Definitions and Examples of Passivization in

English
Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms
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 Through the process of passivization, the active sentence "Pip ate the last sardine" becomes
"The last sardine was eaten by Pip".
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English
 English Grammar
o An Introduction to Punctuation
 Writing
By 
Richard Nordquist
Updated June 23, 2020

In English grammar, passivization is the transformation of a sentence from

an active form to a passive form. Passivization is also known as raising. The
alternate (chiefly British) spelling is passivisation.

Through the process of passivization, the direct object of an active declarative

sentence can become the subject of a passive sentence.

The opposite of passivization is activization. Both terms were coined by

linguist Noam Chomsky.

How to Use Passivization

In order to understand passivization, it is helpful to view examples from a variety
of texts.

"Passivisation ... keeps together those units or bits of language that form a

constituent. The passive counterpart of an active clause usually contains a form of
be and a past participle: (i) The man in the service station was seen by Muriel.
(ii) The man was seen by Muriel in the service station." (Angela Downing and
Philip Locke, A University Course in English Grammar. Routledge, 2002)

"Passivisation allows you to leave out the Actor in Material processes,

Experiencer in Mental processes, and Sayer (speaker) in Verbal process clauses:

Material: Poachers killed the elephant - the elephant was killed

Mental: Rangers noticed the vultures - the vultures were noticed
Verbal: The marksmen told the poacher to freeze - the poacher was told to freeze

[S]ometimes this enables newspapers, for instance, to protect sources by omitting

the sayer, or to retail their own opinions as though they were someone else's: e.g.
'It is widely believed the BJP will not survive the confidence vote in the Indian
Parliament.' ... the omission of an Actor will avoid apportioning blame or
responsibility." (Andrew Goatly, Critical Reading and Writing: An Introductory
Coursebook. Routledge, 2000)

Passivization and Meaning

"[S]ome early critical linguists tend to posit a direct and automatic connection
between surface linguistic form and underlying ideological meaning. For
instance, passivization or nominalization would be seen as necessarily expressive
of reader obfuscation. In fact, however, passivization and nominalization have no
such intrinsic meaning; an utterance which contains a passive or nominalized
structure only has a meaning-in-context, as constructed by each individual hearer
or reader. Meaning is always the result of a particular reader's inferential
processing." (Jean J. Weber, Critical Analysis of Fiction: Essays in Discourse
Stylistics. Rodopi, 1992)

"[W]hile Tom kicked the

bucket is ambiguous between literal and idiomatic interpretations, The bucket
was kicked by Tom (traditionally derived by passivisation) and The bucket Tom
kicked (derived by thematic fronting) allow only the literal interpretation. Note,
however, that there is some variation in the extent to which
such syntactic processes are inapplicable to sentences containing idioms:
passive The hatchet was finally buried, for example, has the same ambiguity as
active They finally buried the hatchet (though the version with thematic
fronting, The hatchet they finally buried, does not here have the idiomatic
interpretation.)" (Rodney Huddleston, Introduction to the Grammar of English.
Cambridge University Press, 1984)

"While accepting that passivization entails a difference in perspective on a given

state of affairs, Standard Functional Grammar emphasizes that the given state of
affairs as well as its argument structure remains intact. The nuclear predicate (to
be realized by the 'main verb') retains its original argument structure in the
underlying representation." (Louis Goosens, "Passivization As a Turning
Point." Thinking English Grammar, ed. by Guy A. J. Tops, Betty Devriendt, and
Steven Geukens. Peeters, 1999)

Restrictions on Passivization
"Not all verbs allow passivization to the same extent, as (57) shows.

(57) Tony likes films with lots of gratuitous violence. > Films with lots of
gratuitous violence are liked (by Tony).

The NP following the verb in the active version of (57) cannot become the Subject
of a passive clause. The same is true for the postverbal NP in (58) and (59), which
contain the verbs suit and cost:

(58) That beret does not suit you, you know. > You are not suited by that beret,
you know.

(59) Your private sight test costs £9. > £9 is cost by your private eye test.

Note also that certain types of Direct Object, for example, NPs headed
by reflexive pronouns, cannot become the Subjects of passive clauses.

(60) He scarcely knew himself. > Himself was scarcely known by him."

(Bas Aarts, Oxford Modern English Grammar. Oxford University Press, 2011)