Impersonal passive

Make and help are followed by a bare infinitive in the active but take a to-infinitive in the passive:

(Ac) My mother made me tidy my room – (Pas)I was made to tidy my room

• 
  Let is replaced in the passive by allowed to:
  

(Ac) The teacher let us leave early- (Pas) We were allowed to leave early (by the teacher).

• 
  See and hear and some other verbs of the senses can be followed by either a to-infinitive or a gerund form in the passive.
  

( Ac) They heard the baby cry/crying- (Pas) The baby was heard to cry/ crying.
EXERCISES
1. Their parents thought that the teenagers were dancing at the disco.
It ………………………………………………….
The teenagers…………………………………………………
2. Everybody thinks that Bruce Springsteen is a great singer.
………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………..
3. Ancient people thought that the stars would fall on them.
………………………………………………..
……………………………………..
4. People believed that they had killed the animals during the night.
………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………….
5. The students all know that Shakespeare was born in Stratford.
…………………………………………………………………………….
6. The teacher helped her students finish the exercise.
……………………………………………………………………………………….
7. The headmaster made them sit down and stay there until 5 o’clock.
………………………………………………………………………………………
8. Reporters at the airport are expecting that the president will be arriving soon.
…………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………….
9. We saw the baby crawl towards the window.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..


CAUSATIVE PASSIVE: HAVE/GET THINGS DONE


Subject causative verb (any tense) object action verb (past part)

We had our door fixed.

Helen is going to have her hair cut.
My mother has the windows cleaned.

This is not a real passive but it’s quite common when we pay someone else, in most cases an expert, to do things we can’t or don’t want to do. The structure is always the same; therefore, be very careful!

• 
  Imagine you were rich and could have all sorts of things done for you; maybe you would like the same things as me:
  

1. I ……………….. have my nails (do)…………………….. once a week.

2. I………………. have my bedroom (redecorate)……………………………. in beautiful oriental colours and fabrics.
3. I…………….. have the lunch (cook) …………………….. by a professional cook.
4.I……………… have my shopping (do)………………….. and the house (clean)…………..form top to bottom every two days.
This would leave me time to do the things I enjoy, like reading, chatting to friends, going for walks and playing paddle!

• 
  Or maybe your house is a mess so you say:
  

5. I think the carpenter should fix my door.
I’ll……………………………………………………………………………………………
6. I think the gardener should cut my grass.
I’ll……………………………………………………………………..
7. I think the painters should paint the walls.
I’ll…………………………………………………………………………………………..

• 
  Nevertheless, sometimes things happen accidentally; then, we use GET instead of HAVE (although many speakers wouldn’t). For example:
  

Stallone