Grammar: Passive voice on the web-site for teachers and learners of English as a secondary language from a German point of view
Click here and you will always get back to the table of contents
Table of Contents
passive voice HOMEback to the homepagePAGE back to the previous page back to
past tense
go on to
Zeitstrahl
on to the next page

Grammar: Passive voice


 
Form Function Curriculum Difficulties Situations
present tense:

I        am             called

He                    introduced
She    is           taken
It                       
born

We
You     are
They

  • To stress the thing done more
    than the doer of it.
  • The doer is unknown, of no  interest or  of no importance
  • The by-agent is often/generally  omitted
unless there is a further information to complete the sentence (stress on the thing)
unless the by-agent is contrasted to another by-agent which is therefore especially stressed

            

(The burglar was caught by the caretaker 
(and not by the police.) 

 
 
 
 

 

Klasse 7 / 8:

is/are done
was/were done
can/must/ 
     should be done

Klasse 9 / 10

Revision

Remedial work
based on

tenses of to be

past participles

irregular verbs

transitive verbs

22 verbs with 2 
     objects

personal 
     passive

stress on 
     words in 
     front-position
     and end-position

contrasting 
     active and 
     passive voice

intralingual
interferences:
competing structures:

People/they/
someone called me yesterday.

I had my hair cut.

It was Shakespeare who wrote Henry VIII.

interlingual:
He was injured - Er war /wurde verletzt.

Verben im Passiv -
persönl. Passiv

Verwechslung mit Adjektiven: He was interested in...

Verwechslung future active voice -
present passive voice:

I will catch you -
I am caught (by you)
werden als Hilfsverb für die Zukunft und als Hilfsverb für das Passiv

General statements

News: 
The car was damaged, 4 people were killed.

Headlines:

6M pounds robbed

Brochures and reports:

This church was built in.....

Processes:

How to make mocassins

Experiments:

Columbus' egg

works of literature:

Romeo and Juliet was written by W.S.

Past tense

I
He
She    was     + verb+ed
It                     or 3rd form
                       
We
You   were
They

 
present perfect

I
You
We       have     + verb+ed
They              or 3rd form
been                
He                   
She     has
It

 
future tense

It must
   can                 done
   shall    be     + verb+ed
   will              or 3rd form

They will be prosecuted

 
Expressions

Made in England
Made of silver
Used for cleaning

Completing headlines with a past participle  

Click here and you will always get back to the table of contents
Table of Contents
passive voice HOMEback to the homepagePAGE to the top back to the previous page back to
past tense
go on to
Zeitstrahl
on to the next page