Why Use the Passive Voice?
- When the doer of the action is unknown or unimportant: Sometimes we don't know who did something, or it's not important to say.
- Example: "The window was broken." (We don't know who broke it, or it's not important.)
- When the focus is on the object: We might want to emphasize what happened to something.
- Example: "The car is being washed." (The focus is on the car and the action happening to it.)
- In formal writing or news reports: The passive voice can sound more objective.
- Example: The new law was passed by the government.
- Example: The new law was passed by the government.
How to Form the Present Passive:
To make a sentence in the present passive, we use:
-
am / is / are (forms of the verb "to be" in the present tense)
-
+ the past participle of the main verb (usually ends in -ed, or you need to remember irregular forms like "eaten," "seen," "made")
-
Active: Someone cleans the rooms every day.
-
Passive: The rooms are cleaned every day. (Object "the rooms" becomes the subject)
-
Active: My mom makes this cake.
-
Passive: This cake is made by my mom. (Object "this cake" becomes the subject)
How to Form the Past Passive:
To make a sentence in the past passive, we use:
-
was / were (forms of the verb "to be" in the past tense)
-
+ the past participle of the main verb
-
Active: The dog chased the cat.
-
Passive: The cat was chased by the dog. (Object "the cat" becomes the subject)
-
Active: They built this house last year.
-
Passive: This house was built last year. (Object "this house" becomes the subject)