The passive voice

Use of the passive voice:

1. Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known, however, who or what is performing the action.
   Example: "A letter was written."
   The focus, here, is on the fact that a letter was written. We don't know, however, who wrote it.
2. Sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than active voice, as the following example shows:
   Example: A vase was broken.
   Focus, here, is on the fact that a vase was broken, but we don't blame anyone. Compare this to: "You broke the vase."

Form of the passive voice:

Subject + the appropriate form of to be + Past Participle

NOTE: The appropriate form of to be = To be is put in the the tense of the active voice main verb.

When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:

• The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
• The form of the verb is the appropriate form of to be (the tense of the active voice main verb) + the past participle.
• The subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped.)

Example:

Active	Nancy	makes	tea
	subject	verb	object
Passive	Tea	is made	(by Nancy)
	object becoming subject	verb	subject becoming object or is dropped

Examples of the passive voice:

Tense		Subject	Verb	Object
Simple Present	Active:	Nancy	makes	tea.
	Passive:	Tea	is made	by Nancy.
Present Progressive	Active:	Nancy	is making	tea.
	Passive:	Tea	is being made	by Nancy.
Simple Past	Active:	Nancy	made	tea.
	Passive:	Tea	was made	by Nancy.
Past Progressive	Active:	Nancy	was making	tea.
	Passive:	Tea	was being made	by Nancy.
Present Perfect	Active:	Nancy	has made	Tea.
	Passive:	Tea	has been made	by Nancy.
Past Perfect	Active:	Nancy	had made	tea.
	Passive:	Tea	had beenmade	by Nancy.
Future simple	Active:	Nancy	will make	tea.
	Passive:	Tea	will bemade	by Nancy.
Future perfect	Active:	Nancy	will have made	tea.
	Passive:	Tea	will have beenmade	by Nancy.
Conditional	Active:	Nancy	would make	tea.
	Passive:	Tea	would bemade	by Nancy.
Modals	Active:	Nancy	can make	tea.
	Passive:	Tea	can be made	by Nancy.

Passive voice sentences with two Objects:

Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that one of the two objects becomes the subject, the other one remains an object. Which object to transform into a subject depends on what you want to put the focus on.

Active/Passive	Subject	Verb	Object 1	Object 2
Active:	Nancy	offered	a flower	to me.
Passive:	A flower	was offered	to me	by Nancy.
Passive:	I	was offered	a flower	by Nancy.

Impersonal Passive:

Study these examples:

• They say that the planet is in danger.
• It is said that the planet is in danger.

This type of passive is called impersonal because we use the impersonal form "it is..." This is only possible with verbs of perception (e. g. say, think, know ...)

Examples:    

• It is said that...
• It is thought that...
• It is believed that...
• It is known that...                      

It is also common that we start the passive form of these sentences with the subject of the that-clause:

Examples:

• They say that the planet is in danger.= The planet is said to be in danger.
• They think that women live longer than men. = Women are thought to live longer.