Introduzione

La voce passiva è usata più comunemente per:

• scritti formali o accademici; saggi, relazioni, articoli
• notizie: titoli, reportage.

Usiamo la voce passiva quando l'oggetto (persona o cosa) che subisce l'azione è più importante della persona o della cosa che compie l'azione, per esempio:

• The fire was started by Robin.

o quando non sappiamo chi o cosa ha compiuto l'azione:

• My car was stolen last night.

Forma

Formiamo la voce passiva con:
"be" + participio passato del verbo principale.

Il present simple passivo - esempi:

oggetto	Verbo "be"	Verbo principale	Complemento	Oggetto
The experiment	is isn't is not	carried out	every week	by scientists at the university.
The experiments	are aren't are not	carried out	every week.

Verbo "be"	oggetto	Verbo principale	Complemento	Oggetto
Are	the experiments	carried out	every week?

Il past simple passivo - esempi:

oggetto	Verbo "be"	Verbo principale	Complemento	Oggetto
The experiment	was wasn't was not	carried out	every week	by scientists at the university.
The experiments	were weren't were not	carried out	every week.

Verbo "be"	oggetto	Verbo principale	Complemento	Oggetto
Were	the experiments	carried out	every week?

La voce passiva può essere usata con qualsiasi tempo:

Oggetto (subisce l'azione)	Verbo "be" (vari tempi)	Verbo principale (participio passato)
The dogs	are	fed.
	are being
	were
	were being
	are going to be
	will be
	have been
	will be being
	have been being
	had been

Negli esempi qua sopra non sappiamo chi sta dando da mangiare ai cani. Non è importante. L'importante è che i cani stiano ricevendo del cibo.

Se vogliamo includere la persona o la cosa che compie l'azione, possiamo usare la preposizione "by":

• The dogs are being fed by a charity worker.

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Pratica

Completa le frasi con la forma corretta del past simple passivo del verbo tra parentesi:

.

1)

The Eiffel Tower    in 1889. (build)

 

2)

Two World Wars    during the 20th century. (fight)

 

3)

How many sonnets    by William Shakespeare? (write)

 

4)

The internet    by many different people. (create)

 

Please submit the missing answers shown in red
 

Submit

Further practice

.

1)

The orchestra ____ by Mario Lopez.
 

will being conducted

conducts

be conducted

will be conducted

 

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2)

The houses ____.
 

has been demolished

have been demolished

have demolished

be demolished

 

---

3)

The costumes ____ by the art department.
 

are been prepared

is prepared

are being prepared

is being prepared

 

---

4)

The new law ____.
 

have been passed

is going to be passed

going to be passed

will passed

 

---

5)

The trees ____ cut down.
 

had being

was being

were being

were been

 

---

6)

The grass ____ cut too many times.
 

have been

is been

had been

will been

 

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Please submit the missing answers shown in red
 

Submit

Ulteriori punti sulla lingua

Possiamo usare la voce passiva quando non vogliamo dire chi o cosa ha compiuto l'azione:

• "I’m sorry but your vase was broken."
• "My homework was lost."
• "The accounts have been messed up."

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I verbi modali possono essere usati al passivo:

Presente

Attivo – The staff should make the beds every day.
Passivo – The beds should be made every day.

Passato
Attivo – The staff should have made the beds every day.
Passivo – The beds should have been made every day.

Punto di lingua avanzato

Ulteriori esempi della voce passiva:

• future perfect –
  The dogs will have been fed.
• future perfect continuous –
  The dogs will have been being fed.
• past perfect continuous –
  The dogs had been being fed.

Seppur grammaticalmente corretti, i tempi perfect continuous di solito non vengono usati al passivo. La situazione di solito non li richiede e suonano un po' strani.