The Passive Voice is formed by means of the auxiliary verb to be in the required form and Participle II of the notional verb.
to be + Ved(III)
| Present | Past | Future | |
| Indefinite | It is written | It was written | It will be written |
| Continuous | It is being written | It was being written | X |
| Perfect | It has been written | It had been written | It will have been written |
EXERCISES
Look at the newspaper story. Find examples of passive verbs in the following tenses: the Present Indefinite, the Past Indefinite, the Future Indefinite and the Present Perfect.
WHY WEREN’T WE WARNED?
Last night South-East England was hit by the worst storms since records were started. Twenty people were killed by the hurricane-force winds. In Dorset two firemen were killed and four were injured, when a tree fell on their fire engine.
Hundreds of houses were wrecked by winds of up to 110 mph. Roofs and chimneys were ripped off and windows were smashed. A woman was killed in a hotel in Windsor when a chimney fell through the roof.
Thousands of trees were blown down. At Kew Botanical Gardens in London many rare trees and plants – some of them over two hundred years old – have been destroyed. Many houses are without electricity now, because power lines were brought down. Thousands of people are without telephones, too. Many lines won’t be repaired until next week. Two people were rescued when their car was found by Electricity Board workmen in Kent. They were taken to hospital with broken legs.
Roads and railway lines were blocked by trees and many cars were crushed. In London and the south of England schools, offices and shops have been closed today, because people cannot get to work. Dover Harbour was closed. Hundreds of small boats were smashed by huge waves, and the ferry, Hengist, was thrown onto the beach.
This morning angry MPs are asking: “Why weren’t we warned?” No warning was given by the Meteorological Office. The late night weather forecast is recorded early in the evening. At that time the storm wasn’t expected to hit England. But about midnight it changed direction and moved north.
The strong winds have been followed by heavy rain and many parts of the south and west are flooded.
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