Grammar · Lesson 7

The full passive

A passive does not erase time, aspect, modality, or responsibility. It changes which participant becomes the grammatical topic. At B2, the challenge is to preserve the whole auxiliary system, choose active or passive focus deliberately, and report claims without making uncertainty sound like fact.

70–80 min coretense · aspect · modalityfocus · agency · reporting15–20 min extension

NoticeTrack one event through several passive chains.

BuildPreserve tense, aspect, and modality.

DecideForeground or restore the responsible agent.

ReportPackage sourced claims with accurate time.

Can-do: By the end, you can build simple, progressive, perfect, future, and modal passives; recover every auxiliary; recast grammatical but overloaded chains; decide whether an agent is unknown, obvious, irrelevant, informative, or being concealed; distinguish event, result-state, and conversational get-passives; use two-object and prepositional passives; switch between impersonal and personal reporting; locate simultaneous, ongoing, earlier, and earlier-passive reported events; hear reduced U.S. forms; and deliver a sourced institutional briefing.

Two-minute retrieval

Reactivate the B1 passive foundation

Use the grammatical role or complete verb family named in each prompt.

1In The bridge was inspected, the subject the bridge is .

2The agent adds professional authority in The safety certificate was signed .

3Complete the irregular family: write, wrote, .

4The active present perfect continuous chain in The committee the plan will help you compare longer passive chains.

Notice what stays and what changes

One fictional station project at four stages

The crew is replacing the east elevator.
The east elevator is being replaced.

The crew has installed 18 platform lights.
Eighteen platform lights have been installed.

The contractor should have tested the emergency signs.
The emergency signs should have been tested.

The April finance memo predicts that the project will cost 7% more than the original estimate.
According to the April finance memo, the project is expected to cost 7% more than the original estimate.

Which active and passive pair share present progressive time?
Which pair share present perfect aspect and a completed quantity?
Which passive chain preserves a past obligation that was not met?
Which reporting passive names the source and keeps the projected cost uncertain?
What changes in the grammatical topic when active becomes passive?

Discovery check: recover the meaning carried by each chain

1The chain that presents replacement in progress now is .

2The chain that presents 18 lights as completed output connected to now is .

3The chain that preserves a missed past obligation is .

4After the source phrase According to the April finance memo, the projected-cost reporting chain is .

5Across every active-passive pair, .

Get to the root: preserve the auxiliary system

Start from the active tense, aspect, or modal meaning. Keep that auxiliary system, insert the correct form of be, and place the lexical action in its past participle. The affected participant becomes the new subject and controls agreement.

meaning	active	passive
present routine	They inspect the elevators.	The elevators are inspected.
finished past	They inspected the elevator.	The elevator was inspected.
present process	They are inspecting the elevator.	The elevator is being inspected.
past process	They were inspecting the elevator.	The elevator was being inspected.
present completed result	They have inspected the elevator.	The elevator has been inspected.
earlier completed result	They had inspected the elevator.	The elevator had been inspected.
future event	They will inspect the elevator.	The elevator will be inspected.
future completed result	They will have inspected the elevator.	The elevator will have been inspected.
present requirement	They must inspect the elevator.	The elevator must be inspected.
past criticism	They should have inspected the elevator.	The elevator should have been inspected.

The lexical participle does not carry tense by itself. In will have been inspected, will gives future reference, have gives perfect aspect, been realizes passive be, and inspected carries the action.

Build the passive without losing time or aspect

1The inspection is in progress now: The east elevator now.

2At 10:00 yesterday, the inspection was in progress: The east elevator at 10:00 yesterday.

3The inspection is complete and matters now: The east elevator .

4The inspection was complete before the director arrived: The elevator before the director arrived.

5The schedule predicts completion before the May 24 deadline: By May 24, every light .

6The safety rule creates a present requirement: Every emergency sign .

7The review criticizes a missed inspection before opening day: Every sign before opening day.

8The schedule gives one future event, not a completed-before-deadline viewpoint: The west elevator next Tuesday.

Choose the camera angle without hiding responsibility

A passive is useful when the affected participant is already the topic, the agent is unknown, the agent is obvious from the procedure, or the result matters more than the actor. A named by-phrase is useful when identity, authority, method, discovery, or responsibility adds information.

