One of the nicer benefits of familiarizing or re-familiarizing yourself with passive structures is that it enables you to simultaneously bone up on the twelve English tenses.
For those not in the know, passive structures are used when the subject of an active sentence is either unimportant, less important, unnecessary or German. (I'm not 100% sure on the German part, so you probably shouldn't quote me on it.) The goal, then, in a passive sentence is to move or shift the emphasis of what you're saying or writing to the more relevant subject.
There are twelve passive structures, one for each tense, and a few extra super-duper ones, which require patience, a good memory and/or a friend who won't be able to tell the difference if you use them wrong. Not wanting you to feel snowed under with too much information at once, I'll merely rough out these super-duper passives in this Recipe and then flesh them out later in a Tidbit titled "Fleshed out Super-Duper Passives".
FIVE SOMEWHAT HELPFUL PASSIVE STRUCTURES RULES
1. All passive structures (except the super-duper kind) use some form of the verb "be" (am, is, are, was, been, being...) followed by a verb in the third form. No exceptions.
2. In passive continuous structures, "be" is used in its continuous form "is/are being" (present), "was/were being" (past), "will be being" (future) followed as always by a verb in the third form. Putting the continuous verb of an active sentence into its continuous form in a passive sentence is a very common mistake. Do not fall into this trap.
EX: "They are building new skyscrapers down the street" is transformed into "New skyscrapers are being built down the street" NOT "New skyscrapers are building or being building down the street."
3. In passive simple perfect structures, which are most often used in "how many" situations, you must use "has/have" (present), "had" (past) or "will have" (future) followed by "been" and then a verb in its third form. Again, no exceptions.
EX: "They had built three new skyscrapers down the street before the investors ran out of money and had to halt construction" is transformed into "Three skyscrapers had been built before the investors ran out of money and had to halt construction."
4. In passive perfect continuous structures, which are most often used in "how long" situations, "be" is used in its perfect continuous form,"has/have been being" (present), "had been being" (past) or "will have been being" (future) followed as always by a verb in its third form. It sounds bizarre, but I assure you it's correct.
EX: "They will have been building skyscrapers down the street for three years by the time they are finished next July" is transformed into "The skyscrapers down the street will have been being built for three years by the time they are finished next July."
5. Not every sentence, even if it's possible, should be made into a passive sentence.
EX: "I like chocolate ice cream" could be, but should NOT be reconstructed as "Chocolate ice cream is liked by me". The only one who would find that passive sentence interesting is another ice cream, and in my experience, ice creams, even bright and flavorful ones like strawberry, are, by and large, pretty apathetic towards each other.
A POTENTIALLY USEFUL PASSIVE STRUCTURES CHART
Present simple: They do this (active) This is done (passive)
Present perfect: They have done this (active) This has been done (passive)
Present continuos: They are doing this (active) This is being done (passive)
Present perfect continuous: They have been doing this (active) This has been being done (passive)
Past simple: They did this (active) This was done (passive)
Past perfect: They had done this (active) This had been done (passive)
Past continuous: They were doing this (active) This was being done (passive)
Past perfect continuous: They had been doing this (active) This had been being done (passive)
Future simple: They will do this/are going to do this (active) This will be done/is going to be done (passive)
Future perfect: They will have done this (active) This will have been done (passive)
Future continuous: They will be doing this (active) This will be being done (passive)
Future perfect continuous: They will have been doing this (active) This will have been being done (passive)
SUPER-DUPER PASSIVE STRUCTURES IN A NUTSHELL (AS PROMISED)
For lack of a better explanation, there are certain verbs, such as "say", "believe", "expect", "claim", "know" and "understand" (http://www.slideshare.net/inmaculadaeoi23/impersonal-passive-sentences) that can be made passive by using more sophisticated structures than above. These are generally used in reporting information situations; in newspapers, newscasts, or my gossipy Aunt Sadie, for example.
The structure is either Impersonal, starting with either "It" or "There" and followed by a "that" or "there" clause, or Personal, starting with the subject (the object in the active version of the sentence) followed by an infinitive clause.
EX: "People say that I am lazy." (Active)
"It is said that I am lazy." (Impersonal Passive with a "that" clause")
"I am said to be lazy." (Personal Passive followed by an infinitive structure)
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