THE
PASSIVE (1): ACTIONS, SYSTEMS, AND PROCESSES
A Form
The passive is formed
by using the verb be and the past
participle (e.g., broken, driven, used).
For example, the present tense passive is formed with am/is/are + past participle:
|
I am/am not driven. He/she/it is/is
not (isn't) driven. We/you/they are/are
not (aren't) driven. |
Am I driven? Is he/she/it driven? Are we/you/they driven? |
ะ Focus
on actions
We
often use the passive to focus on something that happens to someone, when we do
not want to focus on the person who does the action:
Over 36% of Guatemalan workers are employed in the agricultural sector.
We use the passive here because we do not know, or need to say, who
employs them.
ะก Systems and processes
The passive is
often used to talk about systems and processes:
Many of the world's diamonds are mined in South Africa. The stones are sent to Amsterdam, where they are sold to international dealers. The
stones are cut in Antwerp, and they are then sold on to jewellers.
D Active or passive?
If
it is important to say who performs an action, we can use the active or we can
use the passive and the word by:
ACTIVE: Peter Franks runs the
Marketing Department.
PASSIVE: The
Marketing Department is run by Peter Franks.
Both
of these sentences are correct. If we were already talking about Peter Franks,
we would probably use the active:
Peter Franks is an old colleague of
mine. He works for Butterfield International, and he runs the Marketing Department.
If
we were talking about the the Marketing Department, we would probably use the
passive:
The Marketing Department is a large
and very successful division that employs over 100 people. It is run by Peter Franks.
