The passive: focus on what happened

In a passive sentence the thing affected by the action becomes the subject, so the reader looks at the result, not at the person who acted. The passive exists in every tense: only the form of be changes, the past participle stays the same.

• present → is / are inspected
• past → was / were inspected
• continuous → is being inspected
• perfect → has been inspected
• future → will be inspected
• modal → should be inspected

• The roof was damaged during the storm.
• All complaints are recorded and answered within five days.
• The contract will be signed next week.

Have something done: you arrange it, someone else does it

If you say I repaired the car, you did the work yourself. When a mechanic, a cleaner or another professional does it for you, English uses have + object + past participle, with the object in the middle.

have + object + past participle (+ by + agent)

• We had the fence painted last summer.
• The company has its accounts checked by an outside agency.
• I'm having a new shower installed next month.