Active and Passive

Lessons (1k): The passive voice

  • Active voice: "The cat chased the mouse."
  • Passive voice: "The mouse was chased by the cat."

    There are two "voices" in English grammar. There's the active voice, and the passive voice.
    Normally we use the active voice. It's the usual way to speak.

    We mainly use the passive voice in writing, especially in business or academic writing.
    "The passive voice is used more often in formal written English."

     

    When do we use the passive?

    We all know the grammar of the passive, but when do we use the passive? It sounds strange to say “the mouse was chased by the cat”. I might write those words if I want to explain something very carefully, perhaps in an academic document or a business letter. I certainly wouldn’t say them in ordinary conversation.

    In fact, we don’t often use the passive when we talk. It's not natural. One way to decide if somebody is telling the truth is to look at their use of the active and passive. If they suddenly start using the passive, it may mean they’re lying. If a person says, "I deny that!" it's natural. If he says "That is denied." it's very unnatural.

    OK, here’s another example of active and passive:

  • Active: “They have seen an elephant in the park.”
  • Passive: “An elephant has been seen