Passive Voice
There
are two voices in English, the active and the passive. The active tells us what
the subject does, for example:
- The secretary wrote a letter.
The passive tells us what is done to the subject. For example:
- The letter was written by the secretary.
- The secretary wrote a letter.
The passive tells us what is done to the subject. For example:
- The letter was written by the secretary.
I. Form
The
passive is made with the verb "to be" and the past participle. Here
are the main English tenses used in the passive voice.
II. How to construct the
passive:
1. Check to see if the active sentence contains an object.
John ate an apple. (S V
O) Passive is
possible. John ate yesterday. (S V) Passive is not possible.
2. Move the object to the front of the sentence. Put the original subject in a “by” phrase.
An apple (V) by John.
3. Put the verb in the form “be” +V3 (of main verb)
An apple “be” eaten by John.
4. Put the “be” in the same tense as the original active sentence.
An apple was/were eaten by John. (Past tense)
5. Make the first verb agree with the new subject.
An apple was eaten by John.
|
tense
|
Active
|
passive
|
|
I make
a cake
|
A cake is
made (by me)
|
|
|
I am making
a cake
|
A cake is
being made (by me)
|
|
|
I made
a cake
|
A cake was
made (by me)
|
|
|
I was making
a cake
|
A cake was
being made (by me)
|
|
|
I have made
a cake
|
A cake has
been made (by me)
|
|
|
I have been making
a cake
|
A cake has
been being made (by me)
|
|
|
I had made
a cake
|
A cake had
been made (by me)
|
|
|
I will make
a cake
|
A cake will
be made (by me)
|
|
|
I will have made
a cake
|
A cake will
have been made (by me)
|
By
To state what the cause
of a passive action is, you can use by. For example:
- This photo was taken by my friend.
- I was given this by my brother.
- This photo was taken by my friend.
- I was given this by my brother.
It is often not
necessary to state the cause of a passive action, especially when clearly understood
or irrelevant. For example:
- The meeting was cancelled. (The meeting's cancellation is what is important, not who cancelled it.)
- These boots were made in Italy. (The fact they were made in Italy is what's important, not who made them.)
- The meeting was cancelled. (The meeting's cancellation is what is important, not who cancelled it.)
- These boots were made in Italy. (The fact they were made in Italy is what's important, not who made them.)
Born
When talking abuts the
birth of specific people of things we use the passive form "to be
born". For example:
- I was born in Iran.
- The twins were born just last year.
- I was born in Iran.
- The twins were born just last year.
Get
Get can be used instead of to be in situations where
something happens. For example:
- Our flight got cancelled = Our flight was cancelled.
- I got paid today = I was paid today.
- Our flight got cancelled = Our flight was cancelled.
- I got paid today = I was paid today.
Get can't be used with general situations and state verbs (verbs that express a state, not an action). For example:
- He is liked by a lot of people. - OK
- He
- She is known to be a hard-working employee. - OK
- She
Get is used more often in informal English.
III. Verbs with two objects
Some verbs that have two objects can make two different passive sentences: For example: ‘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, ...
IV. 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 in the 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')
V.
Passives, causatives and get
We use passive forms
for reasons of style and of clarity, as well as of meaning. Mostly the rules of
passive formation are straightforward, but it needs to be noted that certain
words and structures cannot be used in the passive. Related to the use of forms
of be in the passive are the causative uses of have and get and the informal
passive use of get.
1. PASSIVE FORMS
1A. Basic patterns
1B. Passive verb forms
1C. He/It was said ...
1D. Verbs not used in the passive
1E. Passives with get
2. PASSIVE –ING FORMS AND INFINITIVES
2A. Passive –ing forms
2B. Passive infinitives
3. HAVE/GET + OBJECT + PAST PARTICIPLE
3A. Causative use
3B. Passive use
3C. Commands and promises
4. USES OF THE PASSIVE
4A. Information order
4B. The 'unimportant' agent
4C. Not mentioning the agent
4D. Focusing on issues
1 PASSIVE FORMS
1A. Basic patterns
The subject of an
active very (e.g. the judge) can be the agent of a passive verb. We often don't
mention the agent in the passive, but if we do it is introduced with by:
-
The
judge will read out the names of the winners in alphabetical order.
