GUIDE ENGLISH GRAMMAR BOOK

PAGE 135
105 Tenses and aspects in the passive
1 A passive verb has a form of be and a passive participle. Be is in the same tense as
the equivalent active form. The passive participle has the same form as a past
participle: announced, called, seen.
Active: The Ministry announced the figure. (past simple)
Passive: The figure was announced. (past simple of be + passive
participle)
NOTE For get instead of be, • 107.
a
b
c
d
Simple tenses (simple form of be + passive participle)
Large numbers of people are killed on the roads.
The drugs were found by the police.
The perfect (perfect of be + passive participle)
Cocaine has been seized by the FBI.
The drugs had been loaded onto the ship in Ecuador.
The continuous (continuous of be + passive participle)
The case is being called 'the chocolate connection'.
Three men were being questioned by detectives last night.
Will and be going to (future of be + passive participle)
The drugs will be destroyed.
The men are going to be charged with importing cocaine.
For other modal verbs, • 106.
2 We form negatives and questions in the same way as in active sentences. In the
negative not comes after the (first) auxiliary; in questions there is inversion of
subject and (first) auxiliary.
Negative: The drugs were not found by customs officers.
The law hasn't been changed.
Question: Where were the drugs found?
Has the law been changed?
NOTE
We use by in a question about the agent.
Who were the drugs found by?
3 When we use a phrasal or prepositional verb in the passive, the adverb or
preposition (e.g. down, for) comes after the passive participle.
The tree was cut down last week.
Has the doctor been sent for?
Note also verb + adverb + preposition, and verbal idioms with prepositions.
Such out-of-date practices should be done away with.
The poor child is always being made fun of.