ID-1102

What is passive voice?

The passive voice consists on a form of the verb to

be, and the past participle.

Example:
object verb agent

The boy was helped by Mary.

 Using the passive

Look at the following examples:

agent verb object

Active: Mary helped the boy.

Passive: the boy was helped by Mary.

object verb agent

In the passive, the object of an active voice becomes the

subject of the passive verb.
When do we use the passive voice?
We use the passive when we are more interested in the
action than the agent of the action. This happens because:

 We don’t know the agent.

Example: my camera was stolen yesterday. (=I don’t know
who stole it).
When the agent is obvious, we normally omit it.
Example: Charles has been arrested [by the police]
 The agent is not relevant.
Example: The school is cleaned every day. (=it doesn’t matter
who cleans it. It could be different people every day.)
When the agent is relevant or important, we use by+ agent at
the end of the sentence.
Example: Hamlet was written by Shakespeare.

 The subject is something that is not an agent.

Example: Television was invented in the 20th century.
The radio was invented by Marconi
• We also use the passive voice with a personal subject when
the subject is not the agent of the action.

Examples:
John was given a digital camera (= John is not the agent
here: he did not give anything. He received –was given- a
digital camera)

Models are paid a lot of money. (=Models are not the agents
here: they do not pay any money. They receive it – are paid.)
 Form
 We form the passive voice with be +past participle.
Passive Form Example
Present is/ are + past participle The iPod is manufactured by Apple
simple
Present is/ are + being +past participle That song is being played the whole day.
continuous

Past was/were + past participle The iPod was launched in 2002

simple
Past was/ were + being +past participle The doors were being painted before
continuous Christmas.
Will will+ be+ past participle The boxes will be delivered tomorrow.

Going to is/ are + going to be +past participle A new agreement is going to be signed
tomorrow.
Present has/have been + past participle Thousands of gyms have been opened all
perfect over the world.
Past Perfect had+ past participle The decision had already been made
before the meeting.
References
 Collier Macmillan English Program (1980). A Practical
English Grammar. USA: Macmillan.
 Palencia del Burgo, R. (2009) Tune in Language Reference.
Mexico: Richmond.
 Scharampfer, B. (1999). Understanding and using English
Grammar. (3rd ed.) New Jersey: Pearson Education.