The passive

Form
The verb to be + past participle.
Present Simple: Goods worth 750M. are stolen from shops each year.
Present Continuous: A man is being questioned in connection with the robbery.
Present Perfect: Photos of the suspects have been put up arround the town.
Past Simple: He was taken away in a van.
Past Continuous: The burglar didn't realize he was being filmed.
Past Perfect: Two people had been mugged there on the previous day.
Future simple: All football supporters will be searched at the airport.
Infinitive: He is hoping to be released from prison next month.
Gerund: I can't even remember being hit on the end.
Modal verbs: He should be sentenced to life imprisonment.

Use
The passive is used to focus attention on the person or thing affected by the action, rather than on the agent (the "doer" of the action). If we are interested in the agent, we used the preposition by.
Sue and Mark were brought up by their parents.
When we talk about the instrument used by the agent to do the action, we use the preposition with.
He was hit on the head with a vase.
The agent is not usually included when:
- It is clear from the context who the agent is.
Colin was arrested for dangerous driving.(by the police)
- We don't know who the agent is or was.
My car was stolen yesterday afternoon.
- When the agent is not important.
Stamps are often sold in supermarkets in England.
- The passive is also used in formal notices.
Food may not be consumed on the premises.

Passive constructions with the infinitive
The infinitive can be used after the passive of verbs such as: believe, consider, expect, know, say, think.
The president is expected to arrive at 9.30 pm.
The perfect infinitive (have+past participle) is used to refer to the past.
12 people are known to have died in the accident.

Let and make

Both these verbs are followed by the infinitive without to.

Let is used to express permission. My dad never lets me watch this movie.


Let is not normally used in the passive. Be allowed to is used instead. I wasn't allowed to go to the party alone.

Make is used to express obligation. The teacher made her do some extra homework.

In the passive, make is followed by the infinitive with to. He was made to pay for the window he had broken.

The passive: be + past participle

We often use the passive when it's not clear or important who does an action.
My bike has been stolen (= Somebody has stolen my bike. I don't know who.)

If you want to say who did the action, use by.
Death in Venice was directed by Visconti.

Passive : be + past participle

Present
Positive		Negative		Questions
Rissotto is made with rice.		It isn't made with rice.		Is it made with rice?
These offices are cleaned every morning.		They aren't cleaned on Sundays.		Are they cleaned on Saturdays?
Past
Positive		Negative		Questions
Guernica was painted by Picasso.		It wans't painted by Miró.		When was it painted?
The pyramids were built by the Egyptians.		They weren't built by the Romans.		Why were they built?

You can often say things in two ways, in the active or in the passive.
Picasso painted Guernica. (active) / Guernica was pianted by Picasso. (passive)

In the active sentence, the focus is more on the person.
In the passive sentence, the focus is more on the painting.

You can also use the passive when it's not know or not important who does or did the action. My car was stolen last week. ( I don't know who stole it)

Present passive - am/is/are + the past participle.
Past passive - was/were + the past participle.

Use by to say who did the action.