Do You Know How to Use the Passive Voice in English? (2024)

The passive voice in English is used to express what is done to someone or something. In other words, the subject of a sentence receives the action of a verb. It stands in contrast to the active voice, which is more commonly used and refers to the subject performing or causing the action expressed by the verb.

Although several style guides discourage the use of the passive voice, this construction can prove highly effective, particularly in scenarios where the subject of a sentence is either unknown or insignificant because it can help shift focus to the more significant object.

Here are a few examples of the passive voice:

The company was sold for $5 million.
That novel was written by Jack Smith in 1912.
My house was built in 1988.

In each of these sentences, the subject of the sentences does nothing. Rather, something is done to the subject of the sentence. In each case, the focus is on the object of an action. These sentences could also be written in the active voice.

The owners sold the company for $5 million.
Jack Smith wrote the novel in 1912.
A construction company built my house in 1988.

When Can You Use the Passive Voice

The passive voice is used to place focus on the object rather than the subject. In other words, who does something is less important than what was done to something (focusing on the person or thing affected by an action). Generally speaking, the passive voice is used less frequentlythan the active voice.

That said, the passive voice isusefulto switch the focus fromwhois doing something towhatis being done, which makes it especially useful in business settings when the focus is placed on a product. By using the passive, the product becomes the focus of the sentence. As you can see from these examples, this makes a stronger statement than using the active voice.

Computer chips are manufactured in our plant in Hillsboro.
Your car will be polished with the finest wax.
Our pasta is made using only the finest ingredients.

Here are some other examplesentences in which a business might utilize the passive form to change focus:

We have produced over 20 different models in the past two years.(active voice)
Over 20 different models have been produced in the past two years.(passive voice)
My colleagues and I develop software for financial institutions.​(active voice)
Our software is developed for financial institutions.(passive voice)

Study the passive voice below and then practice your writing skills by changing passive sentences to active sentences, or vice versa.

Passive Voice Sentence Structure

The passive voice generally follows the same structure within a sentence:

Passive subject + to be + pastparticiple

Note that the verb "be" is conjugated followed by the participle form of the main verb.

The house was built in 1989.
My friend is being interviewed today.
The project has been completed recently.

The passive voice follows the same usage rules as all thetenses in English. However, some tenses tend not to be used in the passive voice. Generally speaking, perfect continuous tenses are not used in the passive voice.

Using the Agent

The person or people taking an action are referred to as the agent. If the agent (the person or people performing an action) is not necessary to understand a sentence, the agent can be left out. Here are some examples:

The dogs have already been fed. (It's not important who fed the dogs)
The children will be taught basic math. (It's clear that a teacher will teach the children)
The report will have been finished by the end of next week. (It's not important who completes the report)

In some cases, it's important to know the agent. In this case, use the preposition "by" to express the agent following the passive structure. This structure is especially common when speaking about artistic works such as paintings, books, or music.

"The Flight to Brunnswick" was written in 1987 by Tim Wilson.
This model was developed by Stan Ishly for our production team.

Passive Voice Used With Transitive Verbs

Transitive verbs are verbs that can take an object. Here are some examples:

We assembled the car in less than two hours.
I wrote the report last week.

Intransitive verbs do not take an object:

She arrived early.
The accident happened last week.

Only verbs that take an object can be used in the passive voice. In other words, the passive voice is used only with transitive verbs.

We assembled the car in less than two hours.(active voice)
The car was assembled in less than two hours.(passive voice)
I wrote the report last week.(active voice)
The report was written last week.(passive voice)

Passive Voice Structure Examples

Here are examples of some of the most common tenses used in the passive voice: