ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE

We discussed the Active and Passive Voice with the more advanced students
and some Optimise groups (3 and 4) and some one-to-one students at York School
of English in April 2022.

What is the passive voice?

In general, the active voice makes your writing stronger, more direct, and, you
guessed it, more active. The subject is something, or it does the action of the verb
in the sentence. With the passive voice, the subject is acted upon by some other
performer of the verb. (In case you weren’t paying attention, the previous two
sentences use the type of voice they describe.)

But the passive voice is not incorrect. In fact, there are times when it can come in
handy. Read on to learn how to form the active and passive voices, when using the
passive voice is a good idea, and how to avoid confusing it with similar forms.

The difference between active and passive voice

While tense is all about time references, voice describes whether the grammatical
subject of a clause performs or receives the action of the verb. Here’s the formula
for the active voice: [subject]+[verb (performed by the subject)]+[optional object]

Chester kicked the ball.

In a passive voice construction, the grammatical subject of the clause receives the
action of the verb. So, the ball from the above sentence, which is receiving the
action, becomes the subject. The formula: [subject]+[some form of the verb to be]+
[past participle of a transitive verb]+[optional prepositional phrase]

The ball was kicked by Chester.

That last little bit—“by Chester”—is a prepositional phrase that tells you who the
performer of the action is. But even though Chester is the one doing the kicking,
he’s no longer the grammatical subject. A passive voice construction can even drop
him from the sentence entirely:

The ball was kicked.

How’s that for anticlimactic?

When (and when not) to use the passive voice

If you’re writing anything with a definitive subject who’s performing an action,

you’ll be better off using the active voice. And if you search your document for
instances of was, is, or were and your page lights up with instances of passive
voice, it may be a good idea to switch to active voice.

That said, there are times when the passive voice does a better job of presenting an
idea, especially in certain formal, professional, and legal discussions. Here are
three common uses of the passive voice:

1 Reports of crimes or incidents with unknown perpetrators

My car was stolen yesterday.

If you knew who stole the car, it probably wouldn’t be as big a problem. The
passive voice emphasizes the stolen item and the action of theft.

2 Scientific contexts

The rat was placed into a T-shaped maze.

Who places the rat into the maze? Scientists, duh. But that’s less important than the
experiment they’re conducting. Therefore, passive voice.

3 When you want to emphasize an action itself and the doer of the action is
irrelevant or distracting:

The president was sworn in on a cold January morning.

How many people can remember off the top of their heads who swears in
presidents? Clearly the occasion of swearing in the commander in chief is the thing
to emphasize here. In each of the above contexts, the action itself—or the person or
thing receiving the action—is the part that matters. That means the performer of
the action can appear in a prepositional phrase or be absent from the sentence
altogether.

Creative ways to use the passive voice in writing

The above examples show some formal uses of the passive voice, but some writers
take advantage of the shift in emphasis it provides for other reasons. Here are
moments when the passive voice is a stylistic decision that suits the author’s
writing goals.
1 Avoid getting blamed There are times when you want to get away with
something without making it crystal-clear who’s at fault. The classic example:

“Mistakes were made.” —most politicians

Who made them? Is anyone taking responsibility? What’s the solution here? One
political scientist dubbed this structure the “past exonerative” because it’s meant to
exonerate a speaker from whatever foul they may have committed. In other words,
drop the subject, get off the hook.

2 Beat around the bush

Jane Austen is a master of poking fun at her characters so euphemistically that it

seems almost polite, and the passive voice is one of her favorite methods for doing
that.

“[He] pressed them so cordially to dine at Barton Park every day till they were
better settled at home that, though his entreaties were carried to a point of
perseverance beyond civility, they could not give offense.” —Jane Austen, Sense
and Sensibility

Austen could have rephrased this sentence like so:

“Though Mr. Middleton carried his entreaties to a point of perseverance beyond

civility, they could not give offense.”

Though maybe she means something closer to:

“Mr. Middleton pushed his invitations beyond the point of politeness and into
pushiness, but he still meant well.”

In cases like this, the passive voice allows for more polite phrasing, even if it’s also
a little less clear.
3 Make your reader pay more attention to the something

This is like the president getting sworn in: the thing that gets the action of the verb
is more important than the people performing the action.

“That treasure lying in its bed of coral, and the corpse of the commander floating
sideways on the bridge, were evoked by historians as an emblem of the city
drowned in memories.” —Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

Here, you could invert the sentence to say “Historians evoked that treasure (and so
on).” But that would take the focus away from that oh-so-intriguing treasure and
the corpse. And since the historians are less important here, the author makes the
choice to stress the key idea of the sentence through the passive voice.

