Using the PASSIVE VOICE
The ‘passive voice‘ is opposite of the ‘active voice‘.
If you are a more visual learner, watch the video!
PASSIVE FORMATION : BE + past participle
infinitive: dance
past simple: danced
⇒past participle: danced
infinitive: eat
past simple: ate
⇒past participle: eaten
Why do we need the passive?
1) the action is more important/interesting than the person who does the action…
PASSIVE: £10,000 were donated to the children’s hospital.
This is a lot of money! This action is more interesting than who donated the money. So who donated the money? It’s not important. Use the passive.
ACTIVE: The Queen donated £10,000 to the children’s hospital.
Wow, it’s the Queen! In this sentence, the person who does the action is more important/interesting than the action itself. Use the active.
2)the person who does the action is not important or not known…
PASSIVE: This beautiful bridge was built in 1732.
Maybe we don’t know who built the bridge. Maybe we are more interested in the age of the bridge and not the person who built it. Use the passive.
ACTIVE: John Taylor Darren built this beautiful bridge in 1732.
Imagine John Taylor Darren is a famous architect. This information is more important and interesting than the date it was built. Use the active.
3) the person doing the action is obvious…
PASSIVE: Bill was arrested last night!
Who arrested Bill? It’s obvious. The police arrested Bill. Only the police can arrest someone.
ACTIVE: The police arrested Bill last night.
This sentence is correct, but not very common. Of course the police did the action. It isn’t necessary to use the police as the subject.
4)because an object cannot do the action itself …
PASSIVE: Over 10 chocolate cakes were sold on Sunday.
Can a cake sell itself? No, that’s impossible. Use the passive.
If you want to say WHO does the action, you can use an agent. We form the agent using by + person. The agent is optional.
£10,000 were donated to the children’s hospital by the Queen.
This beautiful bridge was built in 1732 by John Taylor Darren.
Over 10 chocolate cakes were sold on Sunday by Jones’ Bakery.
All tense changes:
Examples:
present simple – AM/ARE/IS + past participle
Active: Apple sells thousands of iPhones every day.
Passive: Thousands of iPhones are sold every day (by Apple).
present continuous – AM/ARE/IS BEING + past participle
Active: The police are watching the criminal from their car.
Passive: The criminal is being watched (by the police from their car).
present perfect – HAVE/HAS BEEN + past participle
Active: Someone has taken my wallet!
Passive: My wallet has been taken (by someone)!
present perfect continuous = uncommon passive structure
past simple – WAS/WERE + past participle
Active: My mum sent over 50 Christmas cards.
Passive: Over 50 Christmas cards were sent (by my mum).
past continuous – WAS/WERE BEING + past participle
Active: Many uni students were using the library PCs.
Passive: The library PCs were being used (by many uni students).
past perfect = HAD BEEN + past participle
Active: Mr. Karl had rented a boat for his summer holiday.
Passive: A boat had been rented (by Mr. Karl).
past perfect continuous = uncommon passive structure
future simple: WILL + BE + past participle
Active: NASA will launch a new satellite into space.
Passive: A new satellite will be launched into space (by NASA).
be going to (future form): BE + GOING TO BE + past participle
Active: We are going to create a new app.
Passive: A new app is going to be created (by us).
future continuous: = uncommon passive structure
future perfect: WILL HAVE BEEN + past participle
Active: I will have finished these reports by noon.
Passive: These reports will have been finished by noon (by me).
future perfect continuous = uncommon passive structure
Present perfect cont., past perfect cont., future cont., future perfect cont., are very uncommon and sound unnatural:
future continuous: WILL BE + BEING + past participle
Active: Santa will be handing out gifts at the shopping centre.
Passive: Gifts will be being handed out at the shopping centre by Santa.
In this case, it’s better to use the Active voice.
More examples:
- I really want to be recognised for my work.
I don’t want to recognise my own work. I want other people to recognise my work. They do the action, not me. Use the passive. - Ritchie might be given a promotion.
Can Ritchie promote himself at work? No, that’s not possible. It’s obvious his boss is going to give him the promotion. - I’m so happy about being chosen as class president!
The other students chose you. You didn’t choose yourself. Use the passive.
Take a look at these 3 active sentences. How would you change each one into the passive voice?
He smiled at me.
I slept until 1 PM.
I’m moving to France next month.
It’s not possible.
Only sentences with a transitive verb can be changed into the passive. A transitive verb must have an object. For example:
I like coffee.
‘like’ is a transitive verb. It must have an object. It’s impossible to only say: I like.
I bought a new phone.
‘buy’ is a transitive verb. It must have an object. It’s impossible to only say: I bought.
I danced salsa last night.
‘dance’ is an intransitive verb. It doesn’t need an object.
Jenny: What did you do at the club last night?
Sara: I danced.
This is correct. The verb ‘dance’ makes sense without an object.
Thank you very much for reading this blog on the passive voice!
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See you next time! Arnel 🙂
You have forgotten to add future perfect continuous = uncommon passive structure to ‘All tense changes list.’ The rest of them is looking good. (I don’t know that is your intention to it or not).
You are correct! I completely missed that from the info-graphic! I’ll have to update that. Thank you 🙂