Passive constructions can be used in most of the tenses.
- the tense is marked/shown by the form of of the auxiliary to be
- the main verb stays the same in all the tenses.

P.S.:

Sage green

Tense	Active voice	Passive voice
Present simple	make	is/are made
Present continuous/prog.	is/are making	is/are being made
Present perfect	has/have made	has/have been made
Present perfect continuous/prog.	has been making	has been being made
Past simple	made	was made
Past continuous/prog.	was making	was being made
Past perfect	had made	had been made
Past perfect continuous/prog.	had been making	has been being made
Going-to-Future	is/are going to make	is/are going to be made
Will-Future	will make	will be made
Future continuous/prog.	will be making	will be being made
Future perfect	will have made	will have been made
Various modal verbs, e.g. can, might, have to, must The same goes for their compounds: (may, could, should, etc. …)	can make might make has/have to make must make	can be made might be made has/have to be made must be made

The passive is frequently used when the person carrying out the action is unknown, unimportant or already clear from the text.
e.g.:
- Shoes were thrown at president Georges W. Bush.
- Chinese is learned in some schools in Germany.
- Shakespeare’s language is still used today.

The person who does the action can be made clear with the preposition by.
e.g.:
- The beautiful house was built by a talented engineer.
- After the disaster, the city’s reconstruction plan was published by the seating mayor.
In these two examples, using the passive instead of the active puts the focus more on objects (the beautiful house, the city’s reconstruction plan) than on the people who did it.

You can use the preposition will to describe what is used to do the action.
e.g.:
- The beautiful house must have been painted with watercolors.
- This artwork must have been made with clay.

Practical exercise: Passive Voice (Active / Passive)

1. Active or passive:

2. Change the sentences from active to passive:

Used to + verb / Would + verb

August 25, 2023

Use to + verb:
Used to refers to habits or states that happened or were true at a certain moment in the past but are no longer the case today.
e.g.:
- My mom used to live in Bafang, but now she lives in Douala.
  (= My mom no longer lives in Bafang)
- I used to go swimming in the afternoon after work.
  (= I no longer go swimming in the afternoon after work)
P.S.: When asking questions or making negative statements, the d is dropped from used to.
e.g.:
- Did you use to get vegetables delivered to your door?
- Mom didn’t use to wear make-up.

Would + verb:
Would can also refer to habitual or regular actions in the past, similarly to used to.
e.g.: Mom used to bake cakes. My daughter would go to her house and watch.

However, with would, the past time frame must be clear. The past time frame is often established with used to or a time expression such as when I was younger, a little girl/boy … .
e.g.: When I was a child, we’d (read: we would) often go to my grandparents’ house.

P.S.: Would isn’t normally used for questions about the past

N.B.: Used to can be used with stative verbs, such as have (meaning ‘own’), know, want or like, but would can’t.

Pratical Exercise: Used to + verb / Would + verb