ESL Lesson: Passive Simple Past

Use this lesson plan in your intermediate to advanced ESL classroom to help students learn about the passive simple past sentence structure.

Time: 1 hour

Level: Intermediate-Advanced

Objective: Students will learn the uses of passive simple past and its construction.

Target Language: Passive simple past structure

Subject + Was/were + past participle + object

Background

The passive simple past is used when:

You do not want to say who performed the action.

You do not know who performed the action.

It does not matter who performed the action.

The focus is on the action in the sentence itself. The object of the active sentence is the subject of the passive sentence. The subject of the active sentence is either done away with completely, or it becomes that object of the passive sentence.

Examples:

Active Simple Past: Sam gave the blanket to her.

Passive Simple Past: The blanket was given to her.

Active Simple Past: She told me the story.

Passive Simple Past: The story was told by her.

Introduction:

Give a classroom object, such as a piece of chalk or a pencil, to a student in the class. Ask another student in class what just happened. When the student provides the answer using the simple past tense, write the answer on the board. Ask students how they would say the same sentence if they did not know it was you who gave the first student the object. What if they had had their eyes closed, and, when they opened them, the student just all of a sudden had the object in his hand? Write some of the answers on the board. If no one gives the passive simple past version of the sentence, write it on the board. Point out that this construction is called the passive simple past.

Presentation:

Write an example of an active sentence on the board in the simple past tense. Ask students to say the same sentence, pretending they do not know who did the action. Students can write their answers in their notebooks. Call on a few students to give their answers. Provide the correct answer if a student does not give it. Go over when we use the passive simple past.

Write some examples of passive simple past tense sentences on the board as well as their active versions. Ask students to identify the common characteristics of the passive version of each set of sentences. Write the answers on the board. Do the same with the active sentences. Students' answers should outline the passive and active sentence structures. Fill in any gaps the students missed. Write the final versions of passive and active sentences in the simple past tense on the board as described in the Background section.

Practice

Pair students. Give each pair a worksheet of sentences written in both the active and passive voices in the simple past tense. Tell students to work together to write each sentence in the other voice than it is written. Go over each sentence when the pairs are finished to help them correct their answers.

Conclusion

Give students a short paragraph that tells a story with both active and passive voice sentences in the simple past tense. Have them rewrite the paragraph, changing each sentence to the opposite voice from which it is written. Remind them they can drop the subject of the active sentence when they change an active voice sentence to the passive tense if they want to. More advanced students can write their own short stories in paragraph form, using both active and passive simple past constructions.

Reference:

English Grammar Online 4 U: Passive Voice