-
The
names of the winners will be read out in alphabetical order (by the
judge).
==> Notice that the object of the active verb (e.g. the names of
the winners) is the subject of the passive verb.
!
Verbs with no direct object (intransitive verbs) cannot be used in the
passive:
X The
post has been arrived. (passive)
> The
post has arrived. (active)
==> Some verbs have two objects, e.g.
-
The
manager offered the customer a refund.
==> Either object can be the subject of the passive verb:
-
The
customer was offered a refund.
-
or
A refund was offered to the customer.
==> Note that if the object of the passive verb is the indirect
object of the active verb (the customer) it is usually introduced with a preposition
(e.g. to the customer).
1B. Passive verb forms
We make the passive
form of verbs in all tenses by using be in the appropriate tense plus the past
participle of the main verb:
-
My
bag was stolen.(= A thief stole my bag.)
-
The
murder is being investigated. (= The police are investigating the murder.)
Note these
comparisons of active and passive forms:
! We avoid using the passive of the perfect
continuous tenses. We prefer to use an active form and an impersonal subject,
e.g. they/one.
x By next month the murder will have been being investigated
for over a year.
> By next month they will have been
investigating the murder for over a year.
!
We usually avoid repeating the same passive auxiliary forms (13.1A) in a
sentence:
-
[The
contracts have been signed and have been dated in front of two witnesses.]
> The contracts have
been signed and dated in front of two witnesses.
1C. He/It was said ...
When we are reporting
speech (e.g. The press said he was innocent) and we don’t want to mention the
person whose words are being reported, or we want to describe an impersonal or
general feeling, we can use a passive form of the reporting verb. There are two
patterns:
* Subject + passive verb + to + infinitive:
-
He
was said to be innocent.
-
He
was asked to leave.
*
•It +
passive verb + that clause:
-
It
was said that he was innocent.
==> We use the same pattern with it
when reporting decisions and general feelings:
-
It
was decided/agreed/felt that it would be too costly to take the case to
trial.
==> We use these passive patterns as
an alternative to using an ‘empty’ subject like they:
- They said he was innocent.
1D. Verbs not used in the passive
Certain verbs
describing states, such as have (= own), be, belong, lack, resemble and seem, cannot
be made passive:
x A Ferrari is had by John.
> John
has a Ferrari. (state)
==> These verbs cannot be used in the
passive even when they describe and action:
x Lunch is being had by John.
> John's
having lunch.
==> But the passive can describe a
state which is the result of an action. The meaning is similar to an -ed
participle adjective:
-
He
went to the payphone to make a call but the phone was broken.
--> (Somebody had already broken the phone; it was a ‘broken’
phone.)
==> Verbs followed by to +
infinitive usually cannot be made passive:
x Your questions are refused to answer.
> I
refuse to answer your questions.
==> Verbs of wanting and liking, e.g.
want, love, hate + object + infinitive cannot be made passive:
x He was wanted to leave.
> She
wanted him to leave.
1E. Passives with get
In informal English,
get can be used as an alternative to be in passive forms which describe
actions. We often use get to describe an unusual or unexpected action:
-
‘How
did he get hurt?’ (= How was he hurt?)
-
‘His
hand got trapped in the car door.’ (= His hand was trapped …)
! We cannot use get to
describe states:
x That house gets owned by my uncle.
> That
house is owned by my uncle. (state)
2 PASSIVE –ING
FORMS AND INFINITIVES
6.2A
Passive –ing forms
We can use -ing forms in the passive, as shown here:
We can use having been + past
participle and being + past participle to refer to the past after certain verbs
which are followed by an -ing form, e.g. regret, remember:
- We regret not having been
shown/not being shown the Acropolis. (= We regret the fact that the tour
guide didn’t show us the Acropolis.)
- I remember having been
informed/being informed about the assault. (= I remember that I was
informed about the assault.)
2B.
Passive infinitives
Infinitives
can be passive
v to be + past participle:
-
His
dog loves to be patted and made a fuss of.
-
To
be given the role
of Titania was Elizabeth?s
greatest ambition.
-
James
was hoping to be accepted on the engineering course.
There
is a perfect form:
v to have been + past participle:
-
This
ascent is the first to have been achieved without the aid of oxygen.
