When to use the past continuous passive?
You need to use the past continuous passive to speak about situations that were ongoing in the past, and you focus on the result not the subject.
Active voice – focuses on the subject
Passive voice – focuses on the object (result)
*I explained the differences between the active voice and passive voice in this post with detailed examples and explanation for you to understand everything easily, and I even explained the use of the present continuous passive here including other English grammar topics.
So, back to today’s topic 🙂 Let’s have a look at the following past continuous passive examples to learn more the structure:
Example:
Active sentence: she was baking the cake
Passive sentence: the cake was being baked.
Explanation:
1)the object needs to be placed as a subject (the cake).
2)Add verb to BE + being.
3)use the past participle (verb 3): bake – baked
How to form past continuous passive sentences?
Let’s have a look at the following past continuous passive rules:
Subject + was/were + being + past participle
It’s really important to use (being) after verb to BE. You need to look at the subject:
I, he, she, it = was
They, we, you = were
Example:
Active voice: She was writing the report
Passive voice: The report was being written
Explanation: in the first sentence, the focus is on (she) but the focus in the second sentence is on (the report).
Example:
Active voice: The workers were repairing the road.
Passive voice: The road is being repaired.
Example:
Active voice: The team was answering the questions during the meeting
Passive voice: The questions were being answered during the meeting.
How to form questions using the past continuous passive?
with (yes/ no) answers, start with (verb to BE) as shown below:
was/ were + subject + being + past participle?
With detailed answers, start with (Wh-Questions) as shown below:
Wh-word + was/ were+ subject + being + past participle?
Examples:
Was the room being cleaned yesterday? – (yes/ no answers)
Was the project being prepared? – (yes/ no answers)
Who was being invited to the party? (detailed answer)
How was the issue being handled? – (detailed answer)
What was being discussed in the meeting? – (detailed answer)
How to form negative sentences using the past continuous passive?
You need to use (not) after verb to BE (was/ were) as shown below in the following structure:
Subject + was/ were+ not + being + past participle
Examples:
The house was not being painted when the family moved in.
The machines were not being repaired by the technicians
The cake was not being baked
The questions were not being discussed in the meeting
So, I hope you find this English grammar lesson useful, let me know if you have any questions related to the use of the use of present continuous passive or if you have any suggestions for the upcoming topics. Yesterday, I explained other English grammar topics here so feel free to check it Also, if you need a private discussion or lessons, email me
Have a great day & take care!