Transcript Document

Passive Voice
How Things are Made
3º ESO
Donos 2009
In English they use the passive voice much more often
than in Spanish.
They use the passive voice when the agent (the subject that does the
action of the verb) is not relevant or is unknown.
The focus is on the action. So they often use it to describe
processes.
E.g. Aluminium cans are recycled here.
We translate passive sentences as impersonal sentences in Spanish.
E.g. Aquí se reciclan las latas de aluminio.
Active ► Passive
Transformation
When we want to make an active sentence into passive,
we follow these steps:
1. The object of the active sentence becomes subject in
the passive. Only transitive verbs take the passive.
e.g. They recycle aluminium here
(object)
2.
The verb in passive consists of “to be” in any form or
tense and the past participle of the main verb.
e.g. Aluminium is recycled here.
(passive subject) (passive verb)
3. If we want to mention the agent we put the preposition
“by” in front of it.
e.g. Aluminium is recycled here (by them)
Now practise with these transformations...
Example:
verb
Active: In English, they use the passive
subject, irrelevant
object
more often than in Spanish.
Passive: In English, the passive is used
more often than in Spanish.
(En Inglés, la pasiva se usa con más frecuencia que en Español)
1. They use the passive to describe processes.
The passive is used to describe processes
2. We translate the passive as an impersonal sentence
The passive is translated as an impersonal sentence
Finally, use verbs in the passive
form to describe the process of
recycling aluminium.
Watch the video and fill in the gaps
Link with hot potato: gap filling