A passive voice is a type of phrasal construction where the subject is patient , that is, he suffers the action of the phrase instead of practicing it. What happens to the subject is highlighted, however, without emphasizing it.
Example : The car was washed . (The car was washed.)
The focus of the example above is the period object ( the car ), since it receives the action of being washed.
Passive voice usage rules and examples
The passive voice can be used in affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences. Its formation is expressed by:
Object + verb to be + Past Participle of the main verb + complement
This structure can be used in different verbal tenses of the present, past and future. To do so, simply inflect the verb to be .
Check out some examples below:
Passive voice on Simple Present
Object + am / is / are + Past Participle ( Past participle ) of the main verb + complement
- Affirmative Form : The school is painted by John . (The school is painted by John.)
- Negative Form : The school isn’t painted by John . (The school is not painted by John.)
- Interrogative Form : Is the school painted by Jonh ? (Is the school painted by John?)
Passive voice in the Present Continuous
Object + am being / is being / are being + Past Participle ( Past participle ) of the main verb + complement
- Affirmative Form : The school is being painted by John . (The school is being painted by John.)
- Negative Form : The school isn’t being painted by John . (The school is not being painted by John.)
- Interrogative Form : Is the school being painted by John? (Is the school being painted by John?)
Passive voice in Present Perfect
Object + has been / have been + Past Participle of the main verb + complement
- Affirmative Form : The school has been painted by John . (The school has been painted by John.)
- Negative Form : The school hasn’t been painted by John . (The school has not been painted by John.)
- Interrogative Form : Has the school been painted by John ? (Has the school been painted by John?)
Passive voice on Simple Past
Object + was / were + Past Participle ( Past participle ) of the main verb + complement
- Affirmative Form : The school was painted by John . (The school was painted by John.)
- Negative Form : The school wasn’t painted by John . (The school was not painted by John.)
- Interrogative Form : Was the school painted by John ? (Was the school painted by John?)
In the image above, The Simpsons make a discovery: someone ate the cookies. This phrase is in the active voice , as it indicates that the subject ( someone = someone) took an action ( even the cookies = ate the cookies).
Then the phrase The cookies were eaten. (The cookies were eaten) is in the passive voice , as it indicates that the subject ( the cookies = the cookies) suffered the action ( were eaten = were eaten).
To learn more about Simple Past , don’t miss the content below :
Passive voice on Past Continuous
Object + was being / were being + Past Participle ( Past participle ) of the main verb + complement
- Affirmative Form : The school was being painted by John . (The school was being painted by John.)
- Negative Form : The school wasn’t being painted by John . (The school was not being painted by John.)
- Interrogative Form : Was the school being painted by John? (Was the school being painted by John?)
See also: Past Continuous
Passive voice on Past Perfect
Object + had been + Past Participle (past participle) of the main verb + complement
- Affirmative Form : The school had been painted by John . (The school had been painted by John.)
- Negative Form : The school hadn’t been painted by John . (The school had not been painted by John.)
- Interrogative Form : Had the school been painted by John? (Had the school been painted by John?)
Passive voice on Simple Future
Object + will be + Past Participle ( Past participle ) of the main verb + complement
- Affirmative Form : The school will be painted by John . (The school will be painted by John.)
- Negative Form : The school won’t be painted by John . (The school will not be painted by John.)
- Interrogative Form : Will the school be painted by John? (Will the school be painted by John?)
Passive voice on Future Perfect
Object + will have been + Past Participle ( Past participle ) of the main verb + complement
- Affirmative Form : By next week, the school will have been painted by John . (By next week, the school will have been painted by John.)
- Negative Form : By next week, the school won’t have been painted by Joh n. (By next week, the school will not have been painted by John.)
- Interrogative Form : Will the school have been painted by next week by John ? (Around next week, will the school have been painted by John?)
Passive voice with modal verbs
In the case of modal verbs, the construction of passive voice is done as follows:
Modal verb (modal verb) + be + Past Participle ( Past participle )
The main modal verbs are: will , would , can , could , must , should , may , might and ought to. Check below examples with the verb modal could .
- Affirmative Form : The school could be painted by John . (The school could be painted by John.)
- Negative Form : The school couldn’t be painted by John . (The school could not be painted by John.)
- Interrogative Form : Could the school be painted by John . (Could the school be painted by John?)
