Passive Voice

Everybody drinks water.
Water is drunk by everybody.

"Voice" is a grammatical category that applies to verbs. Voice in English expresses the relationship of the subject to the action. Voice has two values:

• active: the subject does the action
• passive: the subject receives the action

Shakespeare	wrote	Hamlet.
		Hamlet	was written	by	Shakespeare.

The active voice is the "normal" voice - the one that we use most of the time. In the active voice, the object receives the action of the verb:

active	subject	verb	object
		→
	Cats	eat	mice.

The passive voice is less common. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb:

passive	subject	verb	object
	←
	Mice	are eaten	by cats.

See how the object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb:

	subject	verb	object
active	Everybody	drinks	water.
passive	Water	is drunk	by everybody.

Active Voice

Cats eat mice.

The active voice is the "normal" voice of an English sentence. Intransitive verbs (verbs with no direct object) are always in the active voice. Transitive verbs are usually in the active voice:

subject	verb
Johnny	laughed.
Anton	got up	late.
People	drink	water.

In the active voice, the subject is the person or thing responsible for the action of the verb.

All tenses are possible in the active voice, as well as all sentence types, positive, negative or question.

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.

Passive Voice

Mice are eaten by cats.

Although the passive voice is less common than the active voice, there are several good reasons to sometimes use the passive. On this page we look at how to construct the passive voice and when and why to use it.

How do we make the passive?

The basic structure of a passive clause is very simple:

subject	+	auxiliary verb be	+	main verb past participle	+	by	+	agent
					optional

The auxiliary be is conjugated in all tenses. The main verb is always the past participle. The agent is the original "doer" of the action.

Look at some examples:

subject	auxiliary verb be	main verb past participle	by
I	am	employed	by	Apple.
You	will be	woken		at 6.
It	will have been	finished		by then.
We	have been	notified	by	Head Office.
You	are being	transferred		next week.
They	will be	paid.

Notice above↑:

• auxiliary be can be conjugated for all persons and tenses
• main verb is invariable: past participle
• if there is an agent (Apple, Head Office), it is introduced by by

Agentless passive

The subject of an active sentence "does" the action. In a passive sentence, we express the doer (or agent) through a by phrase (the long passive) or, very often, we remove it completely (the short passive). In the following example, the agent is "the Allies":

active		The Allies firebombed Dresden.
passive	long	Dresden was firebombed by the Allies.
	short	Dresden was firebombed.

The short passive is also known as the "agentless passive". Soon you will see how useful it can be.

Negatives and questions

The table below shows examples of the passive with negative sentences, question sentences and negative-question sentences:

		subject			auxiliary verb be		main verb past participle
-		You			are	not	paid	to watch YouTube.
		They	will	never	be		employed	by us.
?	Are	they					cleaned	regularly?
	Has	your wallet			been		stolen?
-?	Is	he				not	notified	immediately?
	Will	they		not	be		dismissed?
	Haven't	they			been		forgotten?

Notice above↑:

• position of auxiliary be or first auxiliary for questions
• possible positions of not, n't, never to create negation

Use of the passive

When and why do we use passive voice?

There are several times when the passive voice is useful, and usually the decision has to do with the "doer" (agent) or the "receiver" of the action. For example, we use the passive when:

1. we want to emphasize the receiver of the action:

• President Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.
  cf: Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy.

2. we don't know who did the action (the agent):

• My wallet has been stolen.
  cf: Somebody has stolen my wallet.

3. we think the agent is not important or interesting:

• Our house is being painted.cf: XYZ Company is painting our house.

4. the agent is obvious:

• I am paid weekly.cf: My company pays me weekly.

5. we are making general statements or announcements:

• Passengers are reminded to fasten their seatbelts.cf: The Captain reminds passengers to fasten their seatbelts.

6. the agent is everyone:

• The emergency services can be called by dialling 999.
  cf: The public can call the emergency services by dialling 999.

7. we are writing formal or scientific texts:

• Potassium was added and mixed in. The solution was heated to 80°C and then allowed to cool.cf: The technician added potassium and mixed it in. The technician heated the solution to 80°C and then allowed it to cool.

8. we want to avoid responsibility for our own actions (typically found in government reports):

• Mistakes were made and unfortunately never rectified.
  cf: The Prime Minister made mistakes and unfortunately never rectified them.

Look at this sentence:

• He was killed with a gun.

Normally we use by to introduce the agent. But the gun is not the original doer of the action. The gun did not kill him. He was killed by somebody with a gun. In the active voice, it would be: Somebody killed him with a gun. Somebody is the agent. The gun is the instrument.

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 participle	having been sung
gerund	being sung

	Simple	Continuous	Perfect
Present	am, are, is sung	am, are, is being sung	have, has been sung
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 name?	How is his name pronounced?
Present Continuous	Ati's helping Tara.	Tara's being helped by Ati.
Present Perfect	Kid has served dinner.	Dinner has been served.
Present Perfect Continuous	The police have been watching that house for weeks.	That house has been being watched for weeks.
Past Simple	They didn't fix my phone yesterday.	My phone wasn't fixed yesterday.
Past Continuous	They were interrogating him when I called.	He was being interrogated when I called.
Past Perfect	I wondered why they hadn't invited me.	I wondered why I hadn't been invited.
Past Perfect Continuous	She wasn't sure how long they'd been following her.	She wasn't sure how long she'd been being followed.*
Future Simple	They will hang him at dawn.	He will be hanged at dawn.
Future Continuous	They won't be questioning him when you get there.	He won't be being questioned when you get there.
Future Perfect	They will have repaired your car by 7pm.	Your car will have been repaired by 7pm.
Future Perfect Continuous	They'll have been treating her for exactly three months tomorrow.	She'll have been being treated for exactly three months tomorrow.*
infinitive	I dont want anyone to disturb me.	I don't want to be disturbed.
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 participle	Having finished my work, I went home.	My work having been finished, I went home.
gerund	I insisted on them paying me.	I insisted on being paid.
going to	Is he going to sing Thriller at the party?	Is Thriller going to be sung at the party?
used to	Ram used to take care of everything.	Everything used to be taken care of by Ram.
can	They can question him for six hours.	He can be questioned for six hours.
could	It could have badly hurt you.	You could have been badly hurt.
may	The papers say they may release him.	The papers say he may be released.
might	Somebody might buy it.	It might be bought.
must	Passengers must wear seat belts.	Seat belts must be worn.
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

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