Here’s another famous example that puts the emphasis on what happens to the
subject, instead of on what the subject is doing:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” —The Declaration of
Independence, 1776

“All men” (and these days, women, too) get boosted to the front of the phrase
because their equality and rights are the focus. It makes sense that a statement
declaring independence would focus on the people who get that independence,
after all.

So writers use it. Can you?

The above examples lean toward the literary side of things, but don’t forget that
there are times when the passive voice is useful and necessary in daily life. In each
of the sentences below, the passive voice is natural and clear. Rewriting these
sentences in the active voice renders them sterile, awkward, or syntactically
contorted. Passive: Bob Dylan was injured in a motorcycle accident. Active: A
motorcycle accident injured Bob Dylan. Passive: Elvis is rumored to be
alive. Active: People rumor Elvis to be alive. Passive: Don’t be
fooled! Active: Don’t allow anything to fool you!

Passive voice misuse

Sometimes what looks like passive voice isn’t passive voice at all. If you’re not
careful, even the most careful eye can mistake the following sentences for passive
voice.

Chester’s favorite activity is kicking. The bank robbery took place just before
closing time. There is nothing we can do about it. There were a great number of
dead leaves covering the ground.

Despite what any well-meaning English teachers may have told you, none of the
sentences above are written in the passive voice. The sentence about the leaves, in
fact, was (wrongly) presented as an example of the passive voice by none other
than Strunk and White in The Elements of Style. Here’s how to remember: using
the verb to be doesn’t automatically put a verb phrase into the passive voice. You
also need a past participle. That’s how to keep passive voice masqueraders from
fooling you.

The gist is summed up here:

 The passive voice isn’t a grammatical error; it’s a matter of style

 Use the active voice if it makes your sentence sound clearer and more natural

 Forming passive voice requires the verb “to be” and a past participle

 The passive voice is your friend when the thing receiving an action is the important
part of the sentence—especially in scientific and legal contexts, times when the
performer of an action is unknown, or cases where the subject is distracting or
irrelevant

 When it comes to good writing, don’t be passive—even if your sentences

sometimes need to be

How to make the Passive in English

We make the passive by putting the verb 'to be' into whatever tense we need and
then adding the past participle. For regular verbs, we make the past participle by
adding 'ed' to the infinitive. So play becomes played. Click here to learn about
irregular verbs.

Tense Active Passive

present simple I make a cake. A cake is made (by me).
present continuous I am making a cake. A cake is being made (by me).
past simple I made a cake. A cake was made (by me).
past continuous I was making a cake. A cake was being made (by me).
present perfect I have made a cake. A cake has been made (by me).
pres. perf. I have been making a A cake has been being made (by
continuous cake. me).
past perfect I had made a cake. A cake had been made (by me).
future simple I will make a cake. A cake will be made (by me).
future perfect I will have made a cake. A cake will have been made (by
 me).
Verbs with two objects
Some verbs that have two objects can make two different active sentences, and so
two different passive sentences too:

Give

 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.

Try an exercise about this here

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 cuddled.

 She would like to be promoted.

Use of active

The active voice is the "default" voice in English. All intransitive verbs can only be
in the active voice, and all transitive verbs usually are active voice - unless we
deliberately make them passive.
 In spoken English, we almost always use active voice. It is the natural choice, more
precise and generally shorter.

In written English, active voice is usually easier and more interesting for the
reader. Passive voice can sound dull and bureaucratic, and is typical of official
writing. In the interests of "plain English" that the average person can understand,
many governments now encourage civil servants to write in the active voice.

The active voice is:

 direct and specific

 uses fewer words - always a good thing
 dynamic

Except on occasions when the passive voice is actually useful, the active voice is
the voice of choice.

When should we use the Passive?

1. When we want to change the focus of the sentence:

o 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':
o He was arrested (obvious agent, the police).
o My bike has been stolen (unknown agent).
o The road is being repaired (unimportant agent).
o The form can be obtained from the post office (people in general).
3. In factual or scientific writing:
o 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):
o The brochure will be finished next month.
5. In order to put the new information at the end of the sentence to improve
style:
o 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:
o 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')

The get-passive

Although we normally construct the passive with be + past participle, it is also

possible (in informal language) to use get + past participle. So if France beat
England at football, we could turn this to passive and say "England were beaten by
France" (be-passive) or "England got beaten by France" (get-passive). And we
might also add: "But France will get thrashed by Russia."

