Passive Voice

Everyone drinks water.

Water is drunk by everyone.

"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:

activ subject verb object

e

  →

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.

passiv Water is by everybody.

e drunk

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 + main verb + b + agent

verb past y
be participle

  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:

subjec auxiliary main verb b  

t verb be past y
participle

I am employed by Apple.

You will be woken   at 6.

It will have been finished   by then.

 subjec auxiliary main verb b  
t verb be past y
participle

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   main verb  

verb past
be participle

-   You     are not paid to watch

YouTube.

  They wil never be   employed by us.

l

? Are they         cleaned regularly?

Has your     been   stolen?  

wallet

- 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 am, are, is being sung have, has been sung
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 How does How is his

Simple one pronounce his name pronounced?
name?

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

Continuous

Present Kid has served dinner. Dinner has been served.

Perfect

Present The police have been That house has been being

Perfect watching that house for watched for weeks.
Continuous weeks.

Past Simple They didn't fix my phone My

yesterday. phone wasn't fixed yesterday
.

Past They were He was being

Continuous interrogating him when I interrogated when I called.
called.

Past Perfect I wondered why I wondered why

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

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

dawn.

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

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

Future They will have Your car will have been

Perfect repaired your car by 7pm. repaired by 7pm.

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

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

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

disturb me.

perfect infitiv They seem to have It seems to have been taken.

e taken it.

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

cat.
perfect Having finished my work, My work having been
participle I went home. finished, I went home.

gerund I insisted on I insisted on being paid.

them paying me.

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

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 You could have

could have badly hurt you 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 Seat belts must be worn.

must wear seat belts.
 should You should have told me. I should have been told.

ought to They ought to He ought to be forgiven.

forgive him.

*possible but rather awkward and therefore rare