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In passive voice the subject of the sentence is acted upon. When a verb is used in the passive voice, the subject no longer acts but rather has something done to it. We use the passive voice under the following situations:
1. When the object who receives the action performed by the subject is important to tell, but not the subject who performs the action.
Chen is awarded with a medal for his investigative reporting.
(It is important to tell the reader Chen has won a medal for his work, but it is not important to tell whether his boss or some organization has awarded him the medal.)2. When we don't know who performed the action.
Sue was attacked in the subway.
(Who attacked Sue?) We don't know who attacked Sue in the subway.3. When we want to avoid 'finger pointing'. In some sticky situations we don't want to tell who performed the action.
All the students were given high grades on the test although many students did not answer the questions correctly.
(Who gave the high grades?) Of course, it is the teacher who gave the high grades, we, however, don't want to blame the teacher this time. Not surprisingly, the passive voice is found in business writing and in formal speech. This helps the writer or speaker avoid finger pointing.
Be cautious! Do not use passive voice unless you are sure that you are using it correctly. As a rule of thumb, always use the active voice because you will not be penalized for using it in place of passive voice. But you will be penalized if your passive voice sentence sounds awkward. Above all, the passive voice is rarely used as the active voice holds absolute clarity and avoids ambiguity. Use the passive voice if the subject who does the action is not important, but the object who receives the action is
important, and you need to emphasize the object that receives the action.
How to Form the Passive Voice
We form the passive voice by using be + past participle.
Active Voice: Archeologists discovered an ancient city in the Middle East.
Passive Voice: An ancient city was discovered by archeologists in the Middle East. However, the subject 'archeologists' have no importance here because, ordinarily all archeological discoveries are carried out by archeologists. Unless you need to indicate a name of the archeologist who discovered the city, you need not to include the 'by' and 'subject' in your passive voice sentence.
Examples:
Active Voice: Students like the Chemistry teacher Mr. Brown very much.
Passive Voice: The Chemistry teacher Mr. Brown is well-liked
by his students. . Here, we don't need to indicate 'by his students' because it is obvious that a teacher serves students.
Passive Voice in Different Tenses
| Active Voice | Passive Voice |
| 1. The national anthem starts the ceremony. | 1. The ceremony is started by the national anthem. |
| 2. The national anthem is starting the ceremony | 2. The ceremony is being started by the national anthem. |
| 3. The national anthem was starting the ceremony | 3. The ceremony was being started by the national anthem. |
| 4. The national anthem started the ceremony. | 4. The ceremony was started by the national anthem. |
| 5. The national anthem has started the ceremony. | 5. The ceremony has been started by the national anthem. |
| 6. The national anthem had started the ceremony. | 6. The ceremony had been started by the national anthem. |
| 7. The national anthem will start the ceremony. | 7. The ceremony will be started by the national anthem. |
| 8. 2. The national anthem is going to start the ceremony | 8. The ceremony is going to be started by the national anthem. |
| 9. The national anthem will have started the ceremony. | 9. The ceremony will have been started by the national anthem. |
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Grammar Links:
Appositives in Complete Sentence
Present Perfect Continuous Tense
Writing Links:
An Example of a Four-Paragraph Essay
An Example of a Three-Paragraph Essay
How to Write a Business Letter
Examples of a Well-Written Paragraph
Steps to Write a Three-Paragraph Essay
How to Write a Good Main Topic Sentence
How to Write Good Supporting Sentences
Recommendations for Writing a Good Paragraph
