6.2 Passive Voice, Gerunds, and Infinitives
Key Takeaways
- Passive voice uses be (or get) + past participle; tense lives on the be form (is written, was written, has been written, will be written).
- By-agents are optional; omit them when the doer is unknown, obvious, or unimportant—common in academic style.
- Causatives: have/get something done (service by someone else); get + object + to-infinitive; have + object + bare infinitive for causing action.
- Some verbs require a gerund (enjoy studying), some a to-infinitive (decide to study), and some change meaning by pattern (stop smoking vs stop to smoke).
- Participle adjectives: -ing = causing the feeling (boring lecture); -ed = experiencing it (bored students).
6.2 Passive Voice, Gerunds, and Infinitives
Quick Answer: Build passives with be/get + past participle; put tense on be. Use have/get + object + past participle for services done by others. After verbs, memorize gerund-only, infinitive-only, and meaning-change lists. Match -ing/-ed adjectives to cause vs. experience.
Nonfinite forms and the passive voice appear throughout iTEP Grammar, from intermediate blanks to advanced error IDs. Treat them as closed systems: once you know which slot needs which form, options become easy to eliminate.
Passive voice across tenses
Active: Researchers published the findings in 2024.
Passive: The findings were published in 2024 (by researchers).
Form: subject (patient) + be (correct tense/aspect) + past participle (+ optional by + agent).
| Active tense | Passive pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Present simple | am/is/are + V3 | The policy is reviewed annually. |
| Past simple | was/were + V3 | The samples were stored overnight. |
| Present continuous | am/is/are being + V3 | The manuscript is being edited now. |
| Past continuous | was/were being + V3 | The data were being coded during the audit. |
| Present perfect | has/have been + V3 | Three hypotheses have been tested. |
| Past perfect | had been + V3 | The instrument had been calibrated before use. |
| Future | will be + V3 | Results will be released next month. |
| Modal | modal + be + V3 | The error must be corrected. |
| Modal perfect | modal + have been + V3 | The file may have been deleted. |
Only transitive verbs form ordinary passives (they take objects). Arrive, happen, and sleep do not passivize in standard English.
By-agent and when to omit it
Use by + agent when the doer matters: The theory was proposed by Kuhn. Omit the agent when the doer is unknown, generic, or irrelevant—typical in methods writing: Participants were randomly assigned to groups. On the exam, do not invent a by-phrase if the stem does not need one; do not drop by when the option set is testing agent structure.
Get-passive
Get + past participle is common in spoken and informal written English for events with change or adversity: The window got broken; She got promoted. Academic prose prefers be-passives, but iTEP may accept get when the stem is conversational. Never write got been or was get.
Causative structures: have / get / make
Causatives express that someone arranges or forces an action:
| Pattern | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| have/get + object + past participle | arrange for a service | We had the survey translated. / We got the figures checked. |
| have + object + bare infinitive | cause someone to do something | The chair had the committee revise the rubric. |
| get + object + to-infinitive | persuade/cause | The tutor got the students to outline first. |
| make + object + bare infinitive | force | The deadline made the team work overnight. |
| make + object + past participle (passive sense) | cause object to receive action | She made her voice heard. |
Trap: I had my laptop repairing (wrong) → repaired (service) or I had the technician repair my laptop.
Gerunds vs. infinitives after verbs
A gerund is the -ing form used as a noun: Writing daily improves clarity.
A to-infinitive is to + base verb: She hopes to publish soon.
Verbs commonly followed by a gerund
enjoy, avoid, consider, delay, deny, discuss, finish, keep, miss, practice, quit, risk, suggest, mind, postpone, put off, give up, can’t help
- Students should avoid submitting uncited work.
- The committee suggested expanding the sample.
Verbs commonly followed by a to-infinitive
agree, choose, decide, expect, hope, learn, need, offer, plan, promise, refuse, want, wish, afford, appear, seem, tend, fail, manage
- They decided to extend the trial.
- The model failed to predict the outlier.
Verbs that take either with little meaning change
begin, start, continue, like, love, hate, prefer (often interchangeable, with mild style differences).
Meaning-change pairs (high-yield traps)
| Verb | + gerund | + infinitive |
|---|---|---|
| stop | end a habit: stop smoking | pause in order to do X: stop to smoke |
| remember | recall a past act: remember locking the lab | not forget to do X: remember to lock the lab |
| forget | not recall a past act | fail to do a duty: forget to submit |
| try | experiment with a method: try using a rubric | make an effort: try to finish by Friday |
| regret | feel sorry about a past act | formal bad news: regret to inform |
| mean | involve: This means rewriting Chapter 2 | intend: I mean to rewrite Chapter 2 |
| go on | continue the same activity | change to a new activity: went on to discuss |
Memorize these pairs; iTEP loves near-miss options that swap gerund and infinitive.
Adjectives and nouns + infinitive
It is important to cite sources. / She is ready to present. / Their goal is to reduce error.
Purpose infinitives answer “why?”: Researchers sampled broadly to improve validity.
In order to is a formal purpose marker: in order to meet the deadline.
For + gerund marks purpose of a tool/function: a tool for measuring humidity (not for to measure).
Preposition + gerund only
After a preposition, use a gerund, not an infinitive: interested in learning, good at solving, before submitting, without checking. ❌ interested in to learn.
Participle adjectives: -ing vs. -ed
| Form | Role | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -ing | source/cause of a feeling or quality | a boring lecture, a surprising result |
| -ed | experiencer of the feeling | bored students, surprised researchers |
- ❌ I am very boring in statistics class (says you cause boredom)
- ✅ I am very bored in statistics class (you experience boredom)
- ✅ The statistics class is boring.
Other pairs: interested/interesting, confused/confusing, excited/exciting, exhausted/exhausting, frightened/frightening.
Passive gerunds and infinitives
- Passive infinitive: to be + V3 — The draft needs to be revised.
- Passive gerund: being + V3 — She hates being interrupted.
- Perfect infinitive: to have + V3 — He claims to have finished.
- Perfect passive infinitive: to have been + V3 — The file seems to have been moved.
These forms appear on advanced blanks. Match aspect to the time relation: prior action → perfect; patient role → passive.
Object + infinitive / gerund patterns
- ask/tell/want/expect/encourage + object + to-infinitive: The advisor encouraged students to revise.
- make/let/have + object + bare infinitive: Let the data speak for themselves.
- see/hear/watch + object + bare infinitive / -ing (full act vs. in progress): I heard her present the findings vs. I heard her presenting the findings.
Exam application
On fill-in-the-blank, diagnose voice (active vs. passive), then tense on be, then participle. For nonfinites, identify the governing verb or preposition first—do not choose an infinitive after enjoy or a gerund after decide.
On error identification, common faults include active/passive mix-ups (The paper published in 2024 missing was), wrong participle after be, gerund/infinitive swaps after meaning-change verbs, and -ed/-ing adjective confusions.
Quick elimination order
- Does the subject receive the action? → passive; check be + V3.
- Is there a causative (have/get/make)? → match the causative template.
- What verb or preposition governs the blank? → gerund, infinitive, or bare form.
- Is the blank an adjective describing cause or experiencer? → -ing vs. -ed.
- Purpose? → to-infinitive or for + gerund for tools—not both mixed.
Drill these five questions until they fire automatically under the Grammar section’s ten-minute clock.
Which sentence correctly forms the present perfect passive?
“We ____ the questionnaire translated by a professional service.” Which causative best fits a completed service?
Which option correctly completes: “After years of lab work, she finally stopped ____ the same failed protocol”?
Choose the correct participle adjectives: “The ____ results left the team ____.”