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ESL forum > Ask for help > About passive voice    

About passive voice



Mini9
Peru

About passive voice
 
hey everybody:
about the sentence: This was also the first drink to be consumed iin 1985.
 so to be consumed is passive, but what kind of passive, is it past simple?

18 Nov 2012      





adital
Israel

Hi Mini9
Yes it �s past simple.
to be cosumed is another way of saying: which was consumed, and that ofcourse is past simple.

18 Nov 2012     



perma
Greece

It �s passive voice in infinitive form. 
Other examples: The problem must be solved. (bare infinitive, without "to")
He needs to be left alone. (infinitive with "to")

You can find passive infinitives in past, present and future sentences.
The example you gave us would be " It will be the first to be consumed" in a future sentence.

HTH
Katerina

18 Nov 2012     



almaz
United Kingdom

Maybe this, from the grammarian Geoffrey Pullum, will help (or maybe not - it �s quite detailed for a blog post):


Look at section 2 in particular where he discusses the �crucial � role of the participle in passive clauses and then section 3 where he states that participles never have tense.



18 Nov 2012