Agentless does not mean neutral

The deadline was missed may be appropriate when the cause is genuinely unknown or the report is organized around the deadline. It can also conceal a known decision maker. If responsibility is relevant and supported, use active voice: The project manager approved the late change, so the team missed the deadline. Do not invent an agent, but do not delete a documented one merely to sound formal.

reason for focus	defensible choice
unknown agent	A gate was damaged overnight.
obvious routine agent	Tickets are checked at the entrance.
qualified agent adds authority	The certificate was signed by engineer Lena Ortiz.
known responsibility matters	The project director canceled the test.
instrument, not agent	The panel was cut with a laser.
source material, not agent	The bench was made from reclaimed wood.

Focus and responsibility decisions

1. Security footage shows the damage but not the person. Which sentence stays within the evidence?

2. Which concise sentence describes an ordinary entrance procedure without an unnecessary agent?

3. A signed record identifies who canceled a safety test, and that decision is central to the review. Which sentence uses focus responsibly?

4. Which passive keeps the affected certificate as topic while adding the authoritative signer?

5. Which sentence labels the instrument accurately?

6. Which sentence identifies transformed source material rather than an agent?

Keep grammatical chains readable

The passive system can theoretically combine several layers. Some combinations are grammatical but hard to process. The permit has been being reviewed for six weeks is possible, but many speakers prefer The permit review has been underway for six weeks or, when the reviewer matters, The committee has been reviewing the permit for six weeks.

Likewise, The bridge may be being inspected now is grammatical, but Inspectors may be checking the bridge now is often clearer. Recasting is an information-design choice, not proof that the longer chain is ungrammatical.

Use the full system, then edit for processing load

1The ordinary present progressive passive is concise enough: The application .

2The future deadline genuinely requires future perfect passive: By Friday, every sign .

3The review criticizes a missing earlier email: The notice on Monday.

4Choose the clear recast when the six-week activity matters more than the reviewer: .

5Choose the clear active recast when the possible current agent can be named generically: .

Event, result state, and conversational get

A form of be + participle can describe an event or a resulting state. The guard closed the gate at 9:00 clearly describes an event. At 9:15, the gate was closed can describe its state at that time. Wider context, a named agent, an event-time expression, or an adverb can guide the reading.

A get-passive often sounds more conversational and dynamic: The package got damaged during transit. It frequently foregrounds what happened to the affected participant, sometimes with an adverse or unexpected effect. Neutral formal reporting usually prefers was damaged. Do not use get to replace every passive.

Interpret the passive from the whole context

1. Which sentence clearly presents a closing event?

2. Which sentence foregrounds the resulting state at arrival?

3. Which sentence naturally foregrounds an unfortunate event in conversation?

4. Which sentence suits a neutral written claim with a named source?

5. Which sentence describes an ordinary schedule condition rather than one specific closing event?

Use two-object and prepositional passives naturally

With verbs such as give, send, offer, show, tell, either object may sometimes become the passive subject. Choose the version that matches the continuing topic.

The project office gave residents written notice.
Residents were given written notice.
Written notice was given to residents.

A passive can also promote the object of a required preposition. Keep that preposition: The team dealt with the complaint → The complaint was dealt with; People have talked about the delay → The delay has been talked about. Grammatical does not always mean elegant, so recast when a promoted phrase sounds forced or hides the clearer agent.

Keep the intended topic and required preposition

1The paragraph continues to describe residents and what they received: .

2The paragraph continues to describe the notice and its distribution: .

3Retain the required preposition in the passive: The complaint promptly.

4Keep about after the passive chain: The delay for weeks.

5Choose the clearer active sentence when the objectors are known and responsible for the objection: .

Report claims without changing their time or certainty

Reporting passives let a writer foreground either a whole proposition or the reported person or thing. They do not make a claim true. Name a source when readers need to judge it, and preserve words such as reportedly, allegedly, according to, or a specific reporting verb when certainty is limited.

information focus	pattern	example
whole proposition	It + passive reporting verb + that-clause	It is reported that the station is on schedule.
person or thing as topic	subject + passive reporting verb + infinitive	The station is reported to be on schedule.
simultaneous state or routine	to be / to + base verb	The station is believed to be safe. The system is said to work well.
ongoing event at reporting time	to be + -ing	Costs are thought to be rising.
earlier completed active event	to have + participle	The firm is alleged to have withheld a report.
earlier ongoing event	to have been + -ing	The firm is reported to have been negotiating for months.
earlier passive event	to have been + participle	The gate is believed to have been damaged during delivery.

Do not mix the two reporting frames

Use It is believed that the project is late or The project is believed to be late. Do not combine them as The project is believed that it is late. The report time also matters: At the time, it was believed that the plan was safe reports a past belief and does not claim that people still hold it now.

