1 BAC English Blog: Gr. 5 Passives

This page complements units 22-24 covered in class.
Table of contents:
- Theory
- Practice

Passive reporting structures (theory and practice)

By or with?

In the passive voice we use

* BY with the agent to refer to by whom the action is being done.

-> The door was opened by Jane. (Jane = agent)

* WITH to refer to the instrument, object or material that was used for something to be done.

-> The door was opened with a key. (a key = the object that was used).

-> The pizza was made with salami, green pepers, and cheese. (salami, green peppers, and cheese are the material that was used)

DOUBLE OBJECT VERBS

When verbs take TWO OBJECTS like, for example, give somebody something or tell someone something, we can convert the active sentence into a passive one in two ways:

a) by making the indirect (animate) object the subject of the passive voice sentence, which is also the usually preferred way.

b) By making the direct (inamimate) object the subject of the passive voice.

-> Rick gave me (indirect object) this book (direct object).

= I was given this book by Rick. / This book was given to me by Rick.

Some of the verbs that take two objects are: give tell send show bring offer pay

When the indirect object is alone after the verb in the passive voice sentence, it needs the preposition to.

If the indirect object of the active voice sentence is a personal pronoun, it as to be changed into a subject pronoun to be the subject of the passive voice sentence.

Subject Object

I me

You you

He him

She her

It it

They them

Click on the following link if you want to know more and practice!

Theory and practice from random-idea-english.blogspot.com