The passive voice
1. PASSIVITY
| Active: | the dog. (the doer of the action) | |
| subject object | ||
| Passive: | ||
| Name | Construction | Example |
| Present simple | am/is/are + past participle (pp) | English is spoken here. |
| Present continuous | am/is/are being + pp | The room is being cleaned at the moment |
| Present perfect | have/has been + pp | Have you ever been bitten by a dog? |
| Past simple | was/were + pp | This room was cleaned yesterday. |
| Past continuous | was/were being + pp | The room was being cleaned when I arrived. |
| Past perfect | had been + pp | I knew why I had been chosen. |
| Future simple | will be + pp | The book will be sent to you. |
| Future perfect | will have been + pp | Everything will have been done by Tuesday. |
| Modal verbs | can, must, ..... be + pp | What can be done? |
| Present infinitive | to be + pp | He wanted to be forgiven. |
| Perfect infinitive | to have been + pp | The car was reported to have been stolen. |
| Present participle | being + pp | She likes being looked at. |
| Past participle | having been + pp |
Having been weakened by successive storms, the bridge was no longer safe. |
3. NOTE
- Trong câu bị động nếu muốn nói ai đã thực hiện hoặc cái gì đã gây ra hành động, bạn phải dùng giới từ "by"
Ex: This house was built by my father.(= my father built it)
Have you ever been bitten by a dog? (= Has a dog ever bitten you?)
- Thể bị động nguyên thể (passive infinitive) là: be done/ be cleaned/ be built.....Ta dùng nguyên thể sau modal verbs: will, can, must....và sau một số động từ khác như: have to, be going to, want to.
Ex: The new hotel will be opened next year.
Go away! I want to be left alone.
- Một số động từ có thể có 2 bổ ngữ, vì vậy có thể đặt 2 câu bị động có cấu trúc khác nhau.
Ex: Active: They didn't offer the job. (2 bổ ngữ là Ann và the job)
Passive: Ann wasn't offered the job.
The job wasn't offered to Ann.
Các động từ có thể có 2 bổ ngữ: offer, ask, tell, give, send, show, teach, pay
- Đôi khi bạn có thể dùng "get" thay "be" trong các câu bị động:
Ex: There was a fight at the party but nobody got hurt. (= nobody was hurt)
Did Ann get offered the job? (= was Ann offered the job?)
Có thể dùng "get" trong câu bị động để nói một việc xảy ra đối với một người hoặc với một sự việc nào đó. Hành động này thường không được dự kiến trước, nó xảy ra theo một sự ngẫu nhiên.
Ex: The dog got run over by a car.
