Turn from Active into Passive

1. You must leave the bathroom tidy. …….. The bathroom must be left tidy. ……….

2. You should water this plant daily. ……………………………………………..……..

3. Our neighbor ought to paint the garage. ………………………………………………….

4. I have to return these books to the library. …………………………………………………

5. You must extinguish your cigarettes. ……………………………………………….….

6. You must dry-clean this shirt. ………………………………………………..….

7. Someone will pay you in ten days. ………………………………………………….

8. You can improve your health with more exercise.………………………………….……..

9. People must obey the law. …………………………………………….…….

10. The cleaner is going to mop the kitchen floor. ………………………………………..….

Rewrite the following passages in the PASSIVE.

A)

Some people saw a UFO in the sky above London last night. They reported it to the police. The army sent a helicopter to look at it more closely. The UFO shot the helicopter down and killed both men in it. People have given photographs of the UFO to the police. Experts are looking at them now.

B)

My uncle painted this picture. Someone has offered him a lot of money for it. He will deliver the painting tomorrow. When they give him the money he will tell them the truth. He painted it one night while he was sleepwalking!

C)

Our school is organizing a contest. The teachers will choose the best project about the environment. The students must include pictures and drawings in their projects. The students will also have to do all the writing themselves. The school will give the winner a set of encyclopaedias.

D)

Someone broke into a local jewellery shop yesterday. The owner had just locked up the shop when a robber with a gun threatened him. The robber told him to unlock the shop and give him all the diamonds in the safe. Then the robber tied him up. The police have organized a search for the robber. They hope they will find him in a few days. Doctors are treating the owner of the shop for shock.

Unit 7. Passive Voice: direct/indirect objects, prepositions in Passive, it is said that …, he is said to…, have something done

Direct/indirect objects:

When there are two objects in an active sentence, there are two possible active sentences and two possible passive sentences.

possibility 1: The professor gave the students the books.

possibility 2: The professor gave the books to the students.

There are two objects in each of the following sentences:

object 1 = indirect object: the students

object 2 = direct object: the books

An indirect object is very often a person, a direct object a thing. When a direct object is followed by an indirect one, we put to in front of the indirect object.

Study these verbs:

For example, give:

* We gave the police (indirect object) the information (direct object). (= We gave the information to the police.)

So it is possible to make two Passive sentences:

* The police were given the information. or The information was given to the police.

Other verbs which can have two objects are: ask offer pay show teach tell.

When we use these verbs in the passive, most often we begin with the person:

* I was offered the job but I refused it. (= they offered me the job)

* You will be given plenty of time to decide. (= we will give you plenty of time)

* Have you been shown the new machine? (= has anybody shown you...?)

* The men were paid $200 to do the work. (= somebody paid the men $200)

Prepositional verbs in Passive:

When we put an active sentence, where a preposition follows after the verb (e.g. break into, look after), into Passive – the preposition remains immediately after the verb.

Active sentence	Passive sentence
Someone broke into the pet shop.	The pet shop was broken into.
Everybody talked much about the film.	The film was much talked about.
They laughed a t him.	He was laughed at.

It is necessary to remember prepositional verbs that are often used in Passive constructions:

· to account for	· to agree to	· to agree on/upon	· to arrive at a decision
· to call for, at, on	· to comment on	· to count on	· to deal with
· to depend on/upon	· to hear of	· to insist on/upon	· to laugh at
· to listen to	· to look after, at, down, on, up, to, upon, into, over	· to refer to	· to rely on
· to send for	· to speak about/of, to	· to provide for	· to put up with
· to talk about, over, to	· to think of, over	· to write about

It is said that... He is said to... (be) supposed to...:

Study this example situation:

Henry is very old. Nobody knows exactly how old he is, but:

It is said that he is 108 years old. or He is said to be 108 years old.

Both these sentences mean: 'People say that he is 108 years old.'

You can use these structures with a number of other verbs, especially:

thought believed considered reported known expected alleged understood

Compare the two structures:

* Cathy works very hard.

It is said that she works 16 hours a day. or She is said to work 16 hours a day.

* The police are looking for a missing boy.

It is believed that the boy is wearing a white pullover and blue jeans. or The boy is believed to be wearing a white pullover and blue jeans.

These structures are often used in news reports. For example, in a report about an accident:

* It is reported that two people were injured in the explosion. or Two people are reported to have been injured in the explosion.

(Be) supposed to:

Sometimes it is supposed to... = it is said to...

* Let's go and see that film. It's supposed to be very good. (= it is said to be very good)

* 'Why was he arrested?' 'He's supposed to have kicked a policeman.' (= he is said to have kicked a policeman)

But sometimes supposed to has a different meaning. 'Something is supposed to happen' = it is planned, arranged or expected. Often this is different from what really happens:

* I'd better hurry. It's nearly 8 o'clock and I'm supposed to be meeting Ann at 8.15. (= I have arranged to meet Ann, I said I would meet her)

* The train was supposed to arrive at 11.30 but it was an hour late. (= the train was expected to arrive at 11.30 according to the timetable)

* You were supposed to clean the windows. Why didn't you do it?

'You're not supposed to do something ' = it is not allowed or advisable for you to do it:

* You're not supposed to park your car here. It's private parking only.

* Mr. Bond is much better after his illness but he's still not supposed to do any heavy work. (= his doctors have advised him not to...)

Have something done:

Study this example situation:

The roof of Jill's house was damaged in a storm, so she arranged for somebody to repair it. Yesterday a workman came and did the job.

Jill had the roof repaired yesterday.

This means: Jill arranged for somebody else to repair the roof. She didn't repair it herself.

If you 'have something done', you get somebody else to do something for you.

Compare:

* Jill repaired the roof. (= she repaired it herself)

* Jill had the roof repaired. (= she arranged for somebody else to repair it)

Study these sentences:

Did Ann make the dress herself or did she have it made?

'Are you going to repair the car yourself?' 'No, I'm going to have it repaired.'

We can also use 'have something done' in situations where something bad has happened to people or their possessions. This is not something they wanted to happen.

John had all his money stolen from his hotel bedroom.

We had our car damaged by a falling tree.

George had his nose broken in a fight.

Be careful with word order. The past participle (repaired/cut etc.) is after the object (the roof your hair etc.):

have + object + past participle

Study these sentences:

Jill had the roof repaired yesterday.

Where did you have your hair cut?

Your hair looks nice. Have you had it cut?

Julia has just had central heating installed in her house.

We are having the house painted at the moment.

How often do you have your car serviced?

I think you should have that coat cleaned soon.

I don't like having my photograph taken.

You can also say 'get something done' instead of 'have something done' (mainly in informal spoken English):

When are you going to get the roof repaired? (= have the roof repaired)

I think you should get your hair cut.

Let’s Practice