Choose the reporting frame and infinitive time

1Foreground the whole proposition: .

2Keep the station as the paragraph topic: .

3The finance memo describes a cost increase in progress at reporting time: The final cost .

4The allegation concerns a completed earlier active action: The firm a report.

5The report concerns an earlier activity continuing across several months: The firm for months.

6The claim concerns an earlier event in which the gate received damage: The gate during delivery.

7Report only a historical belief, without implying that it is still accepted: .

8Name the source before a forecast that readers must evaluate: , the project is expected to cost 7% more.

Sound natural: keep the small words recoverable

In ordinary U.S. speech, auxiliaries often weaken while the lexical participle carries strong information stress: has been apPROVED /həz bɪn əˈpruvd/; should have been SENT /ʃʊd əv bɪn sɛnt/. In is being reVIEWED, keep being distinct from been because it preserves progressive aspect.

Compare They’ve been reviewing the files, an active ongoing process, with They’ve been reviewed, a passive completed result about they. The form after been and the surrounding noun meaning help the listener recover the structure. In a by-phrase, unstressed by may weaken toward /bə/, but stress the agent when identity is the new contrast.

Listen before checking

Ask your tutor to read the five lines naturally. Choose the complete meaning or form, then check your answer.

1Tutor line 1: Clip 1 Recover the complete perfect passive: .

2Tutor line 2: Clip 2 Recover the missed past obligation: .

3Tutor line 3: Clip 3 The word that preserves progressive aspect belongs in .

4Tutor line 4: Clip 4 The subject performs an ongoing active process, so the chain is .

5Tutor line 5: Clip 5 The contrastively important new agent is .

Read a project record with source and responsibility intact

Fictional Northbank station accessibility file

The access upgrade began on January 8. At the April 16 review, the east elevator was being replaced. Eighteen of 24 platform lights had been installed, and the remaining six lights had been delivered on April 15 but had not been tested. The review required all six to be tested before the platform could reopen.

A delivery log records that one passenger gate was damaged on April 2, but the log does not identify the person who caused the damage. A signed decision sheet shows that project director Rafael Kim canceled an April 9 emergency-sign test so the same crew could complete another task. Because the responsible decision maker is documented and relevant, the review states this action in active voice.

The April 15 finance memo predicts a final cost 7% above the original estimate. According to that memo, the project is expected to cost 7% more, but the final total is not yet known. The contractor’s review says late parts are believed to have contributed to the schedule change. Supplier logs support a contribution, not the claim that late parts were the only cause.

The revised schedule says the six lights will have been tested by May 24 and the station will reopen on June 1. These are scheduled outcomes, not completed facts. The April 16 review was published on April 18 and signed by engineer Lena Ortiz.

Evidence check: form, focus, and certainty

1. What passive process was in progress at the April 16 review?

2. Which status statement is accurate at the review time?

3. Which sentence reports the documented cancellation responsibly?

4. Which cost statement preserves source and uncertainty?

5. Which causal statement stays within the contractor review and supplier logs?

6. How should the May 24 passive be interpreted at the April 16 review?

Build form, focus, and reporting time

Builder 1: modal-perfect passive

Build the review’s criticism.

Builder 2: source plus responsible active voice

Build the evidence-based responsibility statement.

Builder 3: earlier passive event inside a report

Build the personal reporting passive.

Notice and repair the broken layer

Repair 1: restore progressive aspect

Tap the word where the missing layer becomes visible.

Repair 2: restore passive been

Tap the word whose chain is incomplete.

Repair 3: separate reporting frames

Tap the connector that wrongly combines two structures.

Repair 4: restore documented responsibility

Tap the phrase whose agentless focus is misleading in this context.

Play and practice

Games and a short reading that recycle this lesson. Use them as a warm-up, a fast finisher, or homework. Each one checks itself.

Read

Riverside Market renovation: week 6

Read once for meaning. Then read again and do the tasks below.

Project update email200 wordsAbout 2 min

Good afternoon, everyone. Here is the week 6 update for the Riverside Market renovation. The new roof panels have been installed, and the north entrance is being repainted this week. The electrical plan was approved by city inspector Grace Lin on Monday, so the wiring work can start on schedule.

A few problems remain. Two display fridges were damaged during delivery on Tuesday; the delivery record does not show how. Replacement units have been ordered, but they will not arrive until next month. On the positive side, the flooring crew has finished the east hall three days early, and the new lighting in the west hall looks excellent.

