4.3: Passive Voice

The Passive Voice

I.  Reasons for using the Passive Voice:

       1. When the action (verb) in an active sentence is more important than the person or   thing (subject) who/which does the action;             

People take medicine all over the world.
Medicine is taken all over the world.

       2. When the receiver of the action (object) in an active sentence is more important       than the doer of the action (subject);

A college offered my son a $ 9,000 scholarship.
My son was offered a $ 9,000 scholarship.
A $9,000 scholarship was offered to my son.

       3.  In other words, to change the focus of the sentence from the subject of the active   sentence (A college) to the object of the active sentence.  This is done because in English       whatever appears first in a sentence is usually most important.      

               Japanese workers made my car in Japan in 1996. (Active Sentence)

       Do we care who the Japanese workers were?  Do we want their names?  No.
       Do we know who they were?    No.
       Is it important that we know?    No. 

HOWEVER      

Is it important to know what the workers did?    Yes.
Is it important that we know where the workers made the car?   Yes.
Is it important that we know what the workers made?   Yes.

THEREFORE

              My car was made in Japan in 1996.  (Passive Sentence)
              (Of course Japanese workers made it.)

Other Examples:     

       Students have studied English in this school for many years.
       English has been studied in this school for many years.

       Bakers are making cakes in the bakery now.
       Cakes are being made in the bakery now.

II.  When to use the passive voice:

1.  When the subject is unknown, we use the passive voice.

       For example:

             The bank was robbed last night. A lot of money was stolen. The robbers have not been seen.  The location of their hideout is not known at this time.

2.  When the person or thing that does the action is not important.

       For example:

             The garbage and trash are picked up in my neighborhood on Wednesdays. The baby's dirty diaper was thrown in the trash.  It was done five minutes ago.      

3.  When the doer of the action (subject) is a secret or when you don't want   someone to know who did something.

        For example:

             The married man was seen kissing another woman last night. His wife was told about it and was seen hitting him over the head with a baseball bat. His head has been bandaged for him.

4.  When someone wants to lie to, mislead, or cheat someone by not telling who exactly   did something or what exactly was done.

       For example: 

             A certain kind of medicine has been used for over twenty years in twenty different countries.  Its discoverer has been praised all over the world.  It must be used to make you as healthy and beautiful as its other users.

       In all of the above sentences, the passive voice is used because either the subject is not known or is unimportant or because the speaker/writer wants to hide the name of the subject, the doer of the action.  Who used it? Who praised it? Who are the healthy and beautiful users? 

III.  Formation of the passive voice:

1.  It can only be used with transitive verbs, verbs that have an object. (Intransitive     verbs have no object; therefore, they cannot be made passive.)

       For example:  Transitive Verbs (Verbs which have an object)

       I drink beer.                                    Beer is drunk.
       She played the piano.                      The piano was played.
       They have done their homework.      Their homework has been done.   

Intransitive Verbs are verbs which do not have an object.  For example, happen, live, arrive, exist, come, walk, occur, rise, rain, go, sleep, agree, stay, etc.

I slept all night long.                            None of these sentences has an object;
They walked yesterday.                        therefore, the passive voice cannot be         
John goes shopping every evening.        used.  The subject both does and receives the action.

2.  The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.

3.  The main verb is always in its past participle form.

              Spoken, eaten, played, drunk, studied     

4.  You must always use the verb "To Be."  The tense of the sentence determines which         form of the verb "To Be" to use.  “To Be” is the verb of the sentence.

In addition to the verb To Be, the verbs To Get and To Become can also be used in the passive.  However, the verb to be is the verb most often used with the passive voice.

       Note below how the verb To Be changes.

       Present tense:             am, is, are done

       English is spoken in America.  Students are taught to speak English.

       Past tense:                  was, were done

       I was educated in Massachusetts. We were driven to school on a bus.      

Modal verbs:               can, could, will, would, may, might, should, must be done

A person who plays with guns might be killed by the guns.  Guns can easily be bought in America.  They should be better controlled by the government, in my opiion.

       Infinitive verbs:            to be done

I want your homework to be written neatly.  It needs to be done carefully.   I expect it to be checked after I hand it back to you. 

        Progressive/Continuous forms:      am, is are, was, were being done

The car was being fixed by a mechanic.  The brakes were being adjusted.  Now, it is being driven home.

        Perfect verb tenses:    have, has, had been done

The dinner had been prepared before I got home.  The food had been cooked by my wife.  Now, it has been eaten and the dishes have been washed and put away.