Passive

Passive Voice

Example: These cars are produced in Japan.
                 The car has been fixed.
                 My bike was stolen last night.

Use: when we don'r know or it is not important who does the action. What matters is the action, not the doer.

Form: "be" + Past Participle

	Simple	Continuous	Perfect
Present	is written	is being written	has been written
Past	was written	was being written	had been written
Future	will be written		will have been written
modal	can be written		might have been written

- If we mention the doer, they are introduced with "by":
The first automobile was invented by Karl Benz, not by Henry Ford.

- Often the same idea can be expressed with both the passive and the active, in which case it matters what information we want to focus on. For example, the following two sentences are equally correct:
Pippi Longstocking was written by Astrid Lindgren. 
Astrid Lindgren wrote Pippi Longstocking.
If we are talking about the book, we are more likely to choose the first one (passive), but in a text about Astrid Lindgren we would rather go for the second (active).

Compare the active and the passive:

Present Simple	These cars are produced in Japan.	They produce these cars in Japan.
Past Simple	My bike was stolen last night.	Someone stole my bike last night.
Present Continuous	We are being followed!	Someone is following us!
Past Continuous	We were being followed.	Someone was following us.
Present Perfect	The car has been fixed.	They have fixed the car.
Past Perfect	He had been given detailed instructions.	They had given him detailed instructions.
modal verbs	This can't be fixed. All the money will be spent.	I can't fix this. We will spend all the money.

Exercises:
Passive