Grammar. Passive Voice: Present,Past, Future Simple

Hello ,dear learners!

This is the second lesson devoted to the Passive voice. The first one is here.

Today we'll learn the  Passive forms for  Simple.

  As you can see from the table, the main formula of this group is to be + V3(past participle).

NOTES

• Hope, you remember the forms of the verb to be, we studied them here.  
• You should revise the list of the irregular verbs to use the correct V3 forms.

To change tenses (present, past or future), you should only change the forms of the auxiliary verb to be, V3 is the same for all the tenses! Look here:

The email is checked every morning. (Present Simple pas.)
The email was checked an hour ago (Past Simple Pas.)
The email will be checked tomorrow. ( Future Simple Pas.)

The rules for tense usage are the same as in the Active voice :

• regular action for Present Simple;
• finished action in the past for Past Simple;
• future action for Future Simple.

If you want to make a negative sentence and a question you should use the first auxiliary verb (it is the general rule for all the tenses in the  Active and Passive voice).

Are the flowers watered every day?
Were the flowers watered yesterday?
Will the flowers be watered tomorrow?

Hockey isn't played in summer.
Hockey wasn't played yesterday.
I think,hockey won't be played in a week.

What is the difference between Active and Passive statements?

 And why do we have two voices in English?

Let's see. As you know, English sentences have a strict word order  : 

Subject (who or what makes /does an action) - Verb (action) -Object. 

The word order is the same for the active and passive sentences .  So,where is the difference?
 It's here: 
  in the active sentences                    the subjects              make /do the actions:

in the passive sentences          the objects                make / do the actions :

NOTE

We use by + agent to show who or what carries out the action.
We use with + instrument/ material/ ingridient to say what the agent used.

The door was open by the gurglar with a knife.

Practice
You should find the passive forms in this text (this is an extract from the  Daily Mail article )

Britain today took a dramatic step towards leaving the European Union after David Cameron was humiliated in his bid to block 'arch federalist' Jean-Claude Juncker getting Brussels' most powerful post.

German Chancellot Angela Merkelsaid: 'It was made clear yet again that the idea of an ever-closer union, as it is stated in the treaties, does not mean that there is equal speed among the member countries but there can be different speeds that member countries adopt to come to ever-closer union.

'We also stated that the concerns the UK has will be addressed also as regards the European developments.'

Check yourself

Britain today took a dramatic step towards leaving the European Union after David Cameron was humiliated in his bid to block 'arch federalist' Jean-Claude Juncker getting Brussels' most powerful post.

German Chancellot Angela Merkel said: 'It was made clear yet again that the idea of an ever-closer union, as it is stated in the treaties, does not mean that there is equal speed among the member countries but there can be different speeds that member countries adopt to come to ever-closer union.

'We also stated that the concerns the UK has will be addressed also as regards the European developments.'


You can learn more here  :

Grammar. Passive Voice: 5 Important Rules You Have to Know