Use of Passive

Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known,
however, who or what is performing the action.

Example: My bike was stolen.

In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I do not know,
however, who did it.

Sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than active voice, as the following example
shows:

Example: A mistake was made.

In this case, I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame anyone (e.g.
You have made a mistake.).

Form of Passive
Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle (3rd column of irregular verbs)

Example: A letter was written.

When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:

 the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence
 the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle)
 the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is
dropped)

Examples of Passive
Tense Subject Verb Object
Active: Rita writes a letter.
Simple Present
Passive: A letter is written by Rita.
Active: Rita wrote a letter.
Simple Past
Passive: A letter was written by Rita.
Active: Rita has written a letter.
Present Perfect
Passive: A letter has been written by Rita.
Active: Rita will write a letter.
Future I
Passive: A letter will be written by Rita.
Active: Rita can write a letter.
Hilfsverben
Passive: A letter can be written by Rita.
Passive Sentences with Two Objects
Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that one of the two
objects becomes the subject, the other one remains an object. Which object to transform
into a subject depends on what you want to put the focus on.

  Subject Verb Object 1 Object 2

Active: Rita wrote a letter to me.
Passive: A letter was written to me by Rita.
Passive: I was written a letter by Rita.

Passive Verb Formation

The passive forms of a verb are created by combining a form of the "to be verb" with the
past participle of the main verb. Other helping verbs are also sometimes present: "The
measure could have been killed in committee." The passive can be used, also, in various
tenses. Let's take a look at the passive forms of "design."

Auxiliary Past
Tense Subject
Singular Plural Participle
Present The car/cars is are designed.
Present perfect The car/cars has been have been designed.
Past The car/cars was were designed.
Past perfect The car/cars had been had been designed.
Future The car/cars will be will be designed.
Future perfect The car/cars will have been will have been designed.
Present progressive The car/cars is being are being designed.
Past progressive The car/cars was being were being designed.
THE PASSIVE VOICE

The passive voice is used when focusing on the person or thing affected by an action.

 The Passive is formed: Passive Subject + To Be + Past Particple

The house was built in 1989.

 It is often used in business when the object of the action is more important than those
who perform the action.

For Example:

We have produced over 20 different models in the past two years. Changes to:
Over 20 different models have been produced in the past two years.

 If the agent is important (the person, company or thing that does the action) , use "by"

For Example: Tim Wilson wrote "The Flight to Brunnswick" in 1987. Changes
to:"The Flight to Brunnswick" was written in 1987 by Tim Wilson.

 Only verbs that take an object can be used in the passive voice.
Passive Voice Structure
Active Passive Time Reference

They make Fords in Cologne. Fords are made in Cologne. Present Simple
Susan is cooking dinner. Dinner is being cooked by Susan Present Continuous
"Dubliners" was written by James
James Joyce wrote "Dubliners". Past Simple
Joyces.

They were painting the house when I The house was being painted when I
arrived. arrived. Past Continuous

They have produced over 20 models Over 20 models have been produced
in the past two years. in the past two years. Present Perfect

They are going to build a new factory A new factory is going to be built in
Future Intention with
in Portland. Portland. Going to
I will finish it tomorrow. It will be finished tomorrow. Future Simple

Active Voice, Passive Voice

There are two special forms for verbs called voice:

1. Active voice
2. Passive voice

The active voice is the "normal" voice. This is the voice that we use most of the time. You
are probably already familiar with the active voice. In the active voice, the object receives
the action of the verb:

subject verb object

active   >

Cats eat fish.

The passive voice is less usual. In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the
verb:
 subject verb object

passive <  

Fish are eaten by cats.

The object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb:

  subject verb object

active Everybody drinks water.

passive Water is drunk by everybody.

Passive Voice

The passive voice is less usual than the active voice. The active voice is the "normal" voice.
But sometimes we need the passive voice. In this lesson we look at how to construct the
passive voice, when to use it and how to conjugate it.

Construction of the Passive Voice

The structure of the passive voice is very simple:

subject + auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (past participle)

The main verb is always in its past participle form.

Look at these examples:

subject auxiliary verb (to be)   main verb (past participle)  

Water is   drunk by everyone.

100 people are   employed by this company.

 I am   paid in euro.

We are not paid in dollars.

Are they   paid in yen?

Use of the Passive Voice

We use the passive when:

 we want to make the active object more important

 we do not know the active subject

  subject verb object

give importance to active object President by Lee Harvey

was killed
(President Kennedy) Kennedy Oswald.

has been
active subject unknown My wallet ?
stolen.

Note that we always use by to introduce the passive object (Fish are eaten by cats).

Look at this sentence:

 He was killed with a gun.

Normally we use by to introduce the passive object. But the gun is not the active subject. The gun
did not kill him. He was killed by somebody with a gun. In the active voice, it would be: Somebody
killed him with a gun. The gun is the instrument. Somebody is the "agent" or "doer".

Conjugation for the Passive Voice

We can form the passive in any tense. In fact, conjugation of verbs in the passive tense is
rather easy, as the main verb is always in past participle form and the auxiliary verb is
always be. To form the required tense, we conjugate the auxiliary verb. So, for example:

 present simple: It is made

 present continuous: It is being made
  present perfect: It has been made

Here are some examples with most of the possible tenses:

infinitive to be washed

present It is washed.

past It was washed.

simple
future It will be washed.

conditional It would be washed.

present It is being washed.

past It was being washed.

continuous
future It will be being washed.

conditional It would be being washed.

present It has been washed.

past It had been washed.

perfect simple
future It will have been washed.

conditional It would have been washed.

perfect continuous present It has been being washed.

past It had been being washed.

future It will have been being washed.

conditional It would have been being washed.