PASSIVE VOICE

When to use the Passive Voice

1. It is used when the person/thing performing the action is unimportant or unknown.
e.g. Our car was stolen last night.

2. It is used when it is obvious who/what is performing the action.
e.g. Cameron was sacked last week.

3. It is used to describe factual information, especially when describing a process.
e.g. The lasagna is baked in an oven for 35 minutes at 250 degrees Celsius.

4. It is used in news reports and to give instructions.
e.g. Five people were arrested at a nightclub last night.

While it is possible to use this structure in a large variety of tenses in English, it is not common to use the passive in Future Continuous, Present Perfect Continuous, Past Perfect Continuous or Future Perfect Continuous tenses.

Below there are examples of the passive in a range of verb tenses

The butter	is	kept here.	Present Simple
The window	was	broken.	Past Simple
The work	will be	done soon.	Future Simple
The bridge	is being	repaired.	Present Continuous
The cheese	was being	eaten by mice.	Past Continuous
Our work	has been	finished.	Present Perfect
The car	hadn't been	used much.	Past Perfect
The house	will have been	built by then.	Future Perfect
The shelf	can't be	reached.	Modal Verb - Can
The task	must be	done now.	Modal Verb - Must
The lesson	may be	finished.	Modal Verb - May
The car	ought to be	repaired.	Modal Verb

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Verbs with two objects

Some verbs that have two objects can make two different active sentences, and so two different passive sentences too:

Give

• Active: He gave me the book / He gave the book to me.

You can choose either of the two objects to be the subject of the passive sentence.

• Passive: I was given the book (by him)/ The book was given to me (by him).

Other verbs like this are: ask, offer, teach, tell, lend, promise, sell, throw. 

• You can see  HERE a more extended explanation and examples

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