See also: Modal Verbs
Active voice x Passive voice
Unlike what happens in passive voice , in active voice, the subject of the action is highlighted. Check out some examples below:
| Examples | Active voice (active voice) | Passive voice (Passive) |
|---|---|---|
| Simple Present | John paints the school every year. (John paints the school every year.) | The school is painted by John every year . (The school is painted by John every year.) |
| Simple Past | John painted the school . (John painted the school) | The school was painted by John . (The school was painted by John.) |
| Simple Future | John will paint the school . (John will paint the school.) | The school will be painted by John . (The school will be painted by John.) |
See also the cases below.
Passive Voice Exercises
1 . (PUC- Rio) The passive voice is used in “Orkut was quietly launched on January 22, 2004”. Find the sentence that is also in the passive voice.
a) Communities have never rejected new members.
b) Good ideas took shape at the end of the session.
c) Some communities have been able to control their growth.
d) Several social groups could be connected by the Internet.
e) Young students are never tired of chatting with friends on email.
Answer
Correct alternative d) Several social groups could be connected by the Internet.
a) WRONG. The sentence structure is in the active voice. In Communities have never rejected new members . (Communities have never rejected new members.), The subject communities does not reject new members.
b) WRONG. The sentence structure is in the active voice. In Good ideas took shape at the end of the session . (New ideas took shape at the end of the session.), The good ideas subject practices the action of taking shape.
c) WRONG. The sentence structure is in the active voice. In Some communities have been able to control their growth . (Some communities were able to control their own growth.), The subject some communities practices the action of controlling their own growth.
d) CORRECT. In Several social groups could be connected by the Internet . (Several social groups could be connected via the Internet.), The subject several social groups is passive, that is, it suffers the action of being able to be connected via the Internet.
e) WRONG. The sentence structure is in the active voice. In Young students are never tired of chatting with friends on email . (Young students never get tired of talking to friends by email.), The young students subject practices the action of the phrase: never tires of talking to friends by email.
2 . Complete the passive voice with the correct tense:
After the accident, two people _______________ to the hospital.
a) was taking
b) were taking
c) was taken
d) were taken
e) are taken
Answer
Correct alternative: d) were taken
Before checking the analysis of the alternatives, understand the meaning of the sentence.
After the accident, two people _______________ to the hospital . (After the accident, two people _______________ to the hospital.)
a) WRONG. The subject of the sentence is two people . Therefore, the following verb must be inflected in the plural. Since was is a singular inflection, the alternative is automatically invalidated.
Furthermore, was taking is an inflection of Past Continuous, a tense used to indicate continuous actions in the past. In the sentence in question, it does not make sense to use Past Continuous , as the action does not indicate that the two people “were” taking anyone to the hospital, but rather that they suffered the action of being taken to the hospital.
b) WRONG. Were taking is an inflection of Past Continuous , a tense used to indicate continuous actions in the past. In the sentence in question, it makes no sense to use Past Continuous , as the action does not indicate that the two people “were taking” anyone to the hospital, but rather that they suffered the action of being taken to the hospital.
c) WRONG. The subject of the sentence is two people . Therefore, the following verb must be inflected in the plural. Since was is a singular inflection, the alternative is automatically invalidated.
d) CORRECT. The sentence indicates that two people suffered the action of being taken to the hospital. As the situation refers to a punctual past, the verb to be is used in Simple Past ( were , because the subject is plural: two people = two people) + Past Participle of the main verb. The main verb is to take and its Past Participle inflection is taken .
e) WRONG. Are taken is an inflection indicative of present tense; habits and routines. However, the gap to be filled includes a sentence indicating the past.
See also: Irregular Verbs in English
3 . Pass the sentence below to the passive voice:
Bob repaired the car.
Answer
Correct answer: The car was repaired by Bob.
The phrase Bob repaired the car . (Bob fixed the car.) Is a phrase in the active voice inflected in Simple Past, which is a tense indicative of punctual action in the past. To pass it on to the passive voice, we must follow the following structure:
Object + Simple Past of the verb to be ( was / were ) + Past Participle of the main verb + complement
The object of the sentence is the car . Since car is a singular noun, we used the was inflection . The main verb of the sentence is to repair and its Past Participle inflection is repaired . The sentence complement is by Bob (by Bob.)