Passive)
The apple	must	have	been	being eaten	by John

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Grammar Exercises

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Comments (5) Add Comment

The grammar
written by Muftah saad, October 08, 2009

the grammar need more explaning ,is not enough those examples because there are some comfused like the modal and the future and past modal is not clear and I can say that actually it is the first time that I see this type of grammar the combination time , if it is possible can define when we can use..

Senior Sociologist
written by Md. Masudul Hoque Haidary, November 11, 2009

Excellent Web Site for English learner .

GooD
written by Muhammad Akbar, January 05, 2010

This is good site to learn for those people those are able to learn by formula based. some or other hand if person has touter, can learn easily or If ask s.o will also be beneficial to understand.

Passive help
written by passive help, January 15, 2010

E.g. When used as subjects in present tense sentences, count nouns require the –s form of the verb in the singular and the base form of the verb in the plural.
Question: I would like to know why we used "USED" instead of "USE" and why "REQUIRE" INSTEAD of "REQUIRED"?