Advanced Passive Structures (use of "on", passive in various tenses)

What are Advanced Passive Structures (use of "on", passive in various tenses)?

The passive voice moves the usual object of an active sentence into the subject position and focuses on the receiver of an action. Advanced passive structures go beyond the simple "be + past participle" in Present Simple; they include passives in many tenses, the impersonal uses that replace a language's "on" (e.g., French "on"), the difference between be-passive and get-passive, passive infinitives and participles, causative forms (have/get something done), reduced relative clauses, and reporting passives ("He is believed to have..."). This guide explains what each structure means, when to use it, how to form it, and common mistakes — with many clear examples.

When do I use the passive? When is it better than the active?

- To focus on the receiver of the action rather than the doer.
- Active: "The chef cooked the meal."
- Passive: "The meal was cooked (by the chef)."

- When the agent is unknown, unimportant, or obvious from context.
- "My bicycle was stolen." (agent unknown)
- "The exam was cancelled." (agent unimportant)

- To be more formal or objective (common in academic, scientific, or official writing).
- "The experiment was conducted under controlled conditions."

- To avoid blaming or naming an agent.
- "Mistakes were made." (less direct than "You made mistakes")

- To create impersonal statements that in other languages use a pronoun like French "on".
- French: "On dit que..."
- English impersonal options: "People say that..." / "It is said that..." / "He is said to..." / "They say..."
- Example: "On m'a dit" can be translated as "I was told" (passive) or "Someone told me" (active).

How do I form the passive? The basic pattern and passives in different tenses

Basic pattern: Subject + auxiliary (be) + past participle + (by + agent) (agent optional).

Present simple
- Formula: am / is / are + past participle
- Active: "They make cars here."
- Passive: "Cars are made here."

Past simple
- Formula: was / were + past participle
- Active: "The committee approved the plan."
- Passive: "The plan was approved (by the committee)."

Present continuous
- Formula: am / is / are + being + past participle
- Active: "They are painting the house."
- Passive: "The house is being painted."

Past continuous
- Formula: was / were + being + past participle
- Active: "They were repairing the road."
- Passive: "The road was being repaired when I drove by."

Present perfect
- Formula: has / have + been + past participle
- Active: "They have finished the report."
- Passive: "The report has been finished."

Past perfect
- Formula: had + been + past participle
- Active: "They had completed the work before the meeting."
- Passive: "The work had been completed before the meeting."

Future (will) and "be going to"
- "Will" passive: will be + past participle — "A decision will be made tomorrow."
- "Be going to" passive: is/are going to be + past participle — "The package is going to be delivered."

Modal verbs (must, should, can, might...)
- Formula: modal + be + past participle
- Example: "The error must be corrected."
- Perfect modal passive (for hypothetical or past): modal + have + been + past participle
- Example: "The error should have been corrected earlier."

Passive infinitive and perfect passive infinitive
- Passive infinitive: to be + past participle
- "She wants to be promoted."
- Perfect passive infinitive: to have been + past participle (talks about a past action)
- "He is believed to have been promoted last year."
- Newspaper style: "The suspect is thought to have fled the country."

Reporting passives and impersonal passives (the role of "one", "they", "people", and the foreign pronoun "on")

Some languages use an impersonal pronoun (like French "on") to make general statements. English has several ways to do this:

- Use "one" (formal): "One should be careful when crossing the street."
- Use "you" (informal, general advice): "You should be careful."
- Use "they/people" (neutral): "People say this is a good school."
- Use impersonal passive with "it is/was + past participle": "It is said that..." / "It was announced yesterday that..."
- Use passive reporting: "He is said to be the best candidate." / "The company is believed to have sold its assets."

Examples comparing forms (French "On dit que..." equivalents):
- "On dit que she is clever." -> "People say she is clever." / "She is said to be clever." / "It is said that she is clever."
- "On m'a dit" -> "I was told" or "Someone told me" (passive often maps directly: passive English = French passive use of "on").

Note: English does not use the word "on" as an impersonal pronoun. If you have learned a language that uses "on", translate its meaning into English with one of the options above ("one/you/they/people/it is said...") or use a passive sentence to keep the agent indefinite.

