Passive Voice

I. Introduction
In grammar, the voice of a verb de
scribes the relationship between t
he action (or state) and
the participants (subject, object, et
c.). ...
the active and the passive
 II. Passive Form
 to be + past participle
 How to form a passive sentence when an ac
tive sentence is given:
- object of the "active" sentence becomes su
bject in the "passive" sentence
- subject of the "active" sentence becomes
"object" in the "passive" sentence" (or is left
out)
III . Steps in Changing Active to Pas
sive
 a. move the direct object to the subject of th
e sentence
 b. move the subject to the end of the senten
ce; add the preposition "by" before it
 c. change the verb
 IV. Use of Passive Voice
 1. When the doer of the action is unknown
 2. When the object is more famous or import
ant than the subject
 3. When the doer of the action is obvious fro
m the context
 4. When the speaker/writer wants to empha
size the receiver of the action instead of the
performer.
 Only Jane was injured in the accident;
the remainder of the passengers were
unhurt.
 5. To connect ideas in different clause
s more clearly:
 The executive committee approved a
n entirely new policy for dealing with
academic suspension and withdrawal.
The policy had been written by a sub
committee on student behavior.
 6. When making statements, announc
ements, and explanations:
 a. Something should be done about t
he traffic jams in this town.
 b. Students are asked not to smoke.
 c. It's said that it's going to rain tonigh
t.
 7. When the subject of the sentence i
s too long or complex.
 The notion is especially opposed to b
y those who have invested much in th
e area.
 It is generally considered impolite to a
sk one’s age, salary, marriage, etc. .
 8. Sometimes a statement in passive is m
ore polite than active voice, as the followin
g example shows:
 Example: A mistake was made.
 In this case, I focus on the fact that a mista
ke was made, but I do not blame anyone
(e.g. You have made a mistake.).
 9. Passive voice is used when the speaker
/writer wants to avoid responsibility for acti
ons taken.
 Thus “Cigarette ads were designed to app
eal especially to children” places the burde
n on the ads — as opposed to “We design
ed the cigarette ads to appeal especially to
children,” in which “we” accepts responsibi
lity.
 . 10. To make the statement more obj
ective.
 Instead of writing “I poured 20 cc of a
cid into the beaker,” we would write
"Twenty cc of acid is/was poured into
the beaker."
 Engineers use the passive voice a lot,
so do scientists, business people, and
nearly all academics
 v. The Get-passive
 The word get is sometimes used instea
d of be to form the passive.
 A. Get indicates a change in status or c
ondition. For example,
 They will get married tomorrow. (They
changed from “single” to “married”)
 b. "Get" passives often mean the acti
on occurred suddenly or unexpectedl
y and the "actor" places blame elsew
here.
 He got killed in the accident. (Somet
hing caused him to die.)
 C. The get-passive is fairly informal ,u
sually used in spoken English.
 VI. Voice Constraints

 Not all the active sentences can

be made passive. Three kinds o
f voice constraint: verb, object,
meaning
 6.1 Verb constraints
 linking and intransitive verbs do not occur in
some senses in passive, here is a brief list o
f such verbs:
resemble lack own wish fit

cost hold become equal mean

 Some “verb + noun” combination,
which have the force of an intransiti
ve verb, can never take the passive
:
 The medicine soon take effect.
 The plant will soon take root.
 Phrases formed by “Verb+particle (preposi
tioanl or adverb) are normally verbal idiom
s. They form a close unit and can not be s
plit.
 The enginneers went very carefully into th
e problem. We cannot say: The problem w
as carefully gone into by the engineers.
 6.2 Object Constraints
 Transitive verbs with reflexive, reciprocal an
d possessive objects can not be changed int
o passive voice.
 ＊ himself could be seen, ＊ each other
could be seen, ＊ my hand was shaken
by the man these are all wrong.
 Transitive verbs can be followed by clausa
l objects. In this cases, we can not move t
he object to the subject place.
 John thought that she was attractive. We d
ont say: That she was attractive was thoug
ht by John.
 When the object is an infinitive or gerund, t
he sentence can not be changed into pass
ive.
 John hoped to meet her. We don’t say: To
meet her was hoped by John.
 John enjoyed seeing her. We don’t say:Se
eing her was enjoyed by John.
 6.3 Meaning constraints
 The meaning may differ in active and passiv
e:
 John cannot do it. where “it” expresses abilit
y, and
 It cannot be done by John, where “it” expres
ses possibility.
 Every schoolboy knows one joke
at least, which means “Every scho
olboy knows at least some joke or
other.” and “One joke at least is k
nown by every schoolboy,” which
means that there is one particular
joke that is known to every school
boy.
 vii. Exercises
 Nobody can answer this question.
 Wrong ： The question can be answered
by nobody.
 Correct ： The question can not be answ
ered by anybody.
 Who wrote the story?
 Wrong ： Who was the story
written?
 Correct ： By whom was the s
tory written?
 They haven't done anything t
o make the river clean.
 Wrong ： Anything hasn't bee
n done to make the river clea
n.
 Correct ： Nothing has been d
one to make the river clean.