The passive is my favorite grammar structure in English and it's very important for your
B2 First Cambridge exam! And do you know everything you need to know about the passive
for the B2 First Cambridge exam? And do you even know what you don't know? Of course you don't
because if you knew what you didn't know you would have learned what you didn't know by now and then
you would know it! What? Don't worry! My name is Toby, this is SMASH English
and here is everything you need to know about the passive for the B2 First Cambridge exam.
Let's start with why and when we need to use the passive and then
we will look at the horrible grammatical structures that will make your head hurt!
First we can use the passive when the object in our sentence is more important than the subject.
Oh well I'm obviously not the subject then. I'm super important so I want to be the object! Yeah,
Monica I actually agree with you. I personally see all women as a objects. Bruce you can't say
that! Why? What do you mean.... For example: "Toby the king makes SMASH English videos".
And this sentence is fine if we are talking about Toby. And if you are talking to me we probably
are talking about Toby because I love talking about myself. I'm the only person I know! But
if we are talking about SMASH English and SMASH English videos then our emphasis should be on
the object here. This gives us: "SMASH English videos are made by Toby". Yes and here are some
more examples: The film was directed by... I don't know! Think of a name! The book was written by...
I don't know I've never even read a book! Why are you asking me!?
God! The second reason we might use the passive is when the subject of the sentence is not important
and you have definitely seen this in use before! Trust me! Oh my god! Made in China?
I thought this was made locally! I posted it to my instagram and everything!
#shoplocal. Look how great and ethical I am! But oh my god look! Gross! We say "made in China"
instead of "People made this in China" because the subject is not important. We know it was people
and not animals or rocks so we use the passive to eliminate the need for a subject. So let's have a
look at some more examples: In America tigers are sometimes kept as pets. We know that it is people
keeping tigers as pets so we don't need to give a subject. It's obvious. Copies of the book can
be bought at all good bookshops. We do not need to say "people can buy the book" because, well,
who else would want to buy the book? Animals? Animals can't read, that would be silly.
The third reason that we might use the passive is when we do not know who the subject is.
Excuse me everyone! I know that we think this is funny! Oh! SMASH English! Yeah? Great time! Sure,
right. But this has gone too far! Where is my beer! Oh no, Bruce! That's awful!
Maybe an object stole it? Do we have to do this now? Yes we do, Toby! You know, right, that I
cannot work without my beer and my beer has been stolen! Ah so here Bruce has said "my beer has
been stolen" instead of saying "someone has stolen my beer". Both sentences are fine here but we are
using the passive to emphasize that we do not know who the subject is. So we often use the passive
for crimes. Crimes where we don't know who the perpetrator (the person that did the crime) is.
Let's look at some more examples. The man was murdered on his way home from work.
Yeah, what a happy example. Last night my house was burgled. Hey!!!
Brilliant! Isn't that great? The fourth and final reason for using the passive is to give
formal and impersonal instructions. We often combine the passive with modal verbs here.
Yeah yeah yeah but Toby where is my beer!? Oh hi everybody my name is Bruce and I drink too much
because I hate myself and I'm really insecure and I insult Monica all the time but it's because I
know that she is way way better than I am and she's really beautiful and I'm really ugly.
Yes Monica and you're very clever, very funny but my beer must not be taken by anyone! Do
you understand! The use of the passive here makes the instruction more formal and more
impersonal. Let's look at some more examples together yes! Helmets must be worn at all times.
Cigarettes are not to be smoked indoors. Alcohol is not permitted on the premises.
So when do we use the passive? We use the passive when the object is more important
than the subject, when the subject is not important, when we do not know who the subject
is or to give formal and impersonal instructions. And now let's look at the grammar structure of the
passive and boy oh boy this is my favorite grammar structure in all of English! OBJECT + BE + THE
PAST PARTICIPLE. Well no not quite. Let's look at the passive form of every single
tense. Yes! Every single tense! But first I need a sentence! So somebody please give me a sentence!
Somebody? Yes, Toby! I've got a sentence! "Duke smells monica!". Oh my god no!
Yes perfect! "Duke smells Monica". Let's go! Monica is smelled by Duke.
Monica was smelled by Duke. Look at these examples. Look at them! This is
super duper important. We do not change the past participle. We always use the past participle.
We know the tense of the sentence thanks to the form of the verb BE. Remember this as we continue.
Monica has been smelled by Duke. Monica had been smelled by Duke. So here with the perfect
tenses we have to add HAVE or HAD as the auxiliary verb of the present or past perfect. After HAVE
or HAD we need a past participle so BE becomes BEEN. It looks difficult but really it isn't.
Monica will be smelled by Duke. Monica is going to be smelled by Duke.
