Talk a Lot Intermediate Book Notes on Intermediate Verb Forms Passive Voice = be + past participle Time of action: Past, present, or future When we need to use it? When it isn’t important who does the action (who is the subject): The parcel will be delivered here on Wednesday Or when you don’t know who does the action (who is the subject): Stonehenge was built around five thousand years ago How is it formed? object + be + past participle Present Simple: Active: Paul delivers newspapers every day is / are + past participle Passive: Newspapers are delivered (by Paul) every day Past Simple: Active: Paul delivered newspapers yesterday was / were + past participle Passive: Newspapers were delivered (by Paul) yesterday Present Continuous: Active: Paul is delivering newspapers is / are + being + past participle Passive: Newspapers are being delivered (by Paul) Past Continuous: Active: Paul was delivering newspapers was / were + being + past participle Passive: Newspapers were being delivered (by Paul) Present Perfect: Active: Paul has delivered the newspapers have / has + been + past participle Passive: The newspapers have been delivered (by Paul) Present Perfect Continuous: Active: Paul has been delivering the newspapers have / has + been + being + past participle Passive: The newspapers have been being delivered (by Paul) [RARE] Past Perfect: Active: Paul had delivered the newspapers had + been + past participle Passive: The newspapers had been delivered (by Paul) Past Perfect Continuous: Active: Paul had been delivering the newspapers had + been + being + past participle Passive: The newspapers had been being delivered (by Paul) [RARE] Future with “will”: Active: Paul will deliver the newspapers will + be + past participle Passive: The newspapers will be delivered (by Paul) Future with “going to”: Active: Paul is going to deliver the newspapers be + going to + be + past participle Passive: The newspapers are going to be delivered (by Paul) 16 Talk a Lot Intermediate Book Notes on Intermediate Verb Forms Contractions / Questions / Negatives / Passive / State verbs Tips: Future Perfect with “will”: Active: Paul will have delivered the newspapers will + have + been + past participle Passive: The newspapers will have been delivered (by Paul) Future Perfect with “going to”: Active: Paul is going to have delivered the newspapers be + going to + have + been + past participle Passive: The newspapers are going to have been delivered (by Paul) Future Perfect Continuous with “will”: Active: Paul will have been delivering the newspapers will + have + been + being + past participle Passive: The newspapers will have been being delivered (by Paul) [RARE] Modal Forms: will / can, etc + be Modal Perfect: will / can, etc + have + past participle + been + past participle As usual for verb forms • • • All English sentences are either active (subject + verb) or passive (object + be + past participle) We can add “by…” if we know who does the action and it’s relevant, or omit it Passive forms need transitive verbs, i.e verbs that can take an object, such as “open” or “prepare”: The door was opened [by…] The lunch was prepared [by…] etc • Intransitive verbs, such as live, wait, and sit down, cannot be used in passive sentences, e.g Active: Bob sat down at the table Passive: The table was sat down at by Bob This kind of sentence is needlessly clumsy and unclear For more fun worksheets, games, and quizzes log onto www.englishbanana.com now! 17