Present Passive
Learn how to use the simple passive tense.
Answer the following questions about the interview.
Simple Passive and Past Participles
Point 1:
For many verbs, an action from the past can be
said two ways.
- Someone broke the chair.
- The chair is broken.
- Someone finished the report.
- The report is finished.
- Someone canceled the game.
- The game is finished.
Point 2:
Verbs can change to an adjective using the past
participle tense, which is the -ed form of the verb.
regular verbs
- finish, finished
- cancel, canceled
- reserve, reserved
irregular verbs
- break, broke, broken
- do, did, done
Point 3:
The simple passive tense and adjective
complement clause both use past participles and
look similar, but they are different.
Simple Passive (Shows an action.)
- They serve food until midnight.
- Food is served until midnight.
- They cook the food with fresh ingredients.
- The food is cooked with fresh ingredients.
Adjective Complement (Shows a quality.)
- The chair is broken. The chair is old.
- The report is finished. The report is interesting.
- The game is canceled. The game is over.
Point 4:
With adjective complements and past participles,
the sentence describes how an action remains
unchanged.
- The store is closed now. Someone closed it.
- The meeting is scheduled for noon. Someone scheduled it.
- This soup is not cooked enough. Someone did not cook it.
- I am not prepared to teach tomorrow. You didn't prepare.
Point 5:
There are some verbs that use the base form of
the verb, not the past participle, to express an
ongoing situation.
- The room is clean. Someone cleaned it.
- The store is open. Someone opened it.
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About the Teacher
My name is Todd Beuckens and I am an ESL teacher in Thailand. I created this site to provide teachers and students free audio lessons and learning materials not usually found in commercial textbooks.