Passive Voice How Things are Made 3º ESO Donos 2009

In English they use the passive voice much more often than in Spanish. They use the passive voice when the agent (the subject that does the action of the verb) is not relevant or is unknown. The focus is on the action. So they often use it to describe processes. E.g. Aluminium cans are recycled here. We translate passive sentences as impersonal sentences in Spanish. E.g. Aquí se reciclan las latas de aluminio. E.g. Aquí se reciclan las latas de aluminio.

Active ► Passive Transformation When we want to make an active sentence into passive, we follow these steps: When we want to make an active sentence into passive, we follow these steps: 1. The object of the active sentence becomes subject in the passive. Only transitive verbs take the passive. e.g. They recycle aluminium here (object) (object) 2. The verb in passive consists of “to be” in any form or tense and the past participle of the main verb. e.g. Aluminium is recycled here. e.g. Aluminium is recycled here. (passive subject) (passive verb) (passive subject) (passive verb) 3. If we want to mention the agent we put the preposition “by” in front of it. e.g. Aluminium is recycled here (by them)

Now practise with these transformations... Example: verb verb Active: In English, they use the passive subject, irrelevant object subject, irrelevant object more often than in Spanish. Passive: In English, the passive is used more often than in Spanish. (En Inglés, la pasiva se usa con más frecuencia que en Español)

1.They use the passive to describe processes. The passive is used to describe processes 2. We translate the passive as an impersonal sentence The passive is translated as an impersonal sentence

Finally, use verbs in the passive form to describe the process of recycling aluminium. Watch the video and fill in the gaps Watch the video and fill in the gaps Link with hot potato: gap filling Link with hot potato: gap filling