LoginPassive Voice
In this article, you'll dive into the passive voice, like 'The project was completed'. Detailed explanations and a quiz are included to test your knowledge.
What Is the Passive Voice?
The passive voice can be used to shift the focus of your sentence from the doer of the action to the recipient.
Why Do We Use Passive Voice?
There are times when you do not want to mention who is performing the action. The passive voice is used when you want to avoid the responsibility for identifying the doer, or when you do not know who or what did the action, or the receiver of the action is actually the most important part of your sentence. The passive voice allows you to leave out the subject and focus on who or what receives the action of the verb.
Active Voice
Most English sentences are constructed using the structure subject + verb (+ direct object). This structure creates a sentence in the active voice, where the subject performs the action of the verb.
Sarah eats the pizza.
This is an active sentence, because the ''subject'' is clear at the beginning of the sentence.
Now imagine that you do not know who ate the pizza. In this case, you need to use the passive voice.
The pizza is eaten.
It is obvious that we do not know the doer of the action.
Types of Verbs Based on Passivization
Not all verbs can be made passive, and not all verbs that become passive take the direct object as their subject. English verbs can be categorized into four groups based on how they deal with passivization.
Transitive verbs that can be made passive. The direct object of the active verbs becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
She wrote a letter. → A letter was written by her.
The cat chased the mouse. → The mouse was chased by the cat.
Transitive verbs that cannot be made passive. These are mostly stative or symmetric verbs.
He lacks confidence. → No passive.
stative verb
He married Pam → No passive.
symmetric verb - the subject and object perform the action symmetrically.
Indirect transitive verbs can be made passive, but the subject of the passive is not the direct object of the active voice, but an object of preposition.
He is dealing with a family emergency. → A family emergency is being dealt with.
We all agreed to the changes. → The changes were agreed to.
Intransitive verbs which **cannot be made passive since they have no verb complement.
John sneezed in the classroom.
The water flows.
Tip!
While many stative verbs cannot be used in the passive voice because they do not represent an action, some stative verbs referring to mental processes, perception, and opinion, can be used in the passive voice; for example: think, understand, believe, love, hate, consider, know, expect, assume, etc. The difference between the active and passive is that the passive does not present the idea as a personal opinion or belief. Look at the examples:
I love this book. ➔ This book is loved.
We expect her to arrive soon ➔ She is expected to arrive soon.
Passive Voice: Structure
Passive voice is constructed using the auxiliary be + past participle form of the main verb.
To transform an active sentence into a passive one, follow these steps:
Identify the subject, the verb and the object of the active sentence.
Move the object before the verb so that it becomes the new subject of the sentence.
Check the verb tense in the active sentence.
Conjugate the verb 'be' to match the tense of the verb in the active sentence.
Add the past participle of the main verb after the verb 'be'.
Decide what to do with the subject of the active sentence.
Jim kicked the ball. → The ball was kicked.
Here, the tense of the active verb was past simple, so "be" takes the past form for third person singular neuter "was" and the subject is left out.
Sarah ate the pizza. → The pizza was eaten.
The object of the active clause becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
The Preposition 'By'
In the passive voice, it is not necessary to mention who or what performed the action. However, we can include the subject of the active sentence in the passive sentence using the preposition 'by'.
Jim kicked the ball. → The ball was kicked by Jim.
Here, the subject of the active sentence is mentioned at the end of the passive clause.
Sarah ate the pizza. → The pizza was eaten by Sarah.
Passive Voice: Different Tenses
Passive Voice: Simple Tenses
To form a passive sentence in the simple tenses, all you need to do is change the form of the verb 'be' with consideration of the subject and the particular tense (present, past, future). The main verb in a passive sentence is always in the past participle form. The structure for the passive voice in simple tenses is as follows:
present simple verb → is/are + past participle
past simple verb → was/were + past participle
will + base form of the verb → will be + past participle
Present simple | past simple | Future simple | |
|---|---|---|---|
Active | I make it. | I made it. | I will make it. |
Passive | It is made. | It was made. | It will be made. |
Negation | It is not made. | It was not made. | It will not be made. |
Question | Is it made? | Was it made? | Will it be made? |
Passive Voice: Continuous Tenses
To form a passive sentence in the continuous tenses, you need to conjugate the verb 'be' to reflect the particular tense as well as the subject, and then add the present participle of "be" (being) to reflect the continuous aspect of the verb. The main verb in a passive sentence is always in the past participle form. The passive structure for the different continuous tenses would be as follows:
is/are + present participle → is being/are being + past participle
was/were + present participle → was being/were being + past participle
will be + present participle → will be being + past participle
Present continuous | Past continuous | Future continuous | |
|---|---|---|---|
Active | I am making it. | I was making it. | I will be making it. |
Passive | It is being made. | It was being made. | It will be being made. |
Negation | It is not being made. | It was not being made. | It will not be being made. |
Question | Is it being made? | Was it being made? | Will it be being made? |
Passive Voice: Perfect Tenses
To form a passive sentence in the perfect tense, you need to conjugate the auxiliary verb 'have' to reflect the person and the particular tense, and then add the past participle of the verb "be" (been) before the past participle of the main verb. The passive structure for the different perfect tenses is as follows:
have/has + past participle → have been/has been + past participle
had + past participle → had been + past participle
will have + past participle → will have been + past participle
Present perfect | Past perfect | Future perfect | |
|---|---|---|---|
Active | I have made it. | I had made it. | I will have made it. |
Passive | It has been made. | It had been made. | It will have been made. |
Negation | It has not been made. | It had not been made. | It will not have been made. |
Question | Has it been made? | Had it been made? | Will it have been made? |
Passive Voice: Perfect Continuous Tenses
To form a passive sentence in the perfect continuous tense, you need to conjugate the auxiliary verb "have to reflect the particular tense and the subject, followed by the past participle of "be" (been), present participle of "be" (being), and finally the past participle of the main verb. The structure for passive perfect continuous verbs is as follows:
have been/has been + present participle → have been being/has been being + past participle
had been + present participle → had been being + past participle
will have been + present participle → will have been being + past participle
Present perfect continuous | Past perfect continuous | Future perfect continuous | |
|---|---|---|---|
Active | I have been making it. | I had been making it. | I will have been making it. |
Passive | It has been being made. | It had been being made. | It will have been being made. |
Negation | It has not been being made. | It had not been being made. | It will not have been being made. |
Question | Has it been being made? | Had it been being made? | Will it have been being made? |
Tip!
The perfect continuous tenses are not commonly used in the passive tense, since the structure is awkward and complicated. It is preferred to express ideas in these tenses in the active voice.
Passive Voice: Uses
Now let's see where we can use the passive voice.
When we do not know who or what the subject is.
Somebody stole my car. → My car was stolen.
When it is not important who or what did the action.
Somebody called an ambulance. → An ambulance was called.
When the doer is obvious or general.
The waiter brought the menu. → The menu was brought.
In newspaper articles and titles, for example in crime reports.
Somebody murdered a man. → A man was murdered.
In scientific texts.
Carbon dioxide is produced during the processes of decay of organic materials.
Passive Voice with 'Get'
We can use 'get' as an alternative for the auxiliary verb 'be' in passive voice but only in informal speech. The structure is the same as the structure with 'be' verbs, but they differ in their usage. 'Get' is an action verb, therefore it is used with physical or mental action verbs; the be-passive, however, can be used with both action and state verbs. Additionally, the get-passive structure is commonly used when speaking of negative or undesirable events.
I got rubbed when I was at the mall.
The store got damaged by the costumers on Black Friday.
Our car got stolen last night.
I got fired!
Review
Whenever the subject of the sentence is not important or you don't know the doer of the action; you use passive voice. It means the emphasis is on the receiver of the action rather than its doer. The structure of a passive sentence is as follows:
Direct object/Object of preposition (as the new subject of the sentence) + 'be' (conjugated for tense, number and person of the active sentence) + past participle of the main verb (+ complements).
Some verbs are intransitive, which means they do not have an object. So we cannot make a passives sentence with them. Additionally, some verbs are transitive but cannot be made passive.
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