For formal English and exams you should use the be-passive, but in informal
language people sometimes use the get-passive.

Forms of passive

The passive voice is not a tense itself. But for transitive verbs each tense, as well as
other verb forms such as infinitives and participles, can be produced in the passive
voice. Some of the more complicated tenses (mostly perfect continuous) are rarely
used in the passive, but they are possible.

Here are some examples of the passive voice with many of the possible forms
using the verb sing:

infinitive to be sung

perfect infinitive to have been sung

participle sung

perfect having been sung

participle
 Gerund being sung

Simple Continuous Perfect

Presen am, are, is sung am, are, is being sung have, has been sung
t

Past was, were sung was, were being sung had been sung

Future will be sung will be being sung will have been sung

Active and Passive Examples

The table below shows example sentences in active and passive voice for the basic
tenses as well as various other verb forms, including infinitives and participles.

active passive

Present Simple How does one pronounce his How is his name pronounced?
name?

Present Ati's helping Tara. Tara's being helped by Ati.

Continuous

Present Perfect Kid has served dinner. Dinner has been served.
Present Perfect The police have been That house has been being
Continuous watching that house for watched for weeks.
weeks.

Past Simple They didn't fix my phone My

yesterday. phone wasn't fixed yesterday.

Past They were interrogating him He was being

Continuous when I called. interrogated when I called.

Past Perfect I wondered why I wondered why I hadn't been

they hadn't invited me. invited.

Past Perfect She wasn't sure how long She wasn't sure how long she'd
Continuous they'd been following her. been being followed.*

Future Simple They will hang him at dawn. He will be hanged at dawn.

Future They won't be He won't be being

Continuous questioning him when you questioned when you get there.
get there.

Future Perfect They will have repaired your Your car will have been
 car by 7pm. repaired by 7pm.

Future Perfect They'll have been She'll have been being

Continuous treating her for exactly three treated for exactly three
months tomorrow. months tomorrow.*

infinitive I don't want anyone to I don't want to be disturbed.

disturb me.

perfect infitive They seem to have taken it. It seems to have been taken.

participle I saw the cat eating it. I saw it being eaten by the cat.

perfect Having finished my work, I My work having been finished,

participle went home. I went home.

Gerund I insisted on them paying me. I insisted on being paid.

going to Is he going to sing Thriller at Is Thriller going to be sung at

the party? the party?

used to Ram used to take care Everything used to be taken

of everything. care of by Ram.
 Can They can question him for He can be questioned for six
six hours. hours.

Could It could have badly hurt you. You could have

been badly hurt.

May The papers say they The papers say he may be

may release him. released.

Might Somebody might buy it. It might be bought.

Must Passengers must wear seat Seat belts must be worn.

belts.

Should You should have told me. I should have been told.

ought to They ought to forgive him. He ought to be forgiven.

*possible but rather awkward and therefore rare

Exercises:

1. Change the following sentences from active to passive !

1. The dentist pulled out my tooth.

My tooth by the dentist.

2. Who delivered that parcel ?

Who that parcel by ?

3. The police are questioning him now.

He now by the police

4. The waitress serves breakfast at 7 o’clock.

Breakfast at 7 o’clock by the waitress.

5. Who did they give the prize to?

Who the prize to ?

6. The news seemed to have shocked him.

He seemed by the news.

7. You should take these tablets before meals.

These tablets before meals.

8. The teacher has sent him out of the classroom.

He out of the classroom by the teacher.

9. You must wash coloured clothes separately.

Coloured clothes separately.

10.The mayor will open the new sports centre next month.

The new sports centre by the mayor next month.

11.Many parents influence their children strongly.

Children strongly by most parents.

12.They were pulling down the building when I walked by.

The building down when I walked by.

13.Somebody has stolen Jack's car recently.

Jack’s car recently.

 14.He expects people to show him more respect.

He expects more respect.

15.Has anyone collected the rubbish yet ?

the rubbish yet ?

16.Nobody has seen the Queen since July.

The Queen since July.

