Passive voice review

Inglés profesional 1
Marco Meza
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Active vs passive

 Active sentence
 Fleming discovered penicillin in 1950
(subject) (active verb) (object)

 Passive sentence
 Penicilin was discovered by Fleming in 1950
(subject) (passive verb) (agent)

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Passive voice structure

The passive verb is formed by putting the verb to be into the same
tense as the active verb and adding the past participle of the active
verb
Discovered by → was discovered
(active verb) (be + past participle of active verb)

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Passive voice structure

 The object of an active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb (penicilin)
 The subject of an active verb becomes the agent of the passive verb (Fleming)
 The agent can be ommited if not wanted
 Penicilin was discovered in 1950
 When mentioning the agent it normally goes after the verb preceded by the particle
“by”
 Penicilin was discovered by Fleming in 1950

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Passive voice characteristics

 A sentence can have to objects: indirect and direct

 The doctor gave the patient a new treatment
 The passive subject can be either direct object or indirect object
of the active sentence
 “The doctor gave the patient a new treatment” gives two possibilities
 A new treatment was given to the patient
 The patient was given a new treatment

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Simple present passive voice

Active voice
 Doctors review the most interesting cases in the clinical history every day
Passive voice
 The most interesting cases in the clinical history are reviewed by doctors
every day

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Simple present passive voice

Negative
 The most interesting cases in the clinical history are not reviewed by doctors
every day
Simple interrogative form
 Are the most interesting cases in the clinical history reviewed by doctors every
day
Information question
 Who are the most interesting cases in the clinical history reviewed by every day?
 Which cases in the clinical history are reviewed by doctors every day?

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Simple past passive voice

Active
 The nurse checked the blood pressure of the patient before the
operation.
Passive:
 The blood pressure of the patient was checked before the operation.

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Simple past passive voice

Negative
 The blood pressure of the patient was not checked before the operation.
Simple interrogative question
 Was the blood pressure of the patient checked before the operation?
Information question
 When was the blood pressure of the patient checked?
 What was checked before the operation?

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Present continuous passive voice

Active
 The surgeons are operating on an old woman right now
Passive:
 An old woman is being operated on by surgeons right now

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Simple past passive voice

Negative
 An old woman is not being operated on by surgeons right now
Simple interrogative question
 Is an old woman being operated on by surgeons right now?
Information question
 Who is an old woman being operated on by right now?
 Who is being operated on by surgeons right now?

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Past continuous

Active:
 Paramedics were carrying the injured person to the hospital
Passive:
 The injured person was being carried to the hospital by paramedics

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Simple past passive voice

Negative
 The injured person was not being carried to the hospital by paramedics
Simple interrogative question
 Was the injured person being carried to the hospital by paramedics?
Information question
 Where was the injured person being carried by paramedics?
 Who was the injured person being carried to the hospital by?
 Who was being carried to the hospital by paramedics?

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Present perfect passive voice

Active
 The nurse has attended to ten patients this morning
Passive:
 Ten patients have been attended to by the nurse this morning

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Simple past passive voice

Negative
 Ten patients have not been attended to by the nurse this morning
Simple interrogative question
 Have ten patients been attended to by the nurse this morning?
Information question
 How many patients have been attended to by the nurse this morning?
 When have ten patients been attended to by the nurse?
 Who have ten patients been attended to by this morning?
 When have ten patients been attended to by the nurse?
Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019
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Past perfect passive voice

Active
 The technologist had already sent the CT films before the operation
started
Passive:
 The CT films had already been sent by the technologist before the
operation started

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Simple past passive voice

Negative
 The CT films had not already been sent by the technologist before the operation
started
Simple interrogative question
 Had the CT films had not already been sent by the technologist before the operation
started?
Information question
 Who had the CT films already been sent by before the operation started?
 What had already been sent by the technologist before the operation started?
 When had the CT films already been sent by the technologist?
Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019
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Change the sentences below from

active to passive tense

 Active: The GP referred the patient to a consultant.

 Passive: The patient was referred to a consultant by the GP.
Remember that it is not always necessary to mention the subject in a
passive sentence
 Active: Scientists have identified the cause of this outbreak of dysentery.
 Passive: The cause of this outbreak of dysentery has been identified.

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Change the sentences below from

active to passive tense

1. The nurse noticed a rise in the patient's pulse rate.

Passive: A…………………………………………………………………………
rise in the patient's pulse rate was noticed by the nurse

2. The consultant is allowing him to watch the operation.

He is being allowed to watch the operation by the consultant
Passive: …………………………………………………………………………
3. Do all chemists sell the tablets?
Are the tablets being sell by all chemists?
Passive: …………………………………………………………………………

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Change the sentences below from

active to passive tense

4. Her doctor diagnosed appendicitis.

Appendicitis was diagnosed by her doctor
Passive:……………………………………………………………………
5. Three paramedics comforted the injured person until the ambulance arrived.
The injured person was comforted by three paramedics until the ambulance
Passive:……………………………………………………………………
arrived
6. Has the midwife delivered twins again?
Were twins delivered by the midwife again?
Passive:……………………………………………………………………

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Change the sentences below from

active to passive tense

7. The suprarenal gland was not producing an excess of hormones.

An excess of hormones was not being produced by the gland
Passive:……………………………………………………………………………
8. Has he thought they looked after him very well in hospital?
Has he thought he was very well looked after in hospital?
Passive:……………………………………………………………………………
9. The technologist will characterized the tissue under the microscope.
The tissue will be charactrized under the microscope by the technologist
Passive:……………………………………………………………………………

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Change the sentences below from

active to passive tense

10. The doctor gave me an unpleasant mixture to drink.

I was given an unpleasant mixture to drink by the doctor
Passive:…………………………………………………………………………
11. You cannot take this syrup orally until it gets cold enough
This syrup cannot be taken orally by you until it gets cold enough
Passive:…………………………………………………………………………
12. Toxic fumes poisoned the workers to death
the workers were poisoned to death by toxic fumes
Passive:…………………………………………………………………………

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019

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Change the sentences below from

active to passive tense

13. Doctors are predicting a rise in cases of whooping cough.

A rise in cases of whooping cough are being predicted by doctors
Passive:………………………………………………………………
14. Does the drug suppress the body's natural instinct to reject the transplanted
tissue?
Is the body's natural instinct to reject the transplanted tissue
Passive:………………………………………………………………
being suppressed by the drug?

Passive voice forms 15 Feb. 2019