Grammar / C1 Grammar lessons and exercises / Advanced Passives Review
We use the passive voice when we want to change the focus of a sentence, when the person or thing doing the action is not important, obvious or unknown, and very often in formal or scientific writing.
The interview was recorded yesterday.
Cleaner sources of energy must be developed.
An electrical fault is believed to have caused the power cut.
We can use the passive to make the receiver of the action the main focus of the sentence.
Active: Aliya Monier directed the film.
Passive: The film was directed by Aliya Monier.
The most common passive structure is:
subject + be + past participle
The new smoke alarm was installed yesterday.
The person or thing that performs the action is called the agent. We usually omit it, but we can add it with by when it is important.
The new smoke alarm was installed yesterday by the company director herself.
We form the passive with modal verbs using:
modal + be + past participle
A podcast can be made with minimal resources.
The accident must be reported to the police.
New laws should be created to regulate electric scooters.
In informal English, get can sometimes replace be in passive structures.
My bicycle got stolen last night.
= My bicycle was stolen last night.
We use the impersonal passive with reporting verbs such as believe, claim, consider, estimate, expect, know, report, say, think and understand.
It is useful when we report what people generally say or believe, without identifying exactly who says it.
It + be + past participle + that + subject + verb
It is estimated that millions of people visit the site every year.
It is believed that the walls date from the third century BCE.
It is reported that mosquitoes transmit the disease.
someone / something + be + past participle + infinitive
Millions of people are estimated to visit the site every year.
The walls are believed to date from the third century BCE.
Mosquitoes are reported to transmit the disease.
After reporting passives, the infinitive can be simple, perfect or continuous.
Millions are estimated to visit the site this year.
The walls are believed to have been built in the third century BCE.
Mosquitoes are reported to be transmitting the disease.
| Structure | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| be + past participle | standard passive | was installed |
| modal + be + pp | passive with modal | must be reported |
| get + pp | informal passive | got stolen |
| It is believed that ... | impersonal report | It is believed that ... |
| is believed to ... | impersonal report | is believed to date |
❌ The accident must reported.
✅ The accident must be reported.
❌ The walls are believed built in the third century.
✅ The walls are believed to have been built in the third century.
❌ It believes that millions visit the site.
✅ It is believed that millions visit the site.