Passive Voice with Modals; Using the BY Phrases

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Passive Voice with Modals; Using the BY Phrases Lesson 2

Passive Voice with Modals Modals are helping verbs that express possibility, ability, duty, permission or advisability. Words like can, could, may, might, must and should – and even will – are all modals. But modals also include something called “phrasal modals” – phrases such as has to, ought to and be supposed to. Los modales ayudan a los verbos que expresan posibilidad, habilidad, deber, permiso o conveniencia. Palabras como can, could, may, might, must y should, e incluso will, son modales. Pero los modales también incluyen algo llamado "modales compuestos", frases como "debe", "debería" y "se supone". The structure is: subject + modal (Not) or modal phrase + be + the past participle + the rest. Past: The ship + couldn’t + be + seen because of the storm. Present: The topics + can + be + researched + online. Future: The report + might not + be + finished + on time.

Here’s our formula! Let’s look at some more examples.

More Examples: The structure is: subject + modal (Not) or modal phrase + be + the past participle + the rest. Past Passive Sentences with Modals: The lost jewels couldn’t be found. They had to be accompanied home.

Present Passive Sentences with Modals: The product needs to be coded. The sacks of flour can be distributed around the neighborhood. She must be transferred to another hospital.

Future Passive Sentences with Modals: The snake might be killed by her. The flowers will need to be sent out soon.

Forming Questions To form questions with modals in the passive, place the modal before the subject. Para formular preguntas con modales en pasivo, coloque el modal antes del tema.

Can the test be completed at home? When should the project be finished?

Using the BY Phrase Sometimes it is important to give the identity of the person, even when using the passive voice. When this is the case, English speakers often use a by-phrase -- the word “by” followed by a noun or noun phrase. A veces es importante dar la identidad de la persona, incluso cuando se usa la voz pasiva. Cuando este es el caso, los angloparlantes suelen usar una frase secundaria: la palabra "by" seguida de un sustantivo o una frase nominal. Imagine a police officer shows you video camera images of the person stealing your bicycle. The officer might identify the thief by saying the following: “Your bicycle was stolen by an old woman.” Imagine que un oficial de policía le muestra imágenes de la persona que está robando su bicicleta. El oficial podría identificar al ladrón diciendo lo siguiente: “Tu bicicleta fue robada por una anciana”.