Hey everyone, welcome back to my English grammar class. Today we're going to talk about the passive, the passive form and we're going to distinguish, to explain the difference between the personal passive and the impersonal passive because most of the times we just study the personal passive in English without even noticing that there is also an impersonal one and there is a reason why we call it impersonal. So first of all let's start from the beginning.
So let's start with the personal passive. What is a personal passive? The personal passive is a form that expresses an action that is experienced by the subject.
So in an active form, there is a subject performing a certain action, okay, and sometimes there is an object, okay. When we take that object and we make it a subject, he will experience that, that action. Let's make an example, okay.
An author writes a book. The author, active form, the author is a subject, verb, okay, writes, active verb, an action that is... performed, the book is the object.
Okay? Then I can change it if I want to emphasize the subject and the author is maybe less important or I want just to emphasize the subject of the, or better in this case the object, the book that becomes subject in the passive form, I will change the sentence into a passive one and it becomes the book is written By the author, if I want to add it, it's not necessary to add that, ok? I can't just say the book is written, it's perfectly correct.
So in this case the important part of the sentence is the book, that was the object in the active form, it is the subject in the passive form, ok? So the verb changes, ok, from the active form to the passive form and The subject of the active form becomes an agent in the passive form and it is not compulsory, it is not necessary to say that, okay, to express that. I can also leave it out.
How can we form this passive form? So, subject first of all, the book in my case, okay, then the verb to be and this is very important because when I conjugate the passive form form and I have made examples in all possible tenses, okay, in English here, I just have to conjugate the verb to be, okay, the rest of the sentence, the remaining part of the sentence is the same, doesn't change, okay. So verb to be and then the past participle.
The past participle, we can remember that the past participle is formed just adding "-ed", if the verb is irregular, but if it is irregular, We have to check the third form, the third column on my tab of irregular verbs. Okay? So past participle. Subject verb to be, past participle. If you want you may add the agent.
Okay? Which is introducted by the preposition by. Okay?
In my case, okay, my example was the book was written, is written, whatever you want. by the author, okay? So let's try and see the passive form in all possible English tenses Pay attention the only action the only change the only thing I'm gonna do here, okay is conjugating in the verb to be okay the different Tenses, okay.
The rest of the sentence is always the same the past participle is always the same. It can't be conjugated, it never changes, right? So let's start with the easiest one, which is the present simple. The book is written. Is is my verb to be conjugated, it's a present simple, which is just is obviously.
If I want I can add by Shakespeare or whatever, whoever. Then the present continues. The book is being written.
Is being written. This is being is the verb to be, the present continuous. Okay?
We know the present continuous is formed by the auxiliary to be, which is this first, the is here, okay? And in form of the verb which is being. So we have two times we have be, okay?
We have to be. Two times, for two times. So the first time is the auxiliary verb and the second part is the gerund. So the book is being written.
Written is always the same. Past simple. I always change just the verb to be. The book was written this time.
The book and written is always the same. The only thing that changes is the verb to be. In this case the verb to be, past simple, is obviously was. Okay, I was you were he she it was we were you were they were okay just to repeat that Then the present perfect present perfect the book than the present perfect of the verb to be which is has been Has been written has been because present perfect is formed by the auxiliary verb have and the past Participle of the verb to be in this case which has been so the book has been written then Past continuous, ok?
It's the same as the present continuous, I just have to change this is, ok? into a simple past, so is becomes was, the book was being written, ok? The book was being written while something happened, ok? In the past. Then, the past perfect, same as the present perfect, ok?
I just have to change the verb has, because it's not a present perfect, it's a past perfect so it isn't has anymore but it is had so the past of the auxiliary verb to have so the book had been written okay. The future one okay so the book will be written obviously will only once a base form okay after it base form of the verb to be is be obviously so the book will be written Future too is a little bit more difficult. Okay, in this case we have always will and we have will have been written. How can we form that?
We can divide it into three parts. Okay, the first part is will, obviously the verb, okay, that forms the future. Then as I said before will wants, always wants an infinitive. form.
Okay, in the future one it was a present infinitive, so the base form. In the second form here we have the past infinitive of the verb to be. Past infinitive is formed by auxiliary verb to have and the past participle of the verb to be and this is why it is have been.
Okay, so will is the first part, then the past infinitive which is have been and then the past participle written. Okay, so three parts will have been written. Okay?
Then the two conditionals here. Conditional one, the book would be written. Okay?
Would forms obviously the conditional form and the base form as usual. And the conditional two is the same, exactly the same structure as the future two, exactly the same structure. Okay?
The book would have been written. This is exactly as before. I just I don't have will anymore, I have would here, but the structure is exactly the same. So, now we are going to... so now we have talked about a personal passive.
It means that I have, ok, an object that becomes a subject, ok, in the passive form and it is personal because it is identified. Let's see what an impersonal... passive is.