2. Fill in the PASSIVE form of the verb in the tense given.

1. The window . (OPEN - present perfect simple)

2. Her room when the roof fell in. (PAINT - past progressive)

3. She to the airport. (TAKE - past simple)

4. The bike . (REPAIR - present progressive)

5. The cat every morning. (FEED - present simple)

6. The novel a hundred years ago. (WRITE - past simple)

7. The new shop next week. (OPEN - future )

8. The food into the fridge. (MUST PUT - present simple)

9. The shoes yet. (NOT CLEAN - present perfect simple)

10.Most of the thieves . (CATCH - past perfect simple)

11.My sister a new job. (OFFER - future)

12.The tourist a map by the tour guide. (GIVE - past simple)

 13.All home work in by next Friday. (SHOULD HAND - present
simple)

14.The ceremony when we came . (ORGANIZE - past

progressive)

3. Complete the sentences using the correct form of the passive voice in the
correct tense!

1. The war next week (DECLARE).

2. Your homework by tomorrow afternoon. (MUST FINISH)

3. That house since I was a child. (NOT PAINT)

4. Smoking in this hotel (NOT ALLOW)

5. After all the flights the tourists checked in at the airport hotel.
(CANCEL)

6. The car for over a week (NOT WASH).

7. He a new contract last year (GIVE)

8. This song by the Beatles in 1967. (WRITE)

9. The earth if we try hard enough to do something (CAN SAVE)

10.The new bridge at the moment. (BUILD)

4. Fill in the correct tense. Use passive or active according to the context.
 1. When she heard that her dog (KILL), she burst into tears.

2. We hope that the missing money (FIND) soon.

3. A new bridge (BUILD) at the moment.

4. I didn’t go to the party because I (INVITE)

5. When she discovered that Tom (EAT) all the biscuits she got very
angry.

6. It’s no use trying. You (WASTE) your time.

7. Shakespeare (WRITE) many other plays apart from Hamlet.

8. A million people (VISIT) the cathedral every year.

9. John Higgins (AWARD) a science prize last month.

10.A lot of money (SPEND) on weapons nowadays.

5. Change the sentences from active to passive

1. Chelsea football team did not beat Tottenham.

Tottenham by Chelsea football team.

2. Did they recognise you ?

?
3. We deliver newspapers every day.

Newspapers every day.

4. Do you use recycled paper for your books ?

for your books ?

 5. They bring breakfast to your room at this hotel.

Breakfast to your room at this hotel.

6. Someone called you today at 3.30.

today at 3.30.
7. They don't teach Spanish at my school.

Spanish at my school.
8. They perform the play without an interval.

The play without an interval.

6. Use: am, is, are, was, were and a correct verb to complete the
sentences.

Rose by the snake.

Many cars in Japan.

The cinema by the police.

The work three times a day.

The pictures by Picasso.

The cheese by the mice.

These knives to cut up food.

They the question two times.

Our house in 1902.

Computers all over the world.

An ovation to the actors.

A bicycle from her garage.

7. Transform the following sentences in active voice into sentences in passive

voice in English. The sentences should be in the tense indicated by the words
in bold.
My car / damage / last night. past
My car last night.
2. This computer / make / in the USA. present
This computer in the USA.
3. The machines / make / in Scotland. present
The machine in Scotland.
4. The President / kill / last night. past
The President last night.
5. The money / change into dollars / at the bank. present
The money into dollars at the bank.
6. The parcel / post / yesterday. past
The parcel yesterday.
7. Cheese / make / from milk. present
Cheese from milk.
8. The children / give / some food. past
The children some food.
 9. The house / paint / every year. present
The house every year.
10. Several people / be hurt / in an accident last night. past
Several people in an accident last night.
11. This girl / expect / at home at ten. present
The girl at home at ten.
12. I /tell / that this was the best way. past
I that this was the best way.
13. The bed / sleep in / by the big dirty dog. past
The bed in by the big dirty dog.
14. My friend / follow / by many beautiful girls. past

My friend by many beautiful girls.

8. Write down the passive form of the verbs. Use the tense in brackets.

1. Paul (send) to prison. (Future tense)

2. My brother (just beat) in the race. (Present perfect)

3. He (tell) to wait outside. (Past tense)

4. I (not pay) for the work. (Past tense)

5. Policemen (often ask) the way. (Present tense)

6. Their lawn (cut) once a week. (Present tense)

7. We (ask) by the police. (Future tense)

8. The towels (not use). (Past tense)

9. The jewels (not sell) so far. (Present perfect)

10. They (teach) French. (Present tense)

11. The fire brigade (phone) soon after the fire had broken out. (Past

tense)

12. You (laugh) at if you talk such nonsense. (Future tense)

13. All the fruits (eat up) by the guests. (Past tense)

14. The email (answer) tomorrow. (Future tense)

15. The best cookies (sell) here. (Present tense)