The fire exits should have been checked before the market stalls were moved last Friday. According to the site log, the site manager canceled that inspection to free up the crew for another job. The inspection must be completed before any vendor returns.

The latest cost estimate predicts a total 4% above the original budget, mainly because steel prices rose in March. We do not know the final figure yet, and I will send a full report after next week’s site meeting. Thank you all for your patience while the work continues.

Find it

Tap the 8 past participles that complete a passive verb chain (as in was opened). Skip active forms such as has finished.

Check your understanding

1. Who approved the electrical plan?

2. What does the delivery record show about the fridges?

3. Why is the site manager named in active voice?

Sort it

Which passive chain?

Tap a word, then tap the box it belongs in. Press Check when the tray is empty.

Match up

Keep the time, change the focus

Tap an item on the left, then its partner on the right.

Active

Passive

Unscramble

Build the passive chain

Tap the words in order to build the sentence. Tap a placed word to send it back.

1. A missed past obligation.
2. Two-object passive: the residents stay the topic.
3. Prepositional passive: keep the preposition.
4. Reporting passive about an earlier passive event.

Practice institutional language without exposing private information

You never need to discuss a real disciplinary investigation, accusation, medical record, financial dispute, immigration process, legal matter, confidential workplace event, or identifiable person. Use Northbank, a public document with reliable sourcing, or a tutor-created fictional case. The goal is information focus and evidence control, not formal-sounding secrecy.

Auxiliary audit: Mark future, perfect, progressive, modal, passive be, and lexical participle in one long chain. Remove any layer only if the meaning changes appropriately.

Camera choice: Retell one event with the affected participant as topic, then with the documented agent as topic. Explain which version better serves the paragraph.

Responsibility challenge: Your partner asks, Do we know who did this, and does that identity matter? Restore the agent, keep it unknown, or state the evidence limit.

Reporting-time ladder: Use one current state, one ongoing event, one earlier completed action, and one earlier passive event after a personal reporting passive.

Register edit: Recast one heavy grammatical chain for a public briefing without losing its time, aspect, modality, or certainty.

Final production and check

Final production: deliver a 90-second sourced project briefing

Use Northbank or another tutor-supplied fictional file. Include a passive process in progress, a completed passive result, a negative perfect passive, a future or future-perfect passive, and a modal-perfect passive. Keep one known responsible agent in active voice and one qualified agent in a useful by-phrase. Add one result-state or conversational get-passive only if the register supports it. Use one two-object or prepositional passive. Report one simultaneous claim and one earlier claim with different infinitive forms. Name the source, calibrate certainty, and recast one overloaded chain. When the editor challenges an agentless clause, justify it or restore the agent.

Success criteria: Can the listener recover the topic, agent status, tense, aspect, modality, event or state reading, reporting time, source, certainty, documented responsibility, and projected versus completed status without a missing auxiliary, mixed reporting frame, or false implication of proof?

Final check: preserve grammar and information ethics

1. Which sentence has the complete future-perfect passive chain?

2. Which sentence keeps documented responsibility visible?

3. Which concise sentence preserves the meaning of The permit has been being reviewed for six weeks?

4. Which personal reporting passive places a passive damage event before the current belief?

5. Which reporting sentence calibrates certainty accurately?

6. Which explanation distinguishes the two reduced U.S. speech chains?

Reflect: can you defend the camera angle?

Explain the passive decision path

Complete these ideas aloud: The clause topic is... The agent is known / unknown / obvious / relevant because... The auxiliary that carries time is... The aspect is... The passive be is... The lexical participle is... This is an event / result state / get-passive because... The reporting time is... The source supports... The source does not prove...

Then take one sentence from your fictional briefing. Draw boxes around every auxiliary and underline the participle. Retell it actively. If the focus changes in a harmful way, explain why the passive is justified; if responsibility becomes clearer, keep the active revision.

Return tomorrow for the five-item retrieval check before rereading the lesson.

Next-day retrieval

Return without rereading the page. Recover the auxiliary layers, focus decision, readable recast, reporting time, and evidence boundary from new contexts.

Five delayed checks

1. Which sentence has a complete modal-perfect passive for a missed obligation?

2. What should you do when a known agent’s documented decision is central to the outcome?

3. Which concise recast preserves the continuing meaning of The application has been being reviewed for two months?

4. Which personal reporting passive locates an earlier ongoing negotiation?

5. Which sentence reports a forecast without converting it into fact?