English Grammar: Passive Voice and Conditionals

Posted on Jul 7, 2025 in English

Active and Passive Forms

We form the passive voice with be + past participle. We use be in the same tense that we would use in the active sentence.

Examples:

• (Active) Consumers buy many products online.
• (Passive) Many products are bought online by consumers.

Present Simple Passive Form

The present simple passive is formed as follows:

Passive in Other Tenses

When we form the passive in other tenses, we use be in the same tense as we would in the active sentence:

Spelling Notes

Some irregular verbs have very different past participles.

Some verbs don’t have a passive form. This includes intransitive verbs (which don’t take an object) such as die, sleep, and swim.

Using the Passive Voice

We use the passive to emphasize the action (the verb) rather than who or what (the agent) did the action. Compare:

• I bought a new phone last week. (Active – it is important to say who bought it.)
• Thousands of my new phones are bought every day. (Passive – it isn’t important to say who buys them.)

The Passive with ‘by’

In active sentences, the subject of the verb is also the agent (the person doing the action). When we change an active sentence into the passive, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject. We add by + agent to the end of the passive sentence to show who is doing the action.

Omitting ‘by’ + Agent

We can omit by + agent from a passive sentence:

• When the agent is unknown.
  Example: My bag has been taken. (I don’t know who took it.)
• When the agent is very obvious or not important.
  Example: The thief was arrested. (The agent – the police – is obvious.)
• When we do not want to name the agent.
  Example: The mirror was broken while we were moving it. (We don’t want to say we broke it.)

Passive with Two Objects

When an active sentence has two objects, there are two possible passive sentences. To rewrite this kind of sentence in the passive, one of the objects becomes the subject and the other remains the object. The object that is changed into the subject is emphasized.

Impersonal Passive Constructions

News reports often use the following passive construction with verbs like believe, rumour, and report:

It + (be) + past participle + that

• They believe that the thief got away.
  It is believed that the thief got away.
• They think that sales are going up.
  It is thought that sales are going up.
• They spread a rumour that the shop will close.
  It is rumoured that the shop will close.

Modals in Second Conditional

We can use modals instead of would in the result clause of a second conditional sentence:

• To show ability.
  Example: If I had time, he could help in the community.
• To show possibility.
  Example: If he won 1 million, he might give it all to charity.

We can use could in the conditional clause of a second conditional sentence:

• To show ability.
  Example: If I could speak Mandarin, I would help at the community centre.
• To show possibility.
  Example: If you could have any job, what would you do?
• To give permission.
  Example: If we could wear our own clothes, then we would be happy to come to school.

Modals in Third Conditional

We can use modals in the result clause of a third conditional sentence:

• To show ability.
  Example: If I had posted my form in time, I would have voted in the election.
• To show possibility.
  Example: If they had known about the election, they might have voted.

We can use could + perfect infinitive in the conditional clause of a third conditional sentence to show ability:

• Example: If he could have voted, he would have done.

Wishes and Regrets

We can use wish in a number of ways:

• To express regrets about the past.
  Form: wish + past perfect
  Example: I wish I hadn’t voted for him. (I did vote for him. Now I regret it.)
• To express a desire for the present.
  Form: wish + could
  Example: I wish I could stand for election. (I want to but I can’t.)
• To express dissatisfaction with what somebody is doing in the present. We don’t use this about ourselves.
  Form: wish + would
  Example: I wish he would stop making that noise. (He’s making a noise. I want him to stop.)

The Causative Form

We use have or get + object + past participle when a person does a task for us.

We use have + object + past participle when a person does something bad to us.

Using Unless, Providing That, As Long As, Even If

Conditional clauses usually start with ‘if’. In some situations, we can replace ‘if’ with unless, providing that, or as long as.

• We can use unless to mean ‘if… not’ in negative conditional sentences. Compare:
  We’ll be late if we don’t leave now.
  We’ll be late unless we leave now.
• We can use even if instead of ‘if’ to show that the result will not be affected by the condition. Compare:
  The workers won’t strike if their wages are increased. (This means the workers *will* strike *unless* their wages are increased.)
  The workers will strike even if their wages are increased. (The workers will strike whether their wages are increased or not.)
• We can use providing that or as long as (usually in first conditional sentences) to mean ‘but only if’. Compare:
  Crime levels will continue to fall, but only if we keep the same number.
  Crime levels will continue to fall as long as we keep the same number.
  Crime levels will continue to fall providing that we keep the same number.

Conditional Sentences

Conditional sentences contain two clauses: a conditional clause (which starts with ‘if’) and a result clause. We can change the order of the two clauses, but when the conditional clause comes first, we follow it with a comma.

There are several types of conditionals, which vary according to the degree of probability they express.