• Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known 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 in 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.
• 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. The passive can be used, also, in various tenses.
Let's take a look at the passive forms of "design."
Passive Verb Formation
| Tense | Subject | Auxiliary in singular | Auxiliary in plural | Past 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 beig | are being | designed. |
| Past Progressive | The car/ cars | was being | were being | designed. |
• When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:
1. The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
2. The finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle).
3. The subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped).
A sentence cast in the passive voice will not always include an agent of the action. For instance if a gorilla crushes a tin can, we could say "The tin can was crushed by the gorilla." But a perfectly good sentence would leave out the gorilla: "The tin can was crushed." Also, when an active sentence with an indirect object is recast in the passive, the indirect object can take on the role of subject in the passive sentence:
| Acive | Mother gave John a book. |
| Passive | A book was given to John by his mother. |
| Passive | John was given a book. |
Only transitive verbs (those that take objects) can be transformed into passive constructions. Furthermore, active sentences containing certain verbs cannot be transformed into passive structures. To have is the most important of these verbs. We can say "He has a new car," but we cannot say "A new car is had by him." We can say "Josefina lacked finesse," but we cannot say "Finesse was lacked.
Let’ s do some exercises!
• His whole apartment …………. (REDECORATE) this month.
• An exam …………… (PREPARE) by my teacher.
• My apartment …………. (CLEAN) thoroughly every day.
• Bob …………. (BELIEVE) to be a very nice person.
• Smoking ……………… (NOT/ALLOW) in churchs and hospitals.
• My dog …………. (HIT) by a car week ago.
• I …………… (GIVE) a present only once in my life.
• My cat …………. (FIND) in the park and …………. (BRING) home today morning.
• My work …………. (FINALLY/FINISH) next month.
• A final decision ……………. (MAKE) yesterday.
• ………………. (SPEAKING LOUDLY/FORBID) in the church?
• French …………….. (STUDY) by more and more of my friends now.