And these are not too difficult but it does get harder and your head will hurt. Like that! And why
am I hitting myself? I'm hitting myself because I want my head to hurt too so I can empathize with
you! My head hurts because I hit myself and your head hurts because you're learning the passive and
it can be hard especially now! So pay attention! Now let's look at the continuous tenses!
Monica is being smelled by Duke. Monica was being smelled by Duke.
So this is quite easy. We need to put BE in the continuous form and to do this we add
the auxiliary verb IS or WAS but things get a lot harder. Let's do this with the perfect
tenses. Monica has been being smelled by Duke. Monica had been being smelled by Duke.
Now things get a bit horrible. We have OBJECT plus HAVE or HAD which is our auxiliary verb.
Then we need BEEN because HAVE and HAS are always followed by a past participle plus the continuous
form of BE to make this a continuous sentence and then we put the past participle of our verb.
We can also do this with the future perfect continuous. Monica will have been being smelled by
Duke. And yes that's a nightmare and I'm really really sorry. Now for B2 First no one expects
you to naturally produce the present perfect continuous in the passive form
or the future perfect continuous in the passive form in your speaking or even in your writing. The
important thing is that you know that they exist so you can identify the grammar structure if you
see it. Using the passive in the past continuous or the present continuous is very common in part
four of the use of english paper: the key word transformation. So let's look at an example now!
Our sentence is "She arrived when the men were painting the kitchen". Our keyword is PAINTED.
Remember we must use between two and five words. Here can you do it? I'll give you five seconds.
The kitchen WAS BEING PAINTED WHEN SHE arrived. We also need to know how to use the passive with
modal verbs but this really is not difficult. The grammar is just OBJECT plus MODAL VERB plus
BE plus THE PAST PARTICIPLE. Really easy. Monica must be smelled by Duke. Monica should be smelled
by Duke. Monica could be smelled by Duke. Yeah, you you get the idea. And finally you need to be
aware of passive reporting verbs. Seriously these are important. So important that I include them
in my B2 First essay structure that I think every B2 First candidate should use! And if you haven't
seen that video then what are you doing!? It's a really important one! And you can watch it here
as soon as this video finishes! Yes? Yes! But to be honest it's not difficult. Let me give you a
lots of examples. The grammar is IT plus BE plus PASSIVE REPORTING VERB plus THAT. It is believed
that SMASH English is great. It is being said that SMASH English is fabulous. It has been asserted
that SMASH English is wonderful. It was thought that SMASH English was terrible but then people
saw a video and changed their minds and now they love it more than anything! We use these passive
reporting verbs to talk about people's beliefs thoughts and opinions in a general formal and
impersonal way. Seriously these structures are great to use in your formal writing! So if you can
use it in an essay or a report or a formal letter or email the examiner will be so excited that they
will eat your examination paper and then they will vomit it back up and give you high marks! Yes!
That's what examiners do! They are like bees and your high marks are their honey.
That is science. But that's not all! We can make this slightly harder and yes your head is going
to hurt by adding an object. Let's see how we do this. SUBJECT plus BE plus REPORTING VERB plus
TO plus PRESENT or PERFECT INFINITIVE. Monkeys are thought to bring good luck in Thailand. Oh my
god! That's amazing! Like I love animals. Like I once had a pet rabbit but he was really really fat
so I put him on a diet and he didn't eat and he died. I was so sad I cried for like a whole day.
I really like animals especially skinny animals like stick insects and flamingos oh
my god flamingos! Have you seen their legs? Like how do you get legs so skinny? They are so hot!
Oh and do monkeys bring good luck in Thailand? I don't know! I know nothing about culture! I
know so little about culture that I teach my own language. I haven't left my bedroom in two years!
Don't ask me! God it was just an example! Bruce's beer is believed to have been stolen by
Monica. Monica the object! Wow, Bruce well done! You're so funny. That was so intelligent.
SMASH English is claimed to be the best youtube channel in history! Claimed by who?
Claimed by me! Now don't worry if you find using these reporting verbs in the passive with the
object difficult. Again you just need to be aware that this structure exists at the B2 First level.
And now you do have this awareness! And you have this awareness because you watched this video and
with this awareness you've suddenly realized that the meaning to your existence is SMASH English
videos so you're going to subscribe, you're going to watch all of my videos twice, you're going to
leave a comment saying "Toby thank you so much! I love you!". I'll go to bed feeling good about
myself. You're happy, I'm happy, we're all happy thanks to SMASH English! I love life. And with
that we're finished! Now you know everything you need to know about using the passive for
the B2 First Cambridge exam! If you liked the video don't forget to SMASH that like button,
subscribe if you haven't already, leave a comment down below! My name is Toby and this was SMASH
English.