Shadowing Practice: PASSIVE VOICE - English Grammar step-by-step - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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What is the passive voice?
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When do we use the passive voice?
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And how can I easily change the active voice to the passive voice?
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I'm Arnelle from Arnelle's Everyday English and today I'm going to answer these three questions step by step.
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Today's lesson plan is what is the passive voice, the grammatical structure, when to use the passive voice,
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plus an important study tip, transforming from the active to the passive.
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Some sentences cannot be transformed into the passive.
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I'll tell you why.
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So there's going to be a lot of information in this lesson.
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Get ready to take notes.
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Let's begin.
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What is the passive voice?
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The passive voice is the opposite of the active voice.
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Active.
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Everybody loves chocolate.
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Passive chocolate is loved by everybody active the lifeguard saved
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a man passive a man was saved by the lifeguard active decorators are painting my house passive
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my house is being painted okay here are three examples of the passive now Let's look at this grammar in more detail.
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Step two, the grammatical structure.
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When you form the passive, you need B plus a past participle.
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Here are the forms of B.
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There's a lot.
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Am, are, is in the present.
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Was, were in the past you can use being with perfect tenses
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and being in continuous tenses you need a form of this plus
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that past participle
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which is verb number three eat ate eaten eaten is my past participle play played played played is my past participle
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The three sentences from earlier, they all have be and that past participle.
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So, let's compare two sentences.
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This bottle of ketchup has already been opened.
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I have been tired for weeks. Which sentence is passive?
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Right.
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The first one.
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Why?
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Because I have the B and the past participle.
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In the second sentence, I have be, which is great, but I don't have a past participle.
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Tired is an adjective, so that sentence isn't a passive.
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So all of remember the passive has B and past participle.
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Step number three.
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Why do we use the passive?
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1. When the action is more important
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or interesting than the person who does the action one million
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pounds were donated to the children's hospital wow one million pounds
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that's a lot of money this is very interesting who donated the money it's not important i'm interested in the information here
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active the prime minister donated 1 million pounds to the children's
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hospital here wow it's the prime minister in the active sentence it's really important who does the action,
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but in the passive that's not important.
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Number two, the person who does the action is not known.
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or not important.
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This beautiful bridge was built in 1732. Who built the bridge?
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It's not important or I don't know.
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Active.
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John Taylor Thomas built this bridge in 1732.
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Imagine John Taylor Thomas is a famous architect, then that information is important.
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In the passive, not important, in the active, important.
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Number three, the person doing the action is obvious.
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Bill was arrested last night.
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Who arrested bill it's obvious the police arrested bill only the
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police can arrest someone active the police arrested bill last night you could definitely say that it's just different emphasis
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Number four, the object cannot do the action itself.
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100 chocolate cakes were sold on Sunday.
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Can a cake sell itself?
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Of course not.
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It needs to be the passive.
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If you want to say who does the action, you can use an agent.
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We form the agent using by plus person.
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The agent is optional.
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One million pounds were donated to the children's hospital by the Prime minister.
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By the prime minister is optional information.
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This beautiful bridge was built in 1732. By John Taylor Thomas.
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That's optional information.
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100 chocolate cakes were sold on Sunday by Jones's Bakery.
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Again, optional information.
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Important study tip!
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In a newspaper, I want you to highlight any form of the passive you see.
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I want you to ask yourself, why is the passive being used?
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Is it reason 1, 2, 3, or 4?
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You can also do this when you're watching a film.
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Use the subtitles to help you.
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Once you understand why the passive is being used, you can start using it confidently.
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Step number four, transforming an active sentence to a passive sentence.
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Active?
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Apple sells thousands of iPhones every day.
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How can I change this to the passive?
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Remember, you need B plus past participle.
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Thousands of iPhones are sold every day.
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Do I want the agent?
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Buy Apple?
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Buy Apple is reason number three.
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It's obvious.
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Only Apple sells iPhones.
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Apple sells thousands of iPhones every day.
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Thousands of iPhones are sold every day.
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Buy Apple.
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Each tense has its own passive structure.
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You need a list.
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Here, I have a list of the tenses, and you can see that B and the past participle.
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The tenses in red, present perfect continuous, past perfect continuous, do not have a natural a passive form.
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Don't try to form the passive using the red tenses.
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Now I don't want you to think, oh there are so many structures for me to memorize.
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step one you recognize the passive step two you understand the passive
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and step three you use the passive whichever step you're on is fine
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oh how are you feeling i hope you're feeling like this and not like this
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I have one more important piece of information to tell you about the passive.
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Intransitive verbs cannot be made into the passive.
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What is an intransitive verb?
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An intransitive verb does not have an object.
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I bought a coffee.
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Buy is a transitive verb.
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It needs an object.
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In this case, coffee.
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I arrived late.
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Here, arrived is an intransitive verb.
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It doesn't need an object.
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I arrived is fine.
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There's no object needed.
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It's intransitive.
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So sentence number one, if I want to make it the passive, a coffee was bought.
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Perfect.
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Sentence number two, it's not possible.
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In transitive verbs, no passive.
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Fantastic, well done.
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If you want a list of all the passive formations plus examples, you can go to my website.
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I'll leave the link in the description for you.
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There you have it.
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If you want more videos, don't forget to subscribe and I'll see you very soon for another lesson.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 127 sentences and 1053 words to shadow. The speech runs for 12:28. The speaker talks slowly, about 84 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- passive /ˈpæs.ɪv/ (adjective) — Being subjected to an action without producing a reaction.
- verb /vɝb/ (noun) — A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being.
- tense /tɛns/ (noun) — The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists.
- pound /ˈpaʊ̯nd/ (noun) — A unit of weight in various measurement systems.
- donate /ˈdoʊˌneɪt/ (verb) — To make a donation; to give away something of value to support or contribute towards a cause or for the benefit of another.
- optional /ˈɑp.ʃə.nəl/ (adjective) — Not compulsory; left to personal choice; elective.
- lesson /ˈlɛs.ən/ (noun) — A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided.
- arrive /əˈɹaɪv/ (verb) — To reach; to get to a certain place.
- continuous /kənˈtɪn.juː.əs/ (adjective) — Without stopping; without a break, cessation, or interruption.
- transform /tɹænsˈfɔɹm/ (verb) — To change greatly the appearance or form of.
- compare /kəmˈpɛɚ/ (verb) — To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things [“to compare X with Y”]. Having made the comparison of X with Y, one might have found it…
- highlight /ˈhaɪˌlaɪt/ (verb) — To make prominent; emphasize.
- emphasis /ˈɛmfəsɪs/ (noun) — Special weight or forcefulness given to something considered important.
- grammar /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ (noun) — A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general.
- architect /ˈɑɹ.kɪˌtɛkt/ (noun) — A professional who designs buildings or other structures, or who prepares plans and superintends construction.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- sell on (verb) — To resell (goods or services).
- look at (verb) — To observe or watch.
- make into (verb) — To cause (the first object) to become (the second object); to change or transform.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 16 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'll, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: continuous /kənˈtɪn.juː.əs/, participle /ˈpɑɹtɪˌsɪpəl/, intransitive /ɪnˈtɹænsətɪv/, grammatical /ɡɹəˈmæt.ɪ.kəl/, confidently /ˈkɑnfɪdəntli/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like passive, verb, tense.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | cannot be transformed · is loved · was saved |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has already been opened · have been tired |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | person who does |
| Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now | are painting · is being · you're watching |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.