Get-passive vs be-passive: differences, uses, and examples

- "Be" passive is neutral and common in formal writing: "He was promoted."
- "Get" passive is more informal and often suggests change, personal involvement, or an unexpected/negative event: "He got promoted" (neutral/informal), "He got injured" (unexpected, negative emphasis).

Examples and nuance:
- "She was fired." (neutral/formal)
- "She got fired." (informal; often with implication of being affected by the action)
- "The window was broken by vandals." (formal)
- "The window got broken last night." (informal)

Cautions:
- Use "be" in formal or academic writing.
- "Get" cannot replace "be" with all verbs ("He got known" is wrong — use "He became known" or "He was known").

Causative structures: have/get something done (arranging or causing an action)

These structures focus on arranging a service or causing an action rather than doing it yourself.

- "Have" + object + past participle (passive causative): "I had my car repaired." (I arranged for someone to repair it.)
- "Get" + object + past participle (informal): "I got my car repaired." (similar meaning but more informal, may imply effort)
- "Have" + object + base verb (active causative): "I had the mechanic repair the car." (the mechanic did it)

Examples:
- "She had her hair cut yesterday."
- "He got his house painted last summer."
- "I had the gardener plant new trees." (active causative — gardener did the planting)

Common confusion:
- "I had the car broken" is incorrect if you mean you arranged a repair. Use "I had the car fixed."
- To talk about someone being forced to do something, we use "have" or "get" with agents or different structures: "I had him apologize" (I forced/arranged for him to apologize).

Passive infinitives and reporting structures (newspaper style and beliefs)

Journalists and writers often use structures like:
- "He is said to be..."
- "She is believed to have..."
- "The company is expected to announce..."

Form rules:
- Present reporting passive: is / are + past participle + to + base ("He is said to be...")
- Perfect reporting passive (for past): is / was + past participle + to have + past participle ("He is said to have left yesterday.") — more simply: "He is believed to have left."

Examples:
- "The team is expected to win the tournament."
- "The CEO is reported to have resigned."
- "He is believed to have lied to the committee."

Reduced relative clauses and participle clauses (shortening "who/which was..." to a participle)

When a relative clause is passive we can often reduce it by removing "who/that/which" and the auxiliary, leaving a past participle.

Examples:
- Full: "The man who was injured in the accident was taken to hospital."
- Reduced: "The man injured in the accident was taken to hospital."

- "The book that was written in 1950 is out of print."
- "The book written in 1950 is out of print."

Caution: Reduction works when the relative clause has no explicit agent phrase or when the agent is not essential. If the agent is required or the clause has extra information, do not reduce.

Passivizing verbs with prepositions and phrasal verbs

- Transitive verbs (with direct objects) regularly form passives: "They opened the door." -> "The door was opened."
- Verbs with prepositional objects can sometimes be made passive, keeping the preposition: "People live on this island." -> "This island is lived on." (grammatical but sometimes awkward)
- Phrasal verbs (verb + particle) often form passives with the particle attached to the participle: "They turned off the lights." -> "The lights were turned off."
- Some phrasal verbs are not natural in passive: "They gave up the search." -> "The search was given up" (possible but awkward; better: "They abandoned the search").

Examples:
- "Someone laughed at his joke." -> "His joke was laughed at."
- "They put up the notice." -> "The notice was put up."
- "People talk about her achievements." -> "Her achievements are talked about."

Adjectival passive vs verbal passive — how to spot the difference

Some past participles act as adjectives (describe a state) rather than as parts of a verb phrase.

- Adjectival (state): "I am interested in art." ("interested" = adjective describing my feeling)
- Verbal (action): "I was interested in the painting" could be verbal if emphasis on action that caused interest, but usually adjectival.

Ambiguity example:
- "The door is closed."
- Adjectival reading: The door is shut (state).
- Verbal reading: Someone closed the door (action).
- To emphasize the action, use progressive or add agent: "The door was being closed when I arrived" or "The door was closed by John."