==> We use the passive infinitive in
reported speech with ask for + object.
-
Inspector
Pascoe asked for the prisoners to be held in the cells overnight.
==> We can use the passive infinitive
(or an active -ing form) after need.
- That cage really needs to be
cleaned. (= That cage really needs cleaning.)
3 HAVE/GET + OBJECT + PAST
PARTICIPLE
3A . Causative use
We use this pattern to describe
something which is done for the subject by someone else. We can use it in all
tenses. Get is usually more informal than have:
-
I
had the washing machine repaired yesterday. (= The washing machine was
repaired by an engineer.)
-
Do
you get your hair done at Ebony’s? (= Is your hair done at Ebony’s?)
There is an ‘active’
version of this pattern with have and get which means ‘cause someone to do
something’. The form with have is more common in US English:
v Have + object + infinitive:
-
I
had the mechanic repair my washing machine.
v Get + object + to + infinitive:
-
I
will get the hairdresser to do my hair this afternoon.
In British English we
can use the get + object + to + infinitive pattern with a stronger meaning of
‘make someone do something’:
-
After
numerous letters from our solicitor we finally got them to give us a
refund.
3B. Passive use
We can also use the
pattern of have/get + object + past participle like a passive to describe
something which is done to the subject by someone else, often something
unpleasant or unexpected:
-
Liz
had her passport stolen. (= Her passport was stolen.)
-
John
got his tyres slashed by some hooligans.
-
Out
of the blue, Mark had his plan approved by the board yesterday.
3C. Commands and promises
We can use the causative in
imperatives. Here it can be the person spoken to or someone else who will do
the action:
-
Have/Get
that mess cleaned up
at once!
==> We can use the causative in future
statements as commands or promises. Here it can be the subject of the sentence
or someone else who will do the action:
- Don’t worry. I’ll have the report
finished before the board meeting. (= I will do it or I will get it done.)
4.
USES OF THE PASSIVE
4A. Information order
If the subject of a verb is new
information, we often make the verb passive so that the new information comes
at the end. For example, in the second sentence below, the new information is
Picasso and 1937:
-
[‘Guernica’ is a wonderful
example of cubist art. In 1937 Picasso painted it.]
==> In order to put this new
information at the end we make the verb painted passive:
-
‘Guernica’ is a wonderful
example of cubist art. It was painted by Picasso in 1937.
==> If the subject of a verb is a long
phrase or clause, we often make the sentence passive so that the long clause
comes at the end:
-
[The
huge orange sun sinking slowly below the horizon delighted her.]
-
She
was delighted by the huge orange sun sinking slowly below the horizon.
4B. The 'unimportant' agent
We often use the passive:
==> when the agent (the person or
thing which causes an action) is not known:
-
She
was murdered. (We don’t know who did it.)
==> when the agent is obvious from the
context or from general knowledge:
-
She
has been sacked. (obviously by her employer)
==> when the agent is not important or
relevant:
-
Wars
have been fought throughout history. (Who fought them is not important
here.)
4C. Not mentioning the agent
We use the passive when we wish to
avoid mentioning the agent (for example, when we don’t want to directly blame
any specific person, or we want to avoid personal responsibility):
-
I
see the washing-up hasn’t been done.
-
Oh
dear, look, the vase has been broken.
-
Don’t
blame me. Nothing can be done about it.
By omitting the agent we can
describe general feelings, opinions or beliefs rather than those of a
particular person or group:
-
São Paulo is said to be the fastest-growing city in South America.
-
Rio de Janeiro has been described as the most beautiful city in the Americas.
4D. Focusing on issues
The passive is often used in formal
English to:
==> focus on the issues rather than on
the people involved (this is very common in academic and scientific English):
-
The
research was carried out over a period of six months.
==> describe rules and procedures:
-
Answers
must be written in ink.
-
Candidates
will be interviewed in alphabetical order.
==> describe commercial, industrial
and scientific processes:
-
Minutes
are taken and then submitted to the chair for approval.
-
Components
are electronically tagged and transported to the
production line.
==> describe historical, economic and
social processes:
-
Tribal
lands were sold over a period of fifty years.
-
The
currency has been devalued twice since the war.
(X=incorrect, >=correct)
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