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Advanced Passive Structures
Passive with two objects
Some verbs take two objects (direct and indirect). Either can become the subject of the passive, but the indirect object (person) is more common:
Active: "They gave him (IO) a prize (DO)."
- "He was given a prize." (More common)
- "A prize was given to him." (Less common)
Passive with reporting verbs (impersonal passive)
Verbs like say, believe, think, know, report, consider, expect, claim can be used in two passive patterns:
Active: "People say that he is a genius."
- It + passive + that: "It is said that he is a genius."
- Subject + passive + to-infinitive: "He is said to be a genius."
Ejemplo
"People believe that the company is losing money."
--> "It is believed that the company is losing money."
--> "The company is believed to be losing money."
"They reported that the bridge had collapsed."
--> "It was reported that the bridge had collapsed."
--> "The bridge was reported to have collapsed." (to have + pp for past reference)
Have/Get something done (causative passive)
Used when someone else does a service for us:
Form: Subject + have/get + object + past participle
- "I had my car repaired." (= A mechanic repaired it for me.)
- "She is getting her hair cut tomorrow."
- "We had the house painted last summer."
"Get something done" can also express something negative that happened to us: "He got his wallet stolen on the bus."
Recuerda
The causative "have/get something done" is NOT a passive in the grammatical sense, but it has a passive meaning (the subject does not perform the action). It is very common in everyday English and frequently tested at B1-B2 level.
Ejercicios
1. Rewrite using the impersonal passive (both forms):
a) People think that the exam will be difficult.
b) They say that coffee is bad for your health.
c) Experts believe that the painting is a forgery.
2. Rewrite using "have/get something done":
a) A plumber is going to fix our pipes.
b) A photographer took our family photo.
c) The vet checked the dog last week.
3. Translate into English using the passive:
a) Se dice que el clima está cambiando.
b) Le dieron un premio por su trabajo.
c) Me van a cortar el pelo mañana.
Test de autoevaluación
1. "It is believed that he is innocent" can also be written as:
a) He is believed to be innocent.
b) He believes to be innocent.
c) He is believing to be innocent.
d) It believes he is innocent.
2. "I had my phone repaired" means:
a) I repaired my phone myself.
b) Someone repaired my phone for me.
c) My phone repaired itself.
d) I will repair my phone.
3. Which passive sentence is correct?
a) The accident was happened at night.
b) The letter has been sent already.
c) He was arrived late.
d) The concert was lasted two hours.
4. "They gave her a scholarship" in the passive (most common form):
a) A scholarship was given to her.
b) She was given a scholarship.
c) Her was given a scholarship.
d) A scholarship was given her.
5. "The bridge was reported to have collapsed" refers to:
a) A present event
b) A past event reported later
c) A future event
d) A habitual event