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02 - Passive Voice - Theory and Examples
02 - Passive Voice - Theory and Examples
02 - Passive Voice - Theory and Examples
The majority of passive sentences in English do not include explicit agents to indicate exactly who
performed the actions (Shintani, 1979); however, agents exist; and they can be indicated, if need be, by a
prepositional phrase beginning with by
Although most passive voice sentences in English do not include agents, there are three narrow
instances when speakers and writers tend to express them (Shintani, 1979):
1. The agent is expressed when it is a proper name indicating an artist, an inventor, a discoverer, or an
innovator.
2. The agent is expressed when it is an indefinite noun phrase conveying new information that the
speaker/writer thinks is important enough to mention.
Passive voice sentences can be recast in the active voice with the agent moved to the subject position
with no essential change of meaning. Note these examples:
Source: https://www.rit.edu/ntid/sea/processes/passive/grammatical/agents