Limits of the passive: when you cannot or should not use it

- Only verbs that take objects (direct or prepositional) can normally be passivized. Purely intransitive verbs do not form true passives: "arrive" -> *"He was arrived" (incorrect).
- Avoid passive when clarity or directness matters: active voice is often clearer and stronger.
- Some verbs are stative and rarely used in passive with "get": "He is known" (correct), but "He got known" (wrong).

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

- Wrong auxiliary/tense: "The letter has been wrote" (wrong) — correct: "The letter has been written."
- Confusing "been" and "being": "The report is being finished" (in progress) vs "The report has been finished" (completed).
- Using "on" as an English pronoun: "On is coming" (wrong) — use "One is coming," "They are coming," "Someone is coming," or passive/impersonal structures.
- Trying to passivize intransitive verbs: "*The baby was slept" (wrong) — correct: "The baby slept" or "The baby was put to sleep (by someone)."
- Misplacing the "by" phrase: Agent phrases usually come at the end: correct: "The cake was baked by Mary." not "By Mary the cake was baked" (though the latter is possible for emphasis, it is formal).
- Incorrect causative passive: "I had the car broken" (wrong if you mean repaired) — use "I had the car fixed."

Practical examples: passive in many tenses (active -> passive) — a quick reference set

- Present simple: "People make coffee here." -> "Coffee is made here."
- Past simple: "They opened the museum in 1980." -> "The museum was opened in 1980."
- Present continuous: "They are cleaning the office now." -> "The office is being cleaned now."
- Past continuous: "They were delivering the goods when it started to rain." -> "The goods were being delivered when it started to rain."
- Present perfect: "They have solved the problem." -> "The problem has been solved."
- Past perfect: "They had completed the building before winter." -> "The building had been completed before winter."
- Future: "They will announce the results tomorrow." -> "The results will be announced tomorrow."
- Modal: "They must check the system." -> "The system must be checked."
- Perfect modal: "They should have backed up the files." -> "The files should have been backed up."
- Passive infinitive: "They expect to finish the task." -> "The task is expected to be finished soon."
- Reporting passive (perfect): "People believe he left yesterday." -> "He is believed to have left yesterday."
- Get-passive (informal): "They arrested him." -> "He got arrested."
- Causative (have): "I arranged for someone to paint my house." -> "I had my house painted."
- Reduced relative: "The students who were accepted are here." -> "The students accepted are here."
- Phrasal verb: "They turned off the lights." -> "The lights were turned off."

Style notes: when to prefer active voice over passive

- Use active voice for clarity, brevity, and stronger communication: "The committee approved the plan." is usually preferable in everyday writing.
- Use passive for formality, to hide the agent, to emphasize results or recipients, or when the agent is unknown: "The plan was approved."

Glossary (simple definitions)

Agent — the doer of the action; in passive sentences the agent can be expressed with "by" or left out.
Past participle — the verb form used with perfect tenses and the passive (e.g., "written", "done", "seen").
Transitive verb — a verb that takes a direct object (needed to form the basic passive).
Intransitive verb — a verb that does not take a direct object (usually cannot form a basic passive).
Causative — a construction that means "cause something to happen" (e.g., "have/get something done").
Perfect passive infinitive — "to have been + past participle", used in reporting passives to refer to past events.

Final tips — quick checks when you want a passive sentence

- Identify whether the verb has a direct or suitable prepositional object. If not, avoid simple passive.
- Choose "be" for formal writing and "get" for informal, personal, or change-of-state meanings.
- Use passive infinitives ("is expected to be..." / "is believed to have...") to report opinions without naming a source.
- To replace a foreign-language impersonal pronoun like "on", use "one/you/they/people" or an impersonal passive like "It is said that..." or "X is said to..." depending on formality.

This guide gives the patterns and many examples you can use as reference. When in doubt, transform the active sentence into passive by making the object the subject, adding the correct form of "be" plus the past participle, and include the agent only if it matters. Practice by converting a few sentences in different tenses and pay attention to nuance (formal vs informal, be vs get, and reporting vs adjectival uses).