PASSIVE VOICE

PASSIVE VOICE TENSES CHART

TENSES	ACTIVE VOICE	PASSIVE VOICE
SIMPLE PRESENT	She plays the piano	The piano is played
PRESENT CONTINUOUS	She is playing the piano	The piano is being played
SIMPLE PAST	She played the piano	The piano was played
PAST CONTINUOUS	She was playing the piano	The piano was being played
PRESENT PERFECT	She has played the piano	The piano has been played
PAST PERFECT	She had played the piano	The piano had been played
SIMPLE FUTURE	She will play the piano	The piano will be played
PERFECT FUTURE	She will have played the piano	The piano will have been played
FUTURE OF INTENTION	She is going to play the piano	The piano is going to be played
SIMPLE CONDITIONAL	She would play the piano	The piano would be played
PERFECT CONDITIONAL	She would have played the piano	The piano would have been played
MODAL AUXILIARIES	She can play the piano	The piano can be played
SEMI-MODALS	She doesn't have to play the piano	The piano doesn't have to be played
PRESENT INFINITIVE	(to) play	(to) be played
PERFECT INFINITIVE	(to) have played	(to) have been played
PRESENT PARTICIPLE	playing	being played
PERFECT PARTICIPLE	having played	having been played

NOTE: The following tenses do not have a passive form: Present Perfect Continuous, Past Perfect Continuous, Future Continuous and Future Perfect Continuous.

PASSIVE VOICE

PASSIVE STRUCTURE FORMATION

The Passive Voice in English is formed in the same way as in Spanish: the Subject of the active sentence becomes the Agent (doer) of the passive sentence with a by preposition before, the active verb becomes the passive verb and the Direct Object of the active sentence becomes the Subject of the passive sentence.

Marie Curie discovered the radium.

Radium was discovered by Marie Curie.

The By-Agent is used when it is important to know who does the action (as in the example above), or to refer to a method or course of action (by + V + ing)

Insects can be destroyed by spraying with D.D.T.

But the By-Agent is not mentioned when it is obvious, unimportant or unknown.

His brother was killed in an earthquake.

Spanish is spoken in South America, too.

VERBS WITH TWO OBJECTS

When in the active sentence we have an Indirect Object, this one becomes the Subject of the passive sentence and the Direct Object remains in its place. This is the correct structure for verbs with double object.

Ms. Anderson gave Mark the job.

Mark was given the job.