Passive Voice

Passive Voice :

Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known, however, who or what is performing the action.
Example: My bike was stolen.
In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I do not know, however, who did it.
Sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than active voice, as the following example shows:
Example: A mistake was made.
In this case, I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame anyone (e.g. You have made a mistake.).

Form of Passive

Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle (3rd column of irregular verbs)
Example: A letter was written.
When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:
  • the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence
  • the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle)
  • the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped)

Examples of Passive:


TenseSubjectVerbObject
Simple PresentActive:Ritawritesa letter.
Passive:A letteris writtenby Rita.
Simple PastActive:Ritawrotea letter.
Passive:A letterwas writtenby Rita.
Present PerfectActive:Ritahas writtena letter.
Passive:A letterhas been writtenby Rita.
Future IActive:Ritawill writea letter.
Passive:A letterwill be writtenby Rita.
HilfsverbenActive:Ritacan writea letter.
Passive:A lettercan be writtenby Rita.
TenseSubjectVerbObject
Present ProgressiveActive:Ritais writinga letter.
Passive:A letteris being writtenby Rita.
Past ProgressiveActive:Ritawas writinga letter.
Passive:A letterwas being writtenby Rita.
Past PerfectActive:Ritahad writtena letter.
Passive:A letterhad been writtenby Rita.
Future IIActive:Ritawill have writtena letter.
Passive:A letterwill have been writtenby Rita.
Conditional IActive:Ritawould writea letter.
Passive:A letterwould be writtenby Rita.
Conditional IIActive:Ritawould have writtena letter.
Passive:A letterwould have been writtenby Rita.

Passive Sentences with Two Objects  :

Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that one of the two objects becomes the subject, the other one remains an object. Which object to transform into a subject depends on what you want to put the focus on.
SubjectVerbObject 1Object 2
Active:Ritawrotea letterto me.
Passive:A letterwas writtento meby Rita.
Passive:Iwas writtena letterby Rita.
As you can see in the examples, adding by Rita does not sound very elegant. Thats why it is usually dropped.

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