Passive Voice and Causative in Technology

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B2 | Grammar | 12 min

Grammar Reference: Passive Forms & Causatives

A summary of advanced passive structures and causative forms often used in technology and daily life:

1. Passive voice in basic tenses (Passive Voice):

Use it when you want to stress the action or the thing that is affected, not the person who does the action.

S + be + V3/ed → The security software has been updated today.

2. Passive with modals (Passive with Modals):

Use it to talk about rules, ability or advice for devices and systems.

S + modal (must/can/should) + be + V3/ed → Data backups must be checked weekly.

3. Causative (Have / Get something done):

Use it when you ask or pay another person (an expert, a technician) to do something for you.

S + have/get + O (thing) + V3/ed → I had my laptop repaired yesterday.

4. Passive reporting (Passive Reporting):

Use it to report what many people or the public think or believe, in a formal way.

It is said/believed that + clause OR S + is said/believed to + V → The new AI tool is believed to boost productivity.

A cat watches a small robot repair a laptop with a screwdriver. — She had her laptop repaired by a very small robot.
APIE · AI doodle

Complete the text

Fill in each blank with the correct passive or causative form of the verb in brackets.

Our office recently transformed its digital workspace. Last Monday, a cloud system 1. ____ (introduce) to staff. As a permanent security measure, all confidential records 2. ____ (protect; Present Simple Passive) by multi-factor authentication, so passwords 3. ____ (must / change) every quarter.

Yesterday, the director 4. ____ (have or get / the monitors / replace) by external technicians. Meanwhile, remote devices 5. ____ (connect; Present Perfect Passive) securely since dawn. The network 6. ____ (expect; Present Simple Passive) to increase efficiency, and, starting tomorrow, automated reports 7. ____ (generate; Future Simple Passive) daily. Finally, yesterday our team manager 8. ____ (get or have / the software / install) on personal laptops.

All smart thermostats in the building ___ to the central network yesterday.

____ a. have connected____ b. were connected____ c. were connecting

Critical firmware updates ___ before installing any third-party office applications.

____ a. should download____ b. should be downloading____ c. should be downloaded

Lisa couldn't fix her home router herself, so she ___ by an IT specialist.

____ a. had it configured____ b. had configured it____ c. got it configure

The innovative smart assistant ___ reduce household energy usage by 20%.

____ a. reports that____ b. is reported to____ c. has reported to

Complete the passive sentence with only the missing verb phrase:

Prompt: "Technicians must calibrate the office sensors every month."

The office sensors ____ every month by technicians.

Complete only the missing verb phrase using the Past Simple causative (have / get something done):

Prompt: "Mark asked a specialist to recover his deleted files yesterday, and the specialist did so."

Mark ____ his deleted files recovered by a specialist yesterday.

Complete the passive reporting sentence with only the missing phrase:

Prompt: "People believe that the automated system prevents security breaches."

The automated system ____ security breaches.

Grammar Reference: Passive Forms & Causatives

Complete the text

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