Passive Voice
Use
What is passive voice?
- In the greater number of sentences that come up in everyday life, you use active voice.
- Active voice looks for example like this: The boy ran after the dog.
- Passive voice looks like this: The dog was run after (by the boy).
- Active voice: A person does something.
- Passive voice: Something is done by a person.
Here are more examples of matching active and passive sentences. Compare them and try to find out what's the difference!
ACTIVE VOICE | PASSIVE VOICE |
The man builds a house. | A house is built. |
The child eats cake. | Cake is eaten. |
The woman sings a song. | A song is sung. |
The boy reads a book. | A book is read. |
Let's take a closer look now!
This is a very easy active sentence:
Maria makes spaghetti.
- Who makes spaghetti?
Maria. - What does Maria make? Spaghetti.
Now let's do the same thing with a passive sentence:
Spaghetti are made.
- What is made? Spaghetti.
- Who makes them? We do not know!
- If you transform a sentence from active to passive voice, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
- In a passive sentence, most of the time we do not know who is performing the action, only what is being done.
Form
What do you need for a correct sentence in passive voice?
SUBJECT + FORM OF "TO BE" + PAST PARTICIPLE
My mother is called Anne.
- The form of "to be" has to match the subject I am, you are, he/she/it is, … or I was, you were, …
- The past participle is the form of the verb that you also use in the present perfect.
By-Agent
Usually, you use passive voice if it is not important who did something, only what was done. In some cases, you might still want to add the information of who does it. For that you can use the by-agent.
- The teacher solves the problem. (Active voice)
- The problem is solved. (Passive voice)
- The problem is solved by the teacher. (Passive voice with by-agent)
Now take a look at the following text. Mark the passive constructions yellow and the active voice orange!
