PAST PERFECT IN PASSIVE VOICE

The past perfect in passive voice is used to show something had been done by someone
before sometime in the past.
The structure to form the past perfect in passive voice is the following:

Affirmative Form

Object + had + been + verb3 (past participle)

Question Form

Had + object + been + verb3 (past participle)?

Negative Form

Object + had + not + been + verb3 (past participle)

USES OF THE PAST PERFECT PASSIVE

Similar to the past perfect in the active voice, the past perfect passive expresses and
emphasizes a previous action or state that began in the past and continued up to another
point in the past and whose consequences have implications for that second point in time.
Also like the past perfect active, the past perfect passive occurs most often in sentences that
express a completed action that occurred before another action in the past or that express
actions that began in the past and continued up until other actions in the past. For example:
1.

The vase had just been knocked down when the earthquake happened.

2.

Had verbs been studied before this class?

3.

The tub had been cleaned before the sink.

4.

Because a room had not been booked in advance, we were unable to find a hotel.
Just as with other forms of the passive, the main grammatical and semantic difference
between the past perfect in the active voice and the past perfect in the passive voice is that
the past perfect passive allows an object of an active sentence to appear in the subject
position.

Through the use of the passive voice, an English speaker can emphasize an object from an
active sentence and/or de-emphasize the subject from an active sentence.

The past perfect passive expresses previous actions or states with additional past
implications that began in the past and continued up to another specific point in the past
while moving an object from an active sentence into the subject position.
(Hopper 1999), (Kilby 1984)
Bibliografa
Hopper, Paul J. Norton & Company. Editado por Linguistics Girl. 1999.
http://www.linguisticsgirl.com/the-past-perfect-passive-of-english-verbs/
(ltimo acceso: 16 de 10 de 2015).
Kilby, David. Editado por Linguistcs Girl. 1984.
http://www.linguisticsgirl.com/the-past-perfect-passive-of-english-verbs/
(ltimo acceso: 16 de 10 de 2015).

ACTIVITIES

They had invited the browns.

2

They had washes the glasses.

He had cleaned the room.

They had informed mother.

They had moved the table.

Dr. Richard had saved Silvia's life.

The Americans had discovered another planet.

Hospital staff hadn't accepted the injured man

Jerry had received the check just in time.

10

Jim had received an anonymous gift

11

I had read an amazing book

12

Firefighters had put out the fire successfully.

13

Had Dorothy solved the problems?

14

The brave men had defended the city.

15

The little girl had broken the window.

ANSWERS

The browns had been invited by them

The glasses had been washed by them

The room had been cleaned by him

The mother had been informed by them

The table had been moved by them

Silvias life had been saved by Dr. Richard

Other planet had been discovered by the Americans

The check had been received by Jenny just in time.

The injured man had not been received by hospital staff

10 An anonymous gift had been received by Jim

11 An amazing book had been read by me.
12 The fire had been put out by the firefighters successfully
13 Had the problems been solved by Dorothy?
14 The city had been defended by the brave men.
15 The window had been broken by the little girl.

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE CHIMBORAZO

FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS DE LA EDUCACION HUMANAS Y TECNOLOGIAS

ESCUELA DE IDIOMAS
Name:
Class:

Date:

OBJECTIVE: To know when we must use the past perfect in passive voice and how is
formed.
INSTRUCTION: Under each sentence write the passive voice of the following sentences
in past perfect
TEST
(1 mark of each one)
TIME: 10 Minutes
1

I had worn blue shoes.

____________________________________________________________
2

Joe had cleaned the tables

____________________________________________________________
3

We had lost the key

____________________________________________________________
4

They had started a fight.

____________________________________________________________

I had been reading an article.

____________________________________________________________
6

I had not closed the window.

____________________________________________________________
7

She had not noticed me

____________________________________________________________
8

Had she solved the problem?

____________________________________________________________
9

Had he recorded that song?

____________________________________________________________
10

James had not cleaned the office

____________________________________________________________