PASSIVE VOICE: OTHER USES With two objects: direct and indirect

Many verbs, such as give, send, show, lend, pay, promise, refuse, tell, offer can be followed by two objects. Two structures are possible: Alice gave us that vase / Alice gave that vase to us (active) A. Personal object as subject: We were given that vase (by Alice) B. Non-personal object as subject: That vase was given (to) us (by Alice) The choice between the two passive structures may depend, but the structure A is the more common of the two. In structure B, prepositions are sometimes dropped before indirect object pronouns. Ive just been sent a whole lot of information You were lent ten thousand pounds last year The visitors were shown a collection of old manuscripts He was refused a visa because he had been in prison. Explain and suggest cannot be used in structure A. The problem was explained to the children A meeting place was suggested to us. Phrasal verbs

Many two- and three-word verbs can be used in the passive. Kathy looks after him. He is looked after (by Kathy) They put the accident down to bad luck The accident was put down to bad luck Other verbs: carry out, disapprove of, hold over (=delay), talk down to (=patronise) Some other verbs CANNOT be used in the passive, for example, brush up on (=revise), cast (your mind) back, come up against (=encounter), get (sth) down, take after. Examples: The plan has been carefully looked at She is never listened to

Reporting verbs

With reporting structures it is possible to transform the structure into a passive one. People think that Peter is a thief. 1. It is thought that Peter is a thief 2. Peter is thought to be a thief Perfect They believe that Peter killed the man 1. It is believed that Peter killed the man 2. Peter is believed to have killed the man Other verbs: agree, assume, calculate, acknowledge, claim, consider, discover, expect, feel, find, hope, know, intend, plan, say, show, suggest, suppose, think, understand Examples: Moriarty is thought to be in Switzerland She is known to have been married before It is considered to be the finest Cathedral in Scotland Infinitives and gerunds in passive voice

Some verbs that can be followed by ing can be used in the passive form being + past participle. Other verbs: avoid, deny, describe, dislike, face, hate, like, remember I really love being given presents The children enjoyed being taken to the zoo The active patter with infinitive can be also used in the passive. Other verbs: appear, begin, come, continue, seem, tend, arrange, attempt, hope, refuse, want Fresh pasta started to be sold by supermarkets only in the 1990s Some verbs that use bare infinitive change their structures to to-infinitive in the passive I saw him come out of the house.He was seen to come out of the house They made him tell them eveything He was made to tell them everything