2.2 the passive

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Form the passive with
começar a aprender
be + past participle.
In a passive sentence, the agent (the doer of the action)
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may or may not be mentioned.
The press follows him everywhere.
active, present simple
começar a aprender
He's followed everywhere by the press.
passive, present simple
The police are monitoring his emails.
active, present continuous
começar a aprender
His emails are being monitored by the police.
passive. present continuous
Fire destroyed the building.
active, past simple
começar a aprender
The building was destroyed by the fire.
passive, past simple
Someone's eaten my sandwich.
active, present perfect
começar a aprender
My sandwich has been eaten.
passive, present perfect
Someone will tell you.
active, will
começar a aprender
You'll be told.
passive, will
We can't do it now.
active, modals
começar a aprender
It can't be done now.
passive, modals
I don't like people criticising me.
active, -ing form
começar a aprender
I don't like being criticised.
passive, -ing form
The organisers want people to give feedback.
active, infinitive with to
começar a aprender
The organisers want to be given feedback.
passive, infinitive with to
The company has apologised for losing email details of hundreds of its customers. The details were left on a train by a member of staff.
In the second sentence the writer uses the passive to keep the focus of the text on the email details and not on the person who left them.
começar a aprender
Use the passive to emphasise the main focus of a text or sentence.
A man's been arrested on suspicion of murder.
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Use the passive when the agent is obvious
I hate being watched when I'm practising Tai Chi.
começar a aprender
Use the passive when the agent is not important
I'm being sent a large number of spam emails these days.
começar a aprender
Use the passive when the agent is unknown.
The issue is discussed later in this paper. No survivors have been found in the disaster.
começar a aprender
In more formal texts (e.g. academic writing, scientific reports) and certain text types (e.g. some newspapers articles, radio/TV news)
All complaints will be taken seriously.
começar a aprender
to create a distance between the agent and the action, for example to avoid responsability
It is said / believed / reported / thought / understood ... that... It is reported that a shockingly large proportion of the world population is out of work.
começar a aprender
In formal writing this construction is often used:

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