So what is an impersonal passive? If the personal passive is a sentence in which subject is experiencing an action that in an active form is performed by the agent Ok? Let's repeat it for a moment, ok?
In the active form we have a subject, an action, ok? that the subject performs and then an object. Then that object in the passive form becomes, ok? the subject of the passive verb, ok?
the verb becomes passive and the subject of the original, of the active form becomes eventually an agent, ok? You remember that. So in the personal passive forms we have seen before, we know that we have a very specific subject. It is identified, it is personal, it's a personal passive.
There are some other circumstances, some other verbs in which the passive doesn't have an identified subject. These verbs are, for example, think. believe, say, report, know, expect, consider, understand, agree, there are many more okay all of them mean something like considering thinking, an opinion, an idea a provision, an hypothesis or okay something similar, an expression okay, way of expressing something okay so So all these verbs may have a passive form, but that passive form doesn't have an identified subject. It is used when we don't have an identified subject. So when we could say people believe that, people say that, someone says that.
I don't have a specific subject. So I can use an impersonal, because I don't have a personal subject, so I could have an impersonal form and the subject will be it for this impersonal form obviously and the verb becomes a passive verb. Examples.
So it is said, okay, that the orchestra is the best in the world. Okay. It is said by whom? I don't know, okay, people say so, somebody says so, okay, it's a generic, okay, it's a generic subject, I don't have a specific and identified subject, okay, it's clear, so this is why it is impersonal, but the form of the verb is passive, absolutely, verb to be and the past participle, in this case say is an irregular verb, so this is the third, sorry, the third, form, okay, the third column on my tab of irregular verbs. It is said, okay, it is said that the orchestra, sometimes I can also eliminate that, it is said the orchestra is, I can say that.
Again, it is believed that the fire started by accident. It is believed, in general, okay. I don't know who believes that, it's not important, it's not someone specific who says so.
Ok? So it is believed in general. It is expected that they will be on time.
It is expected. It's not me, ok? Which is expecting that or you. It is expected in general.
Ok? I could say it is thought that they will be on time. So people think so.
Ok? It is believed. that they will be on time, so we believe that they will be on time, or it is said that they will be on time, it is...
I know, yes, it is known that they will be on time, because we have the timetable, we are sure of it, so it is known that they will be on time. It's possible, ok? Again, it is thought, ok, that he will be attending the meeting. It is... thought.
Also in this case in personal form because I don't have a specific subject. The subject is it in this case and then the passive form of the verb think. Third form is thought.
Think, thought, thought. So it is thought that he will be attending the meeting. Also in this case I can use many other verbs here. Or again it is agreed. It is also very common.
It is agreed that this is over. Okay, it is agreed, means that everybody agreed that on that topic. Okay, obviously these are all passive forms. I used simple present, sorry, because it was easier, okay, for my examples, for you to understand them.
But obviously I can just change the conjugation of the verb to be. and I can have all the possible chances of the passive form exactly as we did before. Exactly because this is a passive.
The only difference is that this passive doesn't have a specific subject, okay? But an impersonal subject because the subject isn't identified, okay? It isn't specified, okay?
And so I can use the passive form and I can use it as a subject in order to express something that is generically said, believed. thought or whatever. Okay?
Clear? Last thing about passive and I promise this is a very last thing but it's a quite important thing because this rule is completely wrong in many other languages. In my language for example in Italian it is completely incorrect as in most languages actually.
I'm talking about the personal passive again so it's not impersonal passive as I said before when the subject isn't identified, isn't specified and I have an impersonal pronoun which is it. the subject, okay? It's not like that, it's like, okay, we are talking about the personal passive as we did at the very beginning of this video.
And we said that the personal passive is formed when my subject is experiencing an action, okay, performed by someone or something else. So in the active form I have a subject that this subject performs an action and then I have an object, ok? That object becomes the subject of my passive sentence, ok? Then I have the passive form of the verb and eventually I can have the agent by someone or something, ok? There is another option.
Let's think about the example here. He gave me his car. This me, ok, means to me, ok? This is something else. It's not something like he loves me, but in this case it is to me.
So this to me can anyway become subject of a passive form. This is absolutely incorrect in many many other languages. This to me can become subject of the passive form. So I was given...
I was given his car, I was given some information, I was given. Even if I in the active form is, or better, it could be translated, it could be expressed by to, to me, to someone, alright? Same happens here for example, he said to me or he told me that, to me again, okay?
Not me, but to me. Anyway, ok, this to me can become subject of the passive form. I was said that Etc. I was told that and so on Ok, so it wasn't me but to me and anyway I can change it into the subject of passive form and this is all for the moment So if you have any questions any doubts or any suggestions, please just write a comment below thank you very much for watching, see you very soon with my English grammar classes again, goodbye!