Introduction

The passive voice is most commonly used for:

• formal or academic writing; essays, reports, articles
• news: headlines, reporting.

We use the passive voice when the object (person or thing) receiving the action is more important than the person or thing performing the action, for example:

• The fire was started by Robin.

or when we do not know who or what performed the action:

• My car was stolen last night.

Form

We make the passive voice with:
"be" + past participle of the main verb.

The present simple passive - examples:

object	Verb "be"	Main verb	Complement	Subject
The experiment	is isn't is not	carried out	every week	by scientists at the university.
The experiments	are aren't are not	carried out	every week.

Verb "be"	object	Main verb	Complement	Subject
Are	the experiments	carried out	every week?

The past simple passive - examples:

object	Verb "be"	Main verb	Complement	Subject
The experiment	was wasn't was not	carried out	every week	by scientists at the university.
The experiments	were weren't were not	carried out	every week.

Verb "be"	object	Main verb	Complement	Subject
Were	the experiments	carried out	every week?

The passive voice can be used in any tense:

Object (receives the action)	Verb "be" (various tenses)	Main verb (past participle)
The dogs	are	fed.
	are being
	were
	were being
	are going to be
	will be
	have been
	will be being
	have been being
	had been

In the examples above we do not know who is feeding the dogs. It is not important. What is important is that the dogs are receiving food.

If we want to include the person or thing performing the action, we can use the preposition "by":

• The dogs are being fed by a charity worker.

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Practice

Complete the sentences with the correct past simple passive form of the verb in brackets:

.

1)

The Eiffel Tower    in 1889. (build)

 

2)

Two World Wars    during the 20th century. (fight)

 

3)

How many sonnets    by William Shakespeare? (write)

 

4)

The internet    by many different people. (create)

 

Please submit the missing answers shown in red
 

Submit

Further practice

.

1)

The orchestra ____ by Mario Lopez.
 

conducts

will being conducted

be conducted

will be conducted

 

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2)

The houses ____.
 

have been demolished

have demolished

be demolished

has been demolished

 

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3)

The costumes ____ by the art department.
 

is prepared

is being prepared

are been prepared

are being prepared

 

---

4)

The new law ____.
 

have been passed

will passed

going to be passed

is going to be passed

 

---

5)

The trees ____ cut down.
 

was being

were been

had being

were being

 

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6)

The grass ____ cut too many times.
 

had been

will been

is been

have been

 

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Please submit the missing answers shown in red
 

Submit

Further language points

We can employ the passive voice when we do not want to say who or what performed the action:

• "I’m sorry but your vase was broken."
• "My homework was lost."
• "The accounts have been messed up."

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Modal verbs can be used in the passive voice:

Present

Active – The staff should make the beds every day.
Passive – The beds should be made every day.

Past
Active – The staff should have made the beds every day.
Passive – The beds should have been made every day.

Advanced language point

Further examples of the passive voice:

• future perfect –
  The dogs will have been fed.
• future perfect continuous –
  The dogs will have been being fed.
• past perfect continuous –
  The dogs had been being fed.

Whilst grammatically correct, the perfect continuous tenses are not usually used in the passive voice. The situation does not usually arise and they sound rather awkward.