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Passive Voice



PASSIVE VOICE


v  Use of Passive

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.).

v  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 :

Tense
Subject
Verb
Object
Simple Present
Active:
Rita
writes
a letter.
Passive:
A letter
is written
by Rita.
Simple Past
Active:
Rita
wrote
a letter.
Passive:
A letter
was written
by Rita.
Present Perfect
Active:
Rita
has written
a letter.
Passive:
A letter
has been written
by Rita.
Future I
Active:
Rita
will write
a letter.
Passive:
A letter
will be written
by Rita.
Hilfsverben
Active:
Rita
can write
a letter.
Passive:
A letter
can be written
by Rita.
Examples of Passive :

Tense
Subject
Verb
Object
Present Progressive
Active:
Rita
is writing
a letter.
Passive:
A letter
is being written
by Rita.
Past Progressive
Active:
Rita
was writing
a letter.
Passive:
A letter
was being written
by Rita.
Past Perfect
Active:
Rita
had written
a letter.
Passive:
A letter
had been written
by Rita.
Future II
Active:
Rita
will have written
a letter.
Passive:
A letter
will have been written
by Rita.
Conditional I
Active:
Rita
would write
a letter.
Passive:
A letter
would be written
by Rita.
Conditional II
Active:
Rita
would have written
a letter.
Passive:
A letter
would have been written
by Rita.



v  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.


Subject
Verb
Object 1
Object 2
Active:
Rita
wrote
a letter
to me.
Passive:
A letter
was written
to me
by Rita.
Passive:
I
was written
a letter
by Rita.
.
As you can see in the examples, adding by Rita does not sound very elegant. That’s why it is usually dropped.



v  Personal and Impersonal Passive

Personal Passive simply means that the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. So every verb that needs an object (transitive verb) can form a personal passive.
Example: They build houses. – Houses are built.

Verbs without an object (intransitive verb) normally cannot form a personal passive sentence (as there is no object that can become the subject of the passive sentence). If you want to use an intransitive verb in passive voice, you need an impersonal construction – therefore this passive is called Impersonal Passive.
Example: he says – it is said

Impersonal Passive is not as common in English as in some other languages (e.g. German, Latin). In English, Impersonal Passive is only possible with verbs of perception (e. g. say, think, know).
Example: They say that women live longer than men. – It is said that women live longer than men.

Although Impersonal Passive is possible here, Personal Passive is more common.
Example: They say that women live longer than men. – Women are said to live longer than men.

The subject of the subordinate clause (women) goes to the beginning of the sentence; the verb of perception is put into passive voice. The rest of the sentence is added using an infinitive construction with 'to' (certain auxiliary verbs and that are dropped).
Sometimes the term Personal Passive is used in English lessons if the indirect object of an active sentence is to become the subject of the passive sentence.

The passive voice does exist for a reason, however, and its presence is not always to be despised. The passive is particularly useful (even recommended) in two situations:
·         When it is more important to draw our attention to the person or thing acted upon: The unidentified victim was apparently struck during the early morning hours.
·         When the actor in the situation is not important: The aurora borealis can be observed in the early morning hours.

The passive voice is especially helpful (and even regarded as mandatory) in scientific or technical writing or lab reports, where the actor is not really important but the process or principle being described is of ultimate importance. Instead of writing "I poured 20 cc of acid into the beaker," we would write "Twenty cc of acid is/was poured into the beaker." The passive voice is also useful when describing, say, a mechanical process in which the details of process are much more important than anyone's taking responsibility for the action: "The first coat of primer paint is applied immediately after the acid rinse."
We use the passive voice to good effect in a paragraph in which we wish to shift emphasis from what was the object in a first sentence to what becomes the subject in subsequent sentences.
The executive committee approved an entirely new policy for dealing with academic suspension and withdrawal. The policy had been written by a subcommittee on student behavior. If students withdraw from course work before suspension can take effect, the policy states, a mark of "IW" . . . .
The paragraph is clearly about this new policy so it is appropriate that policy move from being the object in the first sentence to being the subject of the second sentence. The passive voice allows for this transition.




v  Passive Verb Formation

The passive forms of a verb are created by combining a form of the "to be verb" with the past participle of the main verb. Other helping verbs are also sometimes present: "The measure could have been killed in committee." The passive can be used, also, in various tenses. Let's take a look at the passive forms of "design."

Tense
Subject
Auxiliary
Past
Participle
Singular
Plural
Present
The car/cars
is
are
designed.
Present perfect
The car/cars
has been
have been
designed.
Past
The car/cars
was
were
designed.
Past perfect
The car/cars
had been
had been
designed.
Future
The car/cars
will be
will be
designed.
Future perfect
The car/cars
will have been
will have been
designed.
Present progressive
The car/cars
is being
are being
designed.
Past progressive
The car/cars
was being
were being
designed.






A sentence cast in the passive voice will not always include an agent of the action. For instance if a gorilla crushes a tin can, we could say "The tin can was crushed by the gorilla." But a perfectly good sentence would leave out the gorilla: "The tin can was crushed." Also, when an active sentence with an indirect object is recast in the passive, the indirect object can take on the role of subject in the passive sentence:

Active
Professor Villa gave Jorge an A.
Passive
An A was given to Jorge by Professor Villa.
Passive
Jorge was given an A.



Only transitive verbs (those that take objects) can be transformed into passive constructions. Furthermore, active sentences containing certain verbs cannot be transformed into passive structures. To have is the most important of these verbs. We can say "He has a new car," but we cannot say "A new car is had by him." We can say "Josefina lacked finesse," but we cannot say "Finesse was lacked." Here is a brief list of such verbs*:





resemble
look like
equal
agree with
mean
contain
hold
comprise
lack
suit
fit
become







Verbals in Passive Structures
Verbals or verb forms can also take on features of the passive voice. An infinitive phrase in the passive voice, for instance, can perform various functions within a sentence (just like the active forms of the infinitive).
·         Subject: To be elected by my peers is a great honor.
·         Object: That child really likes to be read to by her mother.
·         Modifier: Grasso was the first woman to be elected governor in her own right.
The same is true of passive gerunds.
·         Subject: Being elected by my peers was a great thrill.
·         Object: I really don't like being lectured to by my boss.
·         Object of preposition: I am so tired of being lectured to by my boss.
With passive participles, part of the passive construction is often omitted, the result being a simple modifying participial phrase.


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