Structure:
We form the passive voice with be + past participle. We use be in the same tense that we would use in the active sentence.
Tense.............................Active..................Passive
Present simple..................holds....................is held
Present continuous........are planning.........are being planned
Past perfect................have organized......have been organized
Past simple....................invented...............was invented
Past continuous........were encouraging......were being encouraged
Past perfect...............had employed..........had been employed
Will..........................will celebrate...........will be celebrated
When we change an active sentence to a passive sentence, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
Music companies advertised the CD
(subject) (verb) (object)
The CD was advertised (by music companies)
subject) (verb) (agent)
Use:
We use the passive voice:
- to emphasize the action (the verb) rather than who or what carried out the action (the agent)
- to put the most important idea at the beginning of the sentence
• They will sell millions of trainers next year: Millions of trainers will be sold next year
