Passive form of verbs
Sentences can be active or passive. Therefore, tenses also have "active forms" and "passive forms." You must learn to recognize the difference to successfully speak English.
Active Form
In active sentences, the thing doing the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing receiving the action is the object. Most sentences are active.
[Thing doing action] + [verb] + [thing receiving action]
Passive Form
In passive sentences, the thing receiving the action is the subject of the sentence and the thing doing the action is optionally included near the end of the sentence. You can use the passive form if you think that the thing receiving the action is more important or should be emphasized. You can also use the passive form if you do not know who is doing the action or if you do not want to mention who is doing the action.
[Thing receiving action] + [be] + [past participle of verb] + [by] + [thing doing action]
When to use the passive form of the verbs
In some sentences, passive voice can be perfectly acceptable. You might use it in the following cases:
The actor is unknown:
The cave paintings of Lascaux were made in the Upper Old Stone Age. [We don't know who made them.]
2. The actor is irrelevant:
An experimental solar power plant will be built in the Australian desert. [We are not interested in who is building it.]
3. You want to be vague about who is responsible:
Mistakes were made. [Common in bureaucratic writing!]
4. You are talking about a general truth:
Rules are made to be broken. [By whomever, whenever.]
5. You want to emphasize the person or thing acted on. For example, it may be your main topic:
Insulin was first discovered in 1921 by researchers at the University of Toronto. It is still the only treatment available for DIABETES.
6. You are writing in a scientific genre that traditionally relies on passive voice. Passive voice is often preferred in lab reports and scientific research papers, most notably in the Materials and Methods section:
The sodium hydroxide was dissolved in water. This solution was then titrated with hydrochloric acid.
How to identify when the passive form is being used
The passive voice is a specific grammatical construction; not every expression that serves to take focus away from the performer of an action is classified as an instance of passive voice. The essential components of the English passive voice are a form of the auxiliary verb “be” (or sometimes get), and the past participle of the main verb denoting the action.
EXERCICES
1. My aunt water the trees all Mondays
All mondays the trees are wantered by my aunt
2. My baugter will see me here
I will be seen by my father
3. The doctors have saved my mother´s life
My mother´slife has been saved by the doctors
4.I bough a new BOOK
A new BOOK was bought by my
5. John is calling his mother
His mother is being called
6. My dad told me something good
Something good was told by my dad
7. He cook my dinner
My dinner is cooked by him
8. They probably recycle some of the solid wastes regularly.
Some of the solid wastes are probably recycled regularly
9.The hurricane Gustav severely damaged the houses on the shore.
The houses on the shore were severely damaged by the hurricane Gustav
10.Someone has stolen my watch.
My watch has been stolen
11.The horror film affected my little brother badly.
My little brother was affected badly by the horror film
12.The milkman will deliver two bottles of milk to your door.
Two bottles of milk will be delivered to your door
13.They are going to deliver our new washing machine tomorrow.
Our new washing machine is going to be delivered tomorrow
14.Johnny Ball is training our local football team.
Our local football team is being trained by Johnny Ball
15.Anyone can do this activity very easily.
This activity can be done very easily
