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Passive voice verbs are used in writing much more often than in speech, and they
are used in some types of writing much more often than in others. Passives are used
more in journalism (newspapers, magazines) than in fiction (novels, stories), but
most journalists and fiction writers use far more active than passive sentences.
However, passives are very common in all types of scientific and technical writing.
Scientific articles often contain more passive than active sentences. You should not
use passive voice verbs unless you have a good reason.
C. You should not use passive voice unless you have a good reason.
Here are some good reasons for using passive voice:
1. Passive voice is often used when the agent (the doer of an action; the subject of
an active verb) is obvious, unknown, or unnecessary:
Oranges are grown in California.
Toyotas are made in Japan.
Her purse was stolen.
2. Passive voice is often used when the agent is known, but the speaker/writer
doesnt want to mention it:
She was given bad advice.
A mistake has been made.
3. Passive voice is often used when the agent is very general such as people or
somebody.
English is spoken here.
The door should be locked.
4. Passive voice is often used when the speaker/writer wants to emphasize a result:
Several thousand people were killed by the earthquake.
5. Passive voice is often used when the speaker/writer wants to keep the same
subject for two or more verbs but this would not be possible if both verbs were the
same voice (active or passive).
For example, in a conversation about George, a speaker would probably use
sentence a below rather than sentence b (both sentences are correct).
a. George had several interviews before he was hired by a software company.
b. George had several interviews before a software company hired him.
Passive Sentences
Avoid Passive Sentences when possible.
Active sentences:
Passive sentences:
Official/ impersonal
any tense/ time
focus on the thing
Here the focus is on cars -- not who makes them and that is
appropriate here.
Subject
Singular
Plural
Past
Participle
Present
The car/cars is
are
designed.
Present perfect
have been
designed.
Past
were
designed.
Past perfect
had been
designed.
Future
will be
designed.
Future perfect
designed.
Present progressive
are being
designed.
Past progressive
were being
designed
Use of Passive
Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not
known, however, who or what is performing the action.
In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I do not
know, however, who did it.
Sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than active voice, as the following
example shows:
In this case, I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame anyone
(e.g. You have made a mistake.).
Form of Passive
Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle (3rd column of irregular verbs)
the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence
the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle)
the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence
(or is dropped)
Examples of Passive
Tense
Simple
Present
Simple Past
Present
Perfect
Future I
Hilfsverben
Subject
Verb
Object
writes
a letter.
Active:
Rita
Passive
:
A letter
is written
by Rita.
Active:
Rita
wrote
a letter.
Passive
:
A letter
was written
by Rita.
Active:
Rita
has written
a letter.
Passive
:
A letter
by Rita.
Active:
Rita
will write
a letter.
Passive
:
A letter
will be written
by Rita.
Active:
Rita
can write
a letter.
Passive
:
A letter
can be written
by Rita.
Examples of Passive
Tense
Present
Progressive
Past
Progressive
Past Perfect
Future II
Conditional I
Conditional II
Subject
Verb
Object
is writing
a letter.
Active:
Rita
Passive
:
A letter
is being written
by Rita.
Active:
Rita
was writing
a letter.
Passive
:
A letter
by Rita.
Active:
Rita
had written
a letter.
Passive
:
A letter
by Rita.
Active:
Rita
a letter.
Passive
:
A letter
by Rita.
Active:
Rita
would write
a letter.
Passive
:
A letter
would be written
by Rita.
Active:
Rita
a letter.
Passive
:
A letter
by Rita.
Active:
Rita
Passive:
A letter
Verb
Object 1
Object 2
wrote
a letter
to me.
was written
to me
by Rita.
Passive:
was written
a letter
by Rita.
.
As you can see in the examples, adding by Rita does not sound very elegant. Thats
why it is usually dropped