Verbs: passive voice

All sentences, examples, and tutorials so far have been active voice. I recommend using that whenever you can. Because it’s shorter, simpler and more direct.

But there’s a whole different voice you can use: the passive voice.

When?

To place emphasis on the object, not the subject
When a subject is completely missing from the sentence
To be deliberately vague or build tension (used in novels)

Example

Active: Alan Parsons wrote “Old & Wise”
Passive: “Old & Wise” was written by Alan Parsons

In the active case, Alan Parsons is the subject. We focus on him. The title of what he wrote is less important.

In the passive case, we focus on the title of his song, and less so on Alan. The song isn’t doing anything. It’s still the target of someone else writing it. But communicated this way, the emphasis is different.

And you can easily test this! In the passive version, you can leave out the subject entirely: “Old & Wise was written in 1982”.

This part trips up many people. Because only a slight change is needed to completely flip each tense to their passive voice.

How to write passive

To construct the passive voice, use to be + past participle. As expected, our modal verb (“to be”) is responsible for changing the voice to all different tenses. We call this conjugating the verb. The past participle just stays the same, always.

-	-	to be (conjugated)	past participle
Simple present	The car…	is	cleaned
Present continuous		is being	cleaned
Simple Past		was	cleaned
Past Continuous		was being	cleaned
Simple future		will be	cleaned
Future continuous		will be being	cleaned
Present perfect		has been	cleaned
Past perfect		had been	cleaned

Notice that we don’t know who is cleaning the car. Or what. We only know that the car is being cleaned.

A common use of passive voice is with the fact that being born is something passive. Your mother bore you. But you, as a baby, were being born by her.

I was born in 1997. When were you born?

Infinitive passive voice

This is used after modal verbs or other verbs requiring an infinitive. (Remember the previous chapter on Infinitives?)

Construct it with: modal verb + (to) be + past participle.

Example

You need to test your skills => You have to be tested on your skills.
They want to invite him => He wants to be invited to the party.
You may disappoint her (zero infinitive) => She may be disappointed in you.

Gerund passive voice

This is used after verbs that require gerunds behind it. (Remember the chapter on Gerunds?)

Construct it with: being + past participle

Example

I hate interviewing => I hate being interviewed My dogs like cuddling => My dogs like being cuddled

About the passive voice

I hope you notice how much longer sentences get in passive voice. More complicated, with lots of verbs. That’s why it’s not recommended.

And still, it exists in basically every language. Because humans like talking this way. As we form thoughts, we first start with what’s most important, and then create the rest of the sentence around it.

This accidentally leads to passive sentences.

If you want to improve communication, especially writing, focus on writing active. Check every sentence for passiveness, and rewrite to active voice.

Example

Passive: He was tested by the doctors. They were questioned by him on all the dangers, but didn’t want to give any response. The procedure would be done by their best doctor available, or so he was told.

The doctors tested him. He questioned them on all the dangers, but they didn’t want to respond. They only said their “best doctor” would do the procedure.

The second is shorter, cleaner, more clear. You don’t lose any information, but gain space and attention. But you probably read the passive version and didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.

Continue with this course