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Passive Voice
Passive Voice
Passive Voice
When writing in the passive voice, the subject no longer does an action but
rather becomes acted upon. For example, the sentence ‘John threw the ball’
would become ‘The ball was thrown by John.’ In many cases, English
professionals frown upon the use of the passive voice but it certainly does
have its uses.
The snake might have killed him. (Active) –> He might have been killed
by the snake. (Passive)
My father had Tom wash his car. (Active) –> My father had his car
washed by Tom. (Passive)
Passive Voice Examples
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The following sentence is written in the active voice: Dave completed his
homework. In this case, Dave is the subject, completed is the verb, and the
homework is the object that was completed. Now, if you wrote
that sentence in the passive voice, it would look something like this: The
homework was completed by Dave. In this case, the homework is the object
that is doing the doing, completed is of course still the verb, but Dave, the
subject, is now having the verb done to him. Both are grammatically correct,
but the active voice example is slightly more powerful in its message because
it is clear who is doing what.
Another example might look like this in the active voice: Kelly reached for the
soap. Again, Kelly is the subject, reached is the verb that she is doing, and
soap is the object that was reached for. To turn it into the passive voice, it
would have to look like this: The soap was reached for by Kelly. The difference
is easy enough to understand when you look at examples. But just remember,
the active voice has the subject doing something to the object, and the
passive voice has the object doing something to the subject.
The passive voice is also a great way to put emphasis on the subject at the end
of the sentence. Something like “The shots had been fired by Tim” creates a
more tense atmosphere than using the active voice alternative “Tim fired the
shots”. Some sentences in English are simply always presented in the passive
voice too. “The book was written by…” is just one example of when passive
voice is almost always favored over the active voice.
Examples:
Examples:
Example:
Example:
In terms of tone, passive voice can actually create quite an impartial tone in
your writing. This is especially important in academic work, where you are
supposed to present the findings of other people to be considered by the
reader. Passive voice is a helpful trick that you can use sparingly to create
more distance between yourself and your objective piece of work. “A
relationship was found between the amount of chocolate that children ate,
and whether or not they had been active that day by numerous studies (Jones
and Jones 2020; Johnson and Johnson, 2021)” is an example of passive writing
in academic essays. To say “Numerous studies found a relationship between…”
just isn’t quite as impartial or objective.
Active voice: S + V1
Passive voice: S + am/ is/ are + V3
Example:
I make a cake. (Active)
A cake is made by me. (Passive)
Active vs Passive Voice for Present Continuous Tense
Example:
Active voice: S + V2
Passive voice: S + was/ were + V3
Example:
Example:
I had been typing the essay for 3 hours before you came
yesterday. (Active)
The essay had been being typed for 3 hours before you came
yesterday. (Passive)
Active and Passive Voice for the Future in the Past (Would)
Active voice: