Active and Passive Voice

Understanding Voice: The Subject's Role

In active voice, the subject performs the action. In passive voice, the subject receives the action.

$$\text{Active: Subject} + \text{Verb} + \text{Object} \rightarrow \text{Passive: Object} + \text{Be} + \text{Verb}_{pp}$$

The fundamental structural shift between active and passive perspectives.

$\text{Subject}$=The entity performing the action (Agent)(Noun/Pronoun)

$\text{Be}$=The auxiliary verb indicating the tense(Verb)

$\text{Verb}_{pp}$=Past participle form of the main verb(V3)

No Object

→

Intransitive verbs cannot be made passive.

Focus Shift: Passive voice highlights the result or receiver rather than the doer.

Grammar Rule: Only sentences with a Transitive Verb can be converted to passive.

Quick Test: If you can ask 'What?' or 'Whom?' after the verb and get an answer, it is transitive and can become passive.

The Mechanics of Conversion: Swapping and Changing

To convert to passive, move the object to the subject position and use a form of 'to be' that matches the original tense, followed by the Past Participle.

$$\text{Main Rule: } V \rightarrow \text{be} + V_{past, participle}$$

The core transformation required to change the verb form.

$V$=Original active verb(Any Tense)

$\text{be}$=Auxiliary matching active tense(is/was/will be...)

$V_{past, participle}$=Past participle of original verb(V3 Form)

The Agent: The original subject moves to the end behind a 'by' tag.

Auxiliary Verb: The verb 'be' carries the entire burden of tense identification.

Pronoun Shift: Subjective pronouns become objective — 'He wrote it' → 'It was written by him' (he → him, she → her, they → them).

Agent Omission: Drop 'by + agent' when the doer is unknown, obvious, or unimportant — 'The window was broken' is complete without 'by someone'.

Tense Mastery in Passive Voice

The Auxiliary Verb 'be' carries the tense of the original active sentence. For example, 'is eating' becomes 'is being eaten'.

$$\text{Continuous: be} + \text{being} + V_{pp} \quad \text{Perfect: have/has} + \text{been} + V_{pp}$$

How to handle continuous and perfect aspects in passive transformations.

$\text{being}$=Marker for Continuous aspect(Ing-form)

$\text{been}$=Marker for Perfect aspect(Past Participle)

Continuous Rule: Always include 'being' between 'be' and the V3.

Perfect Rule: Always insert 'been' after have/has/had.

Perfect Continuous: Future perfect continuous, past perfect continuous, and present perfect continuous are almost never converted to passive — the result ('has been being done') is too awkward for standard usage.

Complete Tense Conversion Table

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Simple Present: writes → is written

•

Simple Past: wrote → was written

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Simple Future: will write → will be written

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Present Continuous: is writing → is being written

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Past Continuous: was writing → was being written

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Present Perfect: has written → has been written

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Past Perfect: had written → had been written

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Future Perfect: will have written → will have been written

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Modal: can/must/should write → can/must/should be written

Special Cases: Double Objects and Get-Passive

Some verbs take two objects — a Direct Object and an Indirect Object. Either object can become the passive subject, producing two valid passive forms.

$$\text{S + V + IO + DO} \rightarrow \text{IO + be + V}_{pp}\text{ + DO} \quad \textbf{or} \quad \text{DO + be + V}_{pp}\text{ + to + IO}$$

Double-object verbs like give, tell, show, offer, teach produce two passive variants.

$\text{IO}$=Indirect Object — the receiver (usually a person)(Noun/Pronoun)

$\text{DO}$=Direct Object — the thing given/told/shown(Noun/Pronoun)

IO as subject

→

'She was given a prize' — more natural in English.

DO as subject

→

'A prize was given to her' — requires 'to' before the IO.

Example: 'The teacher gave him a book' → 'He was given a book' OR 'A book was given to him'.

Preferred Form: Making the indirect object (person) the subject sounds more natural — 'She was told the news' rather than 'The news was told to her'.

Get-Passive: Informal English replaces 'be' with 'get' — 'He got fired', 'She got promoted'. Common in spoken language but avoided in formal writing.

Strategic Use: When to Use Passive Voice

Use passive when the Agent is unknown, obvious, or less important than the action or result itself.

$$\text{Emphasis} = \text{Action/Result} > \text{Doer}$$

The rhetorical priority determining the choice of passive voice.

$\text{Emphasis}$=The focal point of the sentence(Relative)

Scientific Reports: Focuses on the process rather than the researcher — 'The solution was heated to 100°C'.

Diplomatic Omission: Allows for tactful phrasing when the actor should be hidden — 'Mistakes were made' avoids blaming anyone.

Avoid Overuse: Excessive passive makes writing vague and lifeless. Default to active; use passive only when the receiver is more important than the doer.

News and Legal Writing: Headlines and legal documents frequently use passive — 'Three suspects were arrested' focuses on the event, not the police.