Passive: be + past participle
Present
| Risotto is made with rise It isn’t made with pasta. Is it made with meat? These offices are cleaned every morning. They aren’t cleaned on Saturdays Are they cleaned on Sundays? |
Past
| Guernica was painted by Picasso. It wasn’t painted by Dali. When was it painted? The pyramids were built by the Egyptians. They weren’t built by the Greeks. Why were they built? |
You can often say things in two ways, in the active or in the passive.
Picasso painted Guernica. (active) Guernica was painted by Picasso. (passive)
In the active sentence, the focus is more on the person (e.g. Guernica).
You can also use the passive when it’s not known or not important who does or did the action.
My car was stolen last week.(I don’t know who stole it.)
Make the present passive with am /is/are+ past participle.
Make the past passive with was/ were+ the past participle.
Use by to say who did the action
The Lord of the Rings was written by Tolkien.