Passive sentences with "by"

We are normally not interested in the "doer" of an action in a passive sentence. When we want to mention the "doer", we use the preposition by. The whole phrase is called by-agent in English. 

Active sentence	Passive sentence
Mr Brown built the house.	The house was built by Mr Brown.

When we do not know, who was the "doer" of the action, we use someone or somebody in the active sentence. We leave out these words in the passive sentence.

Active sentence	Passive sentence
Someone stole my bike.	My bike was stolen.

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Use-Passive and Active, Form and Examples

Passive - Use

We only use the passive when we are interested in the object or when we do not know who caused the action.

Example: Appointments are required in such cases.

We can only form a passive sentence from an active sentence when there is an object in the active sentence.

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Form

to be + past participle

How to form a passive sentence when an active sentence is given:
- object of the "active" sentence becomes subject in the "passive" sentence
- subject of the "active" sentence becomes "object" in the "passive" sentence" (or is left out)

Active:	Peter	builds	a house.
Passive:	A house	is built	by Peter.

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Examples

Active	Peter	builds	a house.	Simple Present
Passive:	A house	is built	by Peter.

Active:	Peter	built	a house.	Simple Past
Passive:	A house	was built	by Peter.

Active:	Peter	has built	a house.	Present Perfect
Passive:	A house	has been built	by Peter.

Active:	Peter	will build	a house.	will-future
Passive:	A house	will be built	by Peter.

Active:	Peter	can build	a house.	Modals
Passive:	A house	can be built	by Peter.

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Active and passive forms in the most common tenses

Tenses which are rarely used in everyday conversation.

We have listed active and passive forms in the following table.
We used the phrase I drive and have put this phrase into most common tenses.

Active (Simple Forms)
Simple Present	I drive
Simple Past	I drove
Present Perfect	I have driven
Past Perfect	I had driven
will-future	I will drive
Future Perfect	I will have driven
Conditional I	I would drive
Conditional II	I would have driven

Active (Progressive/Continuous Forms)
Simple Present	I am driving
Simple Past	I was driving
Present Perfect	I have been driving
Past Perfect	I had been driving
will-future	I will be driving
Future Perfect	I will have been driving
Conditional I	I would be driving
Conditional II	I would have been driving

Passive (Simple Forms)
Simple Present	I am driven
Simple Past	I was driven
Present Perfect	I have been driven
Past Perfect	I had been driven
will-future	I will be driven
Future Perfect	I will have been driven
Conditional I	I would be driven
Conditional II	I would have been driven

Passive (Progressive/Continuous Forms)
Present	I am being driven
Past	I was being driven
Present Perfect ¹	I have been being driven
Past Perfect ¹	I had been being driven
Future ¹	I will be being driven
Future Perfect ¹	I will have been being driven
Conditional I ¹	I would be being driven
Conditional II ¹	I would have been being driven

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