The Passive Voice
Introduction
Verbs in sentences can either be active or passive.
| Active | Passive |
|---|---|
| The lion chases the zebra. | The zebra is chased by the lion. |
All tenses in the passive are formed with be + past participle of the main verb. The past participle never changes. Instead, we change the verb be to the proper tense and put it before the particle.
| Active | Passive | |
|---|---|---|
| Present Simple | The lion chases the zebra. | The zebra is chased by the lion. |
| Past Simple | The lion chased the zebra. | The zebra was chased by the lion. |
| Present Perfect | The lion has chased the zebra. | The zebra has been chased by the lion. |
For an overview of all tenses, see Summary of passive forms.
To make negatives, simply change the auxiliary verb to its negative form, as normal.
Questions follow the pattern of auxiliary verb + subject + participle that we've detailed for active sentences, but just like the affirmative sentences they need to change the verb be to the proper tense. For an overview of all question forms in the passive, see Summary of passive forms.
| Active | Passive | |
|---|---|---|
| Present Simple | Is the elephant chasing the lions? | Are the lions chased by the elephant? |
| Past Simple | Is the elephant chasing the lions? | Were the lions chased by the elephant? |
| Present Perfect | Is the elephant chasing the lions? | Have the lions been chased by the elephant? |
Use of the passive
Verbs in the active need an agent or a cause, but not so in the passive. Compare the two sentences:
| Active | Passive |
|---|---|
| We made mistakes. | Mistakes were made. |
The passive is helpful when we don't want to specify or draw attention to who does something, either because it's unimportant, unknown, or because we prefer not to say it.
A body was found in the water near Rockaway Beach. (it's irrelevant who made the discovery)
A package was sent from this address on Wednesday. (we don't know who sent it)
Mistakes were made (by us). (we don't want to admit our mistakes)
We use the passive to describe how something is done.
The air inside a cleanroom is filtered and recirculated continuously.
After the pages have been printed, they are trimmed to make them the desired size.
It's common in news reports to make the information more impersonal and when talking about rumors or things that are supposed to be general knowledge.
It is believed that discussion on the topic of sanctions relief will resume next Monday.
His name was said to be inherited from his godfather Francis Russel.
Who is considered the greatest hero in your country?
Summary of passive forms
Active and passive sentences
| Tense | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Present Simple | We play the song. | The song is played. |
| Past Simple | We played the song. | The song was played. |
| Present Continuous | We are playing the song. | The song is being played. |
| Past Continuous | We were playing the song. | The song was being played. |
| Present Perfect | We have played the song. | The song has been played. |
| Past Perfect | We had played the song. | The song had been played. |
| Will future | We will play the song. | The song will be played. |
| Modal verbs | We should play the song. | The song should be played. |
| Infinitives | We have to play the song. | The song had to be played. |
Note there is no passive form of the Present and Past Perfect Continuous. Use the non-continuous Perfect forms instead.
Affirmative sentences structure
| Tense | subject | aux. verb | being/be | Past Part. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present Simple | The song | is | played. | |
| Past Simple | The song | was | played. | |
| Present Continuous | The song | is | being | played. |
| Past Continuous | The song | was | being | played. |
| Present Perfect | The song | is | being | played. |
| Past Perfect | The song | was | being | played. |
| Will future | The song | will | be | played. |
| Modal verbs | The song | should | be | played. |
| Infinitives | The song | has to | be | played. |
Questions structure
| Aux. verb | subject | (infin.) | being/been/be | Past Part. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present Simple | Is | the song | played? | ||
| Past Simple | Was | the song | played? | ||
| Present Continuous | Is | the song | being | played? | |
| Past Continuous | Was | the song | being | played? | |
| Present Perfect | Has | the song | been | played? | |
| Past Perfect | Had | the song | been | played? | |
| Will future | Will | the song | be | played? | |
| Modal verbs | Should | the song | be | played? | |
| Infinitives | Does | the song | have to | be | played? |