THE PASSIVE VOICE

subject

verb

object

ACTIVE (a) Mary helped the boy

subject

verb

PASSIVE (b) The boy was helped by Mary

Basic tense forms of passive: a tense of be+past participle(V3)

present:
he writes
past:
he wrote
present/past progressive: he is/was writing
present/past perfect:
he has/had written

it is written.
it was written.
it is/was being written.
it has/had been written

Basic modal forms of passive: modal+be/have been+past participle

will/be going to: he will/is going to write
may:
he may write
may have:
he may have written

it will be/is going to be written.

it may be written.
it may have been written

USES OF PASSIVE VOICE

(a) Rice is grown in India
(b) Our roof was damaged in last nights storm
Usually the passive is used without a by-phrase. The passive is most frequently
used when it is not known or not important to know exactly who performs
the action.
In (a) Rice is grown in India by people, by farmers, by someone. It is not known or
important to know exactly who grows rice in India.
In case (b), we want to focus on a happening, not who or what did it. Our roof was
damaged in last nights storm (Were concerned about the roof.)
(c) Life on the Mississippi was written by Mark Twain
The by-phrase is included only if it is important to know who performs an action,
as in (c), where by Mark Twain is important information.