The Passive Voice

What is the passive voice?

In general we tend to use the active voice. That is when a subject does an action to an object.

1. Somebody stole my laptop. (subject = Somebody / action(verb) = stole / object = my laptop)

The passive voice is used when we want to emphasize the action (the verb) and the object of a sentence rather than subject. This means that the subject is either less important than the action itself or that we don’t know who or what the subject is.

1. My laptop was stolen. (The object – now the subject = My laptop / action= was stolen)

1. Passive: Napa Valley is known for its excellent wines.
2. Active: [Many people] know Napa Valley for its excellent wines.

1. Passive: Twenty civilians were killed in the bomb explosion.
2. Active: Someone killed twenty civilians in the bomb explosion.

The passive agent

When we know who the subject is, we put it at the end with by. We call this an agent.

1. Passive: The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. (agent =Leonardo Da Vinci )
2. Active: Leonaro Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa.

Most writing instructors and editors recommend against using the passive voice, when possible. The reason for this is that when you use the active voice, your writing is clearer and less complicated.

1. Active: While Mr. Taylor was driving down Highway 101, a police officer pulled him over and gave him a speeding ticket.
2. Passive: While Mr. Taylor was driving down Highway 101, he was pulled over and given a ticket by a police officer.

If it’s a long sentence and you know who the subject is, it’s best to use the active voice.

The passive is often used to report something or to state a fact.

1. Highway 15 was closed yesterday due to a serious road accident.
2. A lot of corn is grown in Iowa.

Forming the passive voice

The passive voice is not a tense in English. Each tense has its own passive voice which is created by using a form of the auxiliary verb to be + V3 (past participle)

The passive voice in each tense:

Tense	Auxiliary verb + sample V3 (past participle)	Examples
Present simple	am, is, are + made	Wine is made from grapes. Many cars are made in Japan.
Present progressive	am, is, are + being + sent	The document is being sent right now. I am being sent to work in the London office.
Past simple	was, were + invited	John was invited to speak at the conference. We were invited to Daniel and Mary’s wedding.
Past progressive	was, were + being + washed	The dog was being washed when I got home. Their cars were being washed while they were in the mall shopping.
Future (will)	will be + signed	The contract will be signed tomorrow. The documents will all be signed by next week.
Future (going to)	am, is, are + going to be + built	A bridge is going to be built within the next two years. New houses are going to be built in our neighborhood.
Present perfect	has, have + been + sold	That start-up has been sold for $5 million. The rights to his book have been sold for $250,000.
Past perfect	had + been + hired	The new manager had been hired before John left the company. All the employees had hired before the store opened.
Future perfect	will + have been + finished	The car will have been loaded by the time he gets home. The crates will have been loaded by then.
Modals: can/could	can, could + be + issued	A passport can only be issued at the embassy. He said the documents could be issued within the week.
Modal: have to	have to, has to, had to + be+ arranged	A babysitter has to be arranged for this evening. Joan’s travel plans have to be arranged by December.
Modal: must	must + be + stopped	Criminals must be stopped before they commit crimes.

All of the rules for passive negatives and questions are the same as for the active voice.

Note: Verbs that have no object (no one to “receive” the action) cannot be put into the passive, such as, arrive, come, die, exist, go, happen, have, live, occur sleep, etc.

Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech - English Grammar
Verbs	Nouns
Adjectives	Adverbs
Conjunctions	Interjections
Pronouns	Prepositions
Articles

 Nouns

Noun Definition: A noun is the name of any person, place or thing as John, Madrid or pen. There are many different types of nouns. 

Parts of Speech Types & Examples of Nouns
Nouns
Proper	Common	Collective
Abstract	Plural	Concrete
Possessive	Compound	Singular
Noun Clause	Gender Nouns	Predicate Nouns
Noun Phrase	Irregular Nouns	Noun Game

Verbs

Verb Definition: A verb is a word which implies action or the doing of something, or it may be defined as a word which affirms, commands or asks a question.

Parts of Speech Types & Examples of Verbs
Verbs
Verb Tenses	Verb Tense Chart	Helping Verbs
Action Verbs	Irregular Verbs	Linking Verbs
	Verb Games

Adjectives

Adjective Definition: Adjectives are descriptive words. An adjective is a word which qualifies a noun, that is, shows or points out some distinguishing mark or feature of the noun.

Adverbs

Adverbs Definition: An adverb is a word that adds information to a verb, an adjective or an adverb. The commonest way to form an adverb is to add the letters 'ly' to the adjective.

Conjunctions

Conjunctions Definition: A conjunction joins words, clauses and sentences; as "Mark and Luke." "My grandfather and grandmother have come, but I have not seen them". A conjunction is used to link words, phrases, and clauses.

Interjections

Interjections definition: An interjection is a word used to express some sudden emotion of the mind - an exclamation.

Pronouns

Pronouns Definition: A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. She, herself, it, and this are examples of pronouns.

Prepositions

Definition of Prepositions: A preposition connects words, clauses, and sentences together and shows the relation between them. "My hand is on the table" shows relation between hand and table.

Article

An Article is a word placed before a noun to show whether the noun is used in a particular or general sense.

There are two articles, a or an and the. Whenever you see an article, you will find a noun with it.

A or an is called the indefinite article because it does not point out any particular person or thing but indicates the noun in its widest sense; therefore a man means any man whatsoever of the species or race.

The is called the definite article because it points out some particular person or thing; therefore, the man means some particular individual.

Relative Clauses

We use relative clauses to give additional information about something without starting another sentence. By combining sentences with a relative clause, your text becomes more fluent and you can avoid repeating certain words.

  How to Form Relative Clauses 

Imagine, a girl is talking to Jacob. You want to know who she is and ask a friend whether he knows her. You could say:

A girl is talking to Jacob. Do you know the girl?

That sounds rather complicated, doesn't it? It would be easier with a relative clause: you put both pieces of information into one sentence. Start with the most important thing  – you want to know who the girl is.

Do you know the girl …

As your friend cannot know which girl you are talking about, you need to put in the additional information  – the girl is talking to Jacob. Use „the girl“ only in the first part of the sentence, in the second part replace it with the relative pronoun (for people, use the relative pronoun „who“). So the final sentence is:

Do you know the girl who is talking to Jacob?

 Relative Pronouns 

relative pronoun	use	example
who	subject or object pronoun for people	I told you about the woman who lives next door.
which	subject or object pronoun for animals and things	Do you see the cat which is lying on the roof?
which	referring to a whole sentence	He couldn’t read which surprised me.
whose	possession for people animals and things	Do you know the boy whose mother is a nurse?
whom	object pronoun for people, especially in non-defining relative clauses (in defining relative clauses we colloquially prefer who)	I was invited by the professor whom I met at the conference.
that	subject or object pronoun for people, animals and things in defining relative clauses (who or which are also possible)	I don’t like the table that stands in the kitchen.

  Subject Pronoun or Object Pronoun? 

Subject and object pronouns cannot be distinguished by their forms - who, which, that are used for subject and object pronouns. You can, however, distinguish them as follows:

If the relative pronoun is followed by a verb, the relative pronoun is a subject pronoun. Subject pronouns must always be used.

the apple which is lying on the table

If the relative pronoun is not followed by a verb (but by a noun or pronoun), the relative pronoun is an object pronoun. Object pronouns can be dropped in defining relative clauses, which are then called Contact Clauses.

the apple (which) George lay on the table

  Relative Adverbs 

A relative adverb can be used instead of a relative pronoun plus preposition. This often makes the sentence easier to understand.

This is the shop in which I bought my bike.
→ This is the shop where I bought my bike.

relative adverb	meaning	use	example
when	in/on which	refers to a time expression	the day when we met him
where	in/at which	refers to a place	the place where we met him
why	for which	refers to a reason	the reason why we met him

  Defining Relative Clauses 

Defining relative clauses (also called identifying relative clauses or restrictive relative clauses) give detailed information defining a general term or expression. Defining relative clauses are not put in commas.

Imagine, Jacob is in a room with five girls. One girl is talking to Jacob and you ask somebody whether he knows this girl. Here the relative clause defines which of the five girls you mean.

            Do you know the girl who is talking to Jacob?

Defining relative clauses are often used in definitions.

            A seaman is someone who works on a ship.

Object pronouns in defining relative clauses can be dropped. (Sentences with a relative clause without the relative pronoun are calledContact Clauses.)

The boy (who/whom) we met yesterday is very nice.

  Non-Defining Relative Clauses 

Non-defining relative clauses (also called non-identifying relative clauses or non-restrictive relative clauses) give additional information on something, but do not define it. Non-defining relative clauses are put in commas.

Imagine, Jacob is in a room with only one girl. The two are talking to each other and you ask somebody whether he knows this girl. Here the relative clause is non-defining because in this situation it is obvious which girl you mean.

Do you know the girl, who is talking to Jacob?

Note: In non-defining relative clauses, who/which may not be replaced with that.

Object pronouns in non-defining relative clauses must be used.

Jim, who/whom we met yesterday, is very nice.

  How to Shorten Relative Clauses?

Relative clauses with who, which, that as subject pronoun can be replaced with a participle. This makes the sentence shorter and easier to understand.

I told you about the woman who lives next door. – I told you about the woman living next door.

Do you see the cat which is lying on the roof? – Do you see the cat lying on the roof?