The Passive Voice in English
passive voice
The English passive voice shifts the focus of a sentence from the subject performing the action to the object receiving it.
The passive voice in English is a grammatical construction used to focus on the action or the receiver of the action rather than the person or thing performing it. It is widely used in news reporting, scientific writing, and formal contexts where the agent (the performer) is either unknown, obvious, or unimportant.
To form the passive voice, you use the appropriate tense of the auxiliary verb 'to be' combined with the past participle of the main verb. For example, 'The cat chased the mouse' (active) becomes 'The mouse was chased by the cat' (passive). The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. If you want to specify who performed the action in a passive sentence, you introduce the agent with the preposition 'by'. The passive voice can be constructed in all tenses, including progressive tenses (e.g., 'is being built') and perfect tenses (e.g., 'has been written').
Understanding the passive voice is essential for advanced writing. It allows writers to maintain objectivity and structure information logically, ensuring that key actions and results receive primary emphasis in formal reports.
Examples
This historical castle was built in the sixteenth century.
This historical castle was built in the sixteenth century.
The important decision has already been made by the committee.
The important decision has already been made by the committee.
All rooms are being cleaned at the moment, please wait here.
All rooms are being cleaned at the moment, please wait here.
Related terms
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