13. FOCUS ON: passive phrasal verbs, 1
The passive voice is used when what happened (the verb) is more important than
who did it (the subject):

The scene of the crime was dosed off by the police.
when the subject is obvious:
The tests were handed in. (by the students — who else?)
or when the subject is unknown:
My dog was run over. (by an unknown person)
The passive is formed with be and the past participle of the verb. Be can be in any
tense and can be continuous:
The game
has been called off.
My name
was left off.
The tent
Is being set up.
The criminals
will be tracked down.
As we saw in the first three examples, saying who performed the action with a by
phrase is optional, but it is always possible. This is a good way to test a sentence to
see if it is in the passive:
The game has been called off by. the, referee.
My name was left off by Charles.
The tent is being set up by.
the campers.
The criminals will be tracked down by the police.
Infinitivepresent tense -ing form past tense past participle

g in handed in handed in

1. hand ... in (to) p.v. When you complete a test, report, or project and you give it to the
person who assigned the work, you hand it in or hand it in to that person. Turn in is similar
to hand in.
The tests must be handed in no later than 11:00.
He finished his investigation and handed his report in to the committee.
2. hand ... in p.v. When you hand in your resignation or letter of resignation, you inform your
employer that you are quitting your job.
/ was so furious that I handed my letter of resignation in the next day.
The President asked the cabinet members to hand in their resignations.
3. hand ... in (to) p.v. When you give something to a person of authority who has demanded it
or because you no longer need or want it, you hand it in or hand it in to a person of authority.
Turn in is similar to hand in.
The guard was ordered to hand his gun in after he shot the window washer.
The drivers return to the factory at 5:00 and hand their keys in to the dispatcher before they leave.
hit on hit on & hits on hitting on hit on hit on
1. hit on p.v. When you think of an interesting idea or a solution to a problem, you hit on
it.
/ think I've hit on a way to solve this problem.
After two years of tests, they finally hit on the solution.
2. hit on p.v. [informal] When you hit on a person of the opposite sex, you approach and
aggressively try to interest that person in you romantically or sexually.
Lydia had a terrible time at the party. She was hit on by every guy there.
Let's go somewhere else — Mark keeps hitting on me, and I'm tired of it.
leave off leave off & leaves off leaving off left off left off
1. leave... off p.v. When you do not include people or things on a list, either
accidentally or deliberately, you leave them off.
After what happened at the last party, Dan wasn't surprised that he was left off the guest list.
Check to make sure you don't leave anyone off the list.

Airport runways are lit up so that pilots can see them in the dark.
The police lit the house up with their spotlights.
lit up part.adj. After a light is shined on something or you put lights inside or attach lights to
the outside of something, it is lit up.
The signs aren't lit up, so it's hard to see them at night.
2. light... up p.v. When you light up a cigarette, cigar, or pipe, you use a match or lighter
to start it burning.
Here are the matches — let's light up. Lighting a cigarette up next to the gasoline truck was the last
thing he ever did.
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Infinitive
present tense -ing form past tense past participle

track downtrack down & tracks down

tracking down

tracked down tracked down

1. track... down p.v. When you find things or people after looking very hard for them, you
track them down.
The terrorists were
tracked down
by Interpol.
I finally
tracked down
that book I've been looking for.

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7. The EPA tracked down. (the polluters, them) ________ ________ ________

EXERCISE 13c — Write answers to the questions using phrasal verbs and participle adjectives
from this section. Make all the phrasal verbs passive.
1. He discovered the source of the rumor. What happened to the source of the rumor?
2. The students finished their quizzes and gave them to the teacher. What happened to the
quizzes?
3. The judge never sends first-time offenders to jail. What always happens to first-time offenders?
4. A guy started talking to Heather at the dance. What happened to Heather?
5. The list of candidates didn't include your name. What happened to your name?
6. The referee canceled the game. What happened to the game?
7. They are putting ropes around the plaza so that no one can go in. What is happening to the
plaza?
8. In Question 7, after they finish putting ropes around the plaza, how would you describe it?
9. The battleship shined lights on the enemy submarine. What happened to the enemy
submarine?
10. In Question 9, how would you describe the submarine after the battleship shined lights on it?
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