GET / HAVE SOMETHING DONE

GET / HAVE SOMETHING DONE (Passive Voice)

This construction is passive in meaning. It may describe situations where we want someone else to do something for us.

Examples

• I must get / have my hair cut.
• When are you going to get that window mended?
• We're having the house painted.

If the verb refers to something negative or unwanted, it has the same meaning as a passive sentence:

• Jim had his car stolen last night. (= Jim's car was stolen)
• They had their roof blown off in the storm. (= Their roof was blown off in the storm)

The construction can refer to the completion of an activity, especially if a time expression is used:

• We'll get the work done as soon as possible.
• I'll get those letters typed before lunchtime.

In all these sentences, we are more interested in the result of the activity than in the person or object that performs the activity.

'X' NEEDS DOING

In the same way, this construction has a passive meaning. The important thing in our minds is the person or thing that will experience the action, e.g.

• The ceiling needs painting (= the ceiling needs to be painted)
• My hair needs cutting (= my hair needs to be cut)

PASSIVE TENSES AND ACTIVE EQUIVALENTS

PASSIVE TENSES AND ACTIVE EQUIVALENTS

Notice that the tense of the verb to be in the passive voice is the same as the tense of the main verb in the active voice.

to keep

TENSE / VERB FORM	ACTIVE VOICE	PASSIVE VOICE
Simple present	keeps	is kept
Present continuous	is keeping	is being kept
Simple past	kept	was kept
Past continuous	was keeping	was being kept
Present perfect	have kept	have been kept
Past perfect	had kept	had been kept
Future	will keep	will be kept
Conditional Present	would keep	would be kept
Conditional Past	would have kept	would have been kept
Present Infinitive	to keep	to be kept
Perfect Infinitive	to have kept	to have been kept
Present Participle/Gerund	keeping	being kept
Perfect Participle	having kept	having been kept

Example sentences:

Active: I keep the butter in the fridge.
Passive: The butter is kept in the fridge.

Active: They stole the painting.
Passive: The painting was stolen.

Active: They are repairing the road.
Passive: The road is being repaired.

Active: Shakespeare wrote Hamlet.
Passive: Hamlet was written by Shakespeare.

Active: A dog bit him.
Passive: He was bitten by a dog.

THE PASSIVE VOICE

How to Form the Passive

The passive voice in English is composed of two elements : the appropriate form of the verb'to be' + the past participle of the verb in question:

Subject	verb 'to be'	past participle
The house	was	built ...

Examples

to clean

Subject	verb 'to be'	past participle
Simple present:
The house	is	cleaned every day.
Present continuous:
The house	is being	cleaned at the moment.
Simple past:
The house	was	cleaned yesterday.
Past continuous:
The house	was being	cleaned last week.
Present perfect:
The house	has been	cleaned since you left.
Past perfect:
The house	had been	cleaned before their arrival.
Future:
The house	will be	cleaned next week.
Future continuous:
The house	will be being	cleaned tomorrow.
Present conditional:
The house	would be	cleaned if they had visitors.
Past conditional:
The house	would have been	cleaned if it had been dirty.

NOTE: 'to be born' is a passive form and is most commonly used in the past tense:

• I was born in 1976. When were you born?
• BUT: Around 100 babies are born in this hospital every week.

Infinitive form: infinitive of 'to be' + past participle: (to) be cleaned

This form is used after modal verbs and other verbs normally followed by an infinitive, e.g.

• You have to be tested on your English grammar
• John might be promoted next year.
• She wants to be invited to the party.

Gerund or -ing form: being + past participle: being cleaned

This form is used after prepositions and verbs normally followed by a gerund

Examples

• Most film stars hate being interviewed.
• I remember being taught to drive.
• The children are excited about being taken to the zoo.

NOTE: Sometimes the passive is formed using the verb to get instead of the verb to be:

• He got arrested for dangerous driving.
• They're getting married later this year.
• I'm not sure how the window got broken.

THE PASSIVE VOICE

How to use the Passive

The passive voice is used to show interest in the person or object that experiences an action rather than the person or object that performs the action, e.g.

• The passive is used ...:
  We are interested in the passive, not who uses it.
• The house was built in 1654:
  We are interested in the house, not the builder.
• The road is being repaired:
  We are interested in the road, not the people repairing it.

In other words, the most important thing or person becomes the subject of the sentence.

Sometimes we use the passive voice because we don't know or cannot express who or what performed the action:

• I noticed that a window had been left open
• Every year people are killed on our roads.

If we want to say who or what performs the action, we use the preposition by:

• "A Hard Day's Night" was written by the Beatles
• ET was directed by Spielberg

The passive voice is often used in formal or scientific texts:

• A great deal of meaning is conveyed by a few well-chosen words.
• Our planet is wrapped in a mass of gases.
• Waste materials are disposed of in a variety of ways.