1. Review: the past tense
The past is a time before now.
Events in the past use the past tense.
To make the past tense:
- subject + verb in past tense
Past tense verbs come in two forms:
1. ‘ed’ past tense
2. irregular past tense
| verb | ‘ed’ past tense | example |
|---|---|---|
| talk | talked | I talked to my brother yesterday. |
| look | looked | He looked at the picture. |
| want | wanted | They wanted to go to the cinema but it was closed. |
| need | needed | Ernest needed a new hat. |
| visit | visited | Ian and Iain visited their mother in the hospital. |
| kiss | kissed | Rupa kissed Nicky. |
| kill | killed | Rupa killed Nicky. |
| cook | cooked | Frances cooked a delicious meal for her friends. |
| verb | irregular past tense | Example |
|---|---|---|
| am / is / are | was / were | I was happy, but Kelly was angry. |
| have | had | We had a party last night. |
| do | did | Harper did her homework on the bus. |
| go | went | She went to the Great Wall of China last month. |
| eat | ate | I know you ate my sandwich. |
| buy | bought | He bought a new pair of shoes. |
| wake | woke | She woke up at 5am. It was terrible. |
| meet | met | I met the boss to ask for a pay rise. He said no. |
2. The passive voice
The passive voice changes ‘x did something to y’ into ‘y has something done to it (by x)’.
It is made by:
- object + be + perfect participle (+ by subject)
*Perfect participle (p.p.) = gone, done, seen, eaten etc.
‘Be’ changes depending on the tense you want to use (present, past, future, perfect, etc.).
3. The past tense (passive voice)
The past tense (passive) uses the structure:
- object + be (past) + perfect participle (+by subject)
| Object | Be (past) | P.p. | By subject | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The cows | were | fed | by William | The cows were fed by William this morning. |
| Max | was | dumped | by his girlfriend | Max was dumped by his girlfriend. |
| Dev and Anita | were | taken | Dev and Anita were taken to the police station for questioning last night. | |
| Julio’s cat | was | scared | Julio’s cat was scared by the doorbell, so ran away. |
4. Converting a past tense into its passive voice
To change a past tense into its passive voice:
1. swap the subject and object
2. change the past tense verb into ‘be (past) + p.p.’
| Past tense | Past tense (passive) |
|---|---|
| The two boys played a game of chess yesterday. | A game of chess was played by the two boys yesterday. |
| Sue cooked dinner last night. | Dinner was cooked by Sue last night. |
| We bought the green car this morning. | The green car was bought this morning by us. |
| Jilly drank the vodka and gin. | The vodka and gin were drunk by Jilly. |
| Seth gave the toy train to Mickey. | The toy train was given to Mickey by Seth. |
| A fire destroyed the library in 1922. | The library was destroyed by a fire in 1922. |
5. Exercises
1. Change these sentences into the passive voice:
(i) They cut the tree down last winter.
(ii) Newton discovered the theory of gravity.
(iii) The fall broke every bone in his arm.
2. Change these sentences out of the passive voice:
(i) The scar was left here by a snake bite.
(ii) The street was flooded by the rain.
(iii) She was raised by her grandparents in the north-west of Canada.