Passive voice
The passive voice is used to demonstrate interest in the person or object that
experiences an action rather than the person or object that performs said action.
A good way for you to understand the passive voice is by taking a look at the
active voice as well.
Active sentence: My sister drank a glass of wine.
Passive sentence: One glass of wine was drunk by my sister.
The active sentence begins with the subject first (my sister) followed by the verb
(drank) and then the object (one glass of wine). The object is the person or thing
that the action happens to.
In passive sentences we place the verb “to be” into whichever tense we need and
then add the past participle. For regular verbs we make the past participle by
adding -ed to the infinitive.
When to use the Passive voice.
1) When we want to change the focus of the sentence:
The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. (We are more interested in the
painting than the artist in this sentence)
2) When who or what causes the action is unknown or unimportant or obvious
or 'people in general':
He was arrested (obvious agent, the police).
My bike has been stolen (unknown agent).
The road is being repaired (unimportant agent).
The form can be obtained from the post office (people in general).
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3) In factual or scientific writing:
The chemical is placed in a test tube and the data entered into the computer.
4) In formal writing instead of using someone/ people/ they (these can be
used in speaking or informal writing):
The brochure will be finished next month.
5) In order to put the new information at the end of the sentence to improve
style:
Three books are used regularly in the class. The books were written by Dr. Bell. ('Dr.
Bell wrote the books' sound clumsy)
6) When the subject is very long:
I was surprised by how well the students did in the test. (More natural than: 'how
well the students did in the test surprised me')
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How to make the Passive Voice
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Verbs with two objects
Some verbs that have two objects can make two different active sentences, and so
two different passive sentences too.
For example, the verb ‘give’ is like this:
Active: He gave me the book / He gave the book to me.
You can choose either of the two objects to be the subject of the passive sentence.
Passive: I was given the book (by him)/ The book was given to me (by him).
Other verbs like this are: ask, offer, teach, tell, lend, promise, sell, throw.
The passive in subordinate clauses
You can make the passive in a subordinate clause that has a subject and a normal
conjugated verb. This is really the same as a normal passive.
Active: I thought that Mary had kissed John.
Passive: I thought that John had been kissed by Mary.
Active: He knew that people had built the church in 1915.
Passive: He knew that the church had been built in 1915.
You can also make the passive using a passive gerund or a passive infinitive in the
same place as a normal gerund or infinitive.
The child loves being hugged.
She would like to be invited.
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Exercises
Rewrite the sentences in the passive voice.
1) The lawyer is preparing some important documents for the trial.
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2) They are building a new amusement park in this neighbourhood.
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3) The politicians will have reached a decision by tomorrow.
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4) Millions of people all over the world watch this programme.
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5) They ought to pay the workers more.
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6) Somebody stole my car from the car park.
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7) She hasn't watered these plants for over a week.
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8) Joe introduced me to his girlfriend last week.
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9) The audience is not listening to the speaker.
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10) They might invite us to the party, but I'm not sure.
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11) Candidates must return their applications by the end of next week.
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12) We will finish all the school projects by the end of the next term.
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13) Somebody took this picture a while ago.
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14) The authorities should raise more money for the new church.
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15) They gave us a guided tour of the museum.
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16) The workers were repairing the roof when the fire started.
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