Passive Voice

Master the Passive Voice in English with this detailed lesson! We’ll break down what the passive voice is, when to use it, and how it changes the focus of a sentence from the subject to the action itself. Learn simple tips and examples to help you form passive sentences confidently, making your English more versatile and dynamic. Ideal for learners aiming to improve their grammar and writing skills!

Grammar

Practice how to differentiate Passive Voice.

Transcript

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Title: Passive Voice Made Easy

Introduction:

• Host: Hello and welcome to the English Magnet. Today’s video: Passive Voice Made Easy! Understanding the passive voice can transform your writing, helping you to emphasize results over actions and create a more neutral tone. In this video, we’ll break down the function and the structure, look at some practical examples, and even highlight common mistakes to watch out for. Stick around to become a passive voice pro!”

Part 1: Function of the Passive Voice

What is it even for? Well, it emphasizes 3 things: 

• Object: It puts the object of the active sentence first, which can be useful when the subject is irrelevant, obvious, or simply secondary. Who or what is performing the action is not our focus, who or what is undergoing the action, now that’s the key!

Example: The report was written. (The focus is on the report, not who wrote it.)

• Neutral tone: It often appears in scientific or journalistic writings to maintain an impersonal and neutral tone. In some cases, the agent of the action is actually unknown, so the passive voice makes more sense. 

Example: Errors were made. (This form doesn’t cast blame on anybody, simply stating that errors have occurred.)

• Formal context: It’s used in formal or professional contexts where the result is more important than the ‘doer’ who caused it. 

Example: The decision was approved by the board. (The most important bit of information is about the decision, hence why it’s the subject of the sentence.)

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Part 2: Structure of the Passive Voice

The passive voice involves a restructuring of the active voice. Let’s break it down into 3 easy steps:

1. Swap subject and object: In an active sentence, the subject performs the action. In the passive voice, the object of the action comes first.
   • Active voice: The cat eats the mouse. 
   • Passive voice: The mouse is eaten by the cat.

You can clearly see that in the active voice, the cat is the subject of the sentence and the one doing the action (eating), while the object, the mouse, is the one undergoing the action. However in the passive voice, we swap subject and object. So, the object ‘mouse’ has become the subject; it’s the grammatical subject but still the object of the action. The mouse is not doing any eating, it’s still the one being eaten! 

2. Replace the verb with To be + past participle: The passive voice is formed using the appropriate tense of the verb ‘to be’ and the past participle of the main verb.
   • Active voice: Jill designed the website.
   • Passive voice: The website was designed by Jill.

This is the core element of the passive voice; look at the active voice and identify its verb ‘designed’. Now, to form the passive voice, after having swapped the subject and the object, plug in the verb ‘to be’ in the same verb tense as the one used in the active voice. In our example, that’s the past simple (designed). Since the subject is now ‘the website’ ‘to be’ becomes ‘was’. The second part of the verb is the past participle of the verb in the active voice; again it’s ‘designed’. In our example, it’s pretty neat, the past simple and past participle are the same, most regular verbs have the same V2 & V3, so designed is our second part of the verb. 

3. Introducing the agent: If it’s important to mention who or what performed the action, it’s introduced with ‘by’.
   • Example: The song was written by the band. 

When you wish to clarify who or what performed the action, you have to precede it with the preposition ‘by’. In our example, the band wrote the song but the passive voice emphasizes the song over the band. Still, we can mention the band with ‘by’ so the author of the song is known. 

Quick note: Yes, you can use the passive voice in the positive, negative and question forms: 

• Positive:
  • Active voice: He drives the car.
  • Passive voice: The car is driven by him.
• Negative:
  • Active voice: He does not drive the car.
  • Passive voice: The car is not driven by him. (As you can see, the particle ‘not’ squeezes itself between the verb ‘to be’ and the past participle.)
• Question:
  • Active voice: Does he drive the car?
  • Passive voice: Is the car driven by him? (For questions, the verb ‘to be’ and the subject (which is the object undergoing the action) switch places.)

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Part 3: Passive Voice in Different Tenses

The passive voice can be used in various tenses. Here’s a list with examples in active/passive pairs:

• Present simple:
  • The students read the book. 
  • The book is read by the students.
• Past simple:
  • The team completed the project. 
  • The project was completed by the team.
• Future simple:
  • The committee will make the decision. 
  • The decision will be made by the committee.
• Present continuous:
  • The workers are renovating the building. 
  • The building is being renovated.
• Past continuous:
  • Someone was baking the cake when the oven broke. 
  • The cake was being baked when the oven broke.
• Present perfect:
  • The manager has signed the documents. 
  • The documents have been signed by the manager.
• Past perfect:
  • We had signed the contract before the meeting. 
  • The contract had been signed before the meeting.
• Future perfect:
  • They will have completed the report by tomorrow.
  • The report will have been completed by tomorrow.

Other tenses; namely the future continuous and all perfect continuous tenses are possible, but they sound awkward. 

Example: We will be working on the project. / The project will be being worked on. That passive voice is correct but ‘be being’ is usually avoided as it sounds too odd and unnatural. 

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Part 4: Common Mistakes

Watch out for the following when using the passive voice:

1. Forgetting the past participle: 

The letter is write by her. = The letter is written by her. (Sadly you have to memorize V3 forms, even the irregular ones. On the bright side, it’s the only ‘learn by heart’ part of the passive voice.)

2. Incorrect tense of ‘to be’:

Active voice: We were finishing the report. 

Passive voice: The report is being finished. = The report was being finished. (Be careful with the tense of the verb ‘to be’ in the active voice (were finishing is the past continuous). This impacts the tense of the verb ‘to be’ in the passive voice. Using the wrong tense can lead to misunderstandings.)

3. Not swapping the subject and object: 

The policewoman was arrested by the burglar. = The burglar was arrested by the policewoman. As soon as you hear the first sentence you can tell something’s not right. In this case, the subject and object in the active voice were not switched which explains the silly meaning. 

4. Forcing the passive voice: 

At home was arrived by her. Where to start? Well, that sentence is completely wrong, the verb ‘arrive’ cannot have an object, so the passive voice is not compatible. In such cases, stick with the active voice: She arrived at home. In short, if a verb can’t have an object (that’s an intransitive verb!) such as arrive, go, laugh, run, swim and so on you won’t use the passive voice. Just make sure your sentence in the active voice has an object! To check, ask what? or whom? 

The baker sold all his donuts. – the baker sold what? (all his donuts = object) 

The passive voice is: All the donuts were sold by the baker. 

The baker slept all morning. – the baker slept what? (no object!)

I can’t answer so there’s no passive voice because there’s no object!

Wrap up

Host: That’s it for today’s lesson on the passive voice! By the way, a link to some free material to practice by yourselves can be found in the description below. Hopefully, this has been helpful. Keep practicing, and you’ll get the hang of it. Thank you for watching. Until next time!