PASSIVE VOICE

THE PASSIVE VOICE

(explanations, grammar rules, and examples)

The Purpose of Passive Voice

Passive Voice is used:

1.    when the doer of an action is not known

2.    when the object of an action is the emphasis

Example:

1.    The window has been broken. Who has broken it?

In this case, we do not know who broke the window. So, the doer is not known. Instead of starting the sentence with ‘somebody’, (Somebody has broken the window.), we can also start the sentence with the supposed object too (the window).

2.    This murderous killer was sentenced a life’s imprisonment.

In this case, we do not care about who made the judgment. Instead, our emphasis is put on the murderous killer. So we start the sentence with ‘the killer’ in order to stand out our focus concerned.

Passive Voice Formation

auxiliary verb to be + Past Participle

A passive verb form is made with the auxiliary verb to be (in the different tenses) and the past participle of the main verb.

Note: The Continuous form of The Present Perfect, Past Perfect, Future, and Future Perfect are very rarely used in the passive.

The subject of a passive verb is usually the person or the thing that is affected by the action of the verb.

Compare:

Shakespeare wrote that play. (Active) → That play was written by Shakespeare. (Passive)

Structural Patterns

1.    Subject + Predicate (auxiliary verb 'to be' + Past Participle) + Adverbial Modifier

Example: The car was sold yesterday.

2.    Subject + Predicate (auxiliary verb 'to be' + Past Participle) + by + Object

Example: The car was bought by my husband.

By-Phrases

(by + agent)

The noun or pronoun following the preposition 'by' is called 'the agent'.

The agent in a passive sentence is the same person or thing as the subject of an active sentence.

Leonardo da Vinci (SUBJECT) painted Mona Liza. → "Mona Liza" was painted by Leonardo da Vinci. (AGENT)

Note: The agent is only expressed when it is important to say who or what something is done by. In most passive sentences, there is no agent; example:

·         He was met at the airport.

·         He was shot yesterday.

·         A new bridge has just been built.

The by-phrase describing the agent should not be confused with a phrase beginning with ‘with’ which describes what is used to carry out the action of the verb. The noun following the preposition 'with' is called the "instrument". Example: He was shot with a revolver. (instrument)

Verbs with two objects in Passive

A lot of verbs, such us 'give', 'show', 'send', can be followed by two objects, which usually refer to a person and a thing.

She gave me [1] a nice present [2] yesterday.

When these verbs are used in the passive voice, there are two possibilities:

1.    A nice present was given to me [1] (by her) yesterday.

2.    I was given a nice present [2] (by her).

Verbs which cannot be used in the passive

Not all verbs can have passive forms. Intransitive verbs (like 'die', 'go', 'arrive') cannot become passive; they have no objects, and so there is nothing to become the subject of a passive sentence.

The transitive verb 'have', in the sense of 'to own' or 'to possess', cannot be made passive.

Example: Sam had a new car. (But not: A new car was had by Sam.)

Other transitive verbs that are not used in the passive are 'stative' verbs (verbs which refer to states, not actions). Examples: 'lack', 'resemble', 'suit', 'fit'. Most of them have no continuous (or progressive) forms, at least in certain of their meaning.

Note:

The verb and particle of a phrasal verb stand together in a passive construction, even if are separated in the corresponding active construction:

·         They always laugh at her. (Active) → She is always laughed at. (Passive)

·         The scandal brought the government down. (Active)→ The government was brought down by the scandal. (Passive)