Passive Voice (Simple)
The Passive Voice is used when the action is more important than who does it, or when the agent is unknown or obvious. In the passive, the object of an active sentence becomes the subject. The structure is: subject + am/is/are/was/were + past participle (+ by + agent).
WHEN TO USE
Use passive voice when the action is more important than the doer, when the doer is unknown, obvious, or unimportant, or in formal/academic writing to sound more objective.
STRUCTURE
S + am/is/are/was/were + past participle (+ by agent)The report was written by the manager.
S + am/is/are/was/were + not + past participleThe letter wasn't signed by anyone.
Am/Is/Are/Was/Were + S + past participle?Was the cake made from scratch?
SIGNAL WORDS
- by
- is made
- was built
- were told
- has been stolen
- will be announced
EXAMPLES
The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889.
English is spoken all over the world.
The report was written by the manager.
Mistakes were made.
The winner will be announced tomorrow.
COMMON MISTAKES
The car was crashed by a truck.
The car was hit by a truck.
Not a grammar error, but 'crashed' is usually intransitive in this sense. Be careful about which verbs can be passivised.
The cake was baked by my mother baked it.
The cake was baked by my mother.
Don't repeat the subject/verb in passive constructions
Tip
To convert active to passive: the object becomes the subject, the verb becomes 'be + past participle', and the original subject (if kept) comes after 'by'. Active: 'The chef cooked the meal.' → Passive: 'The meal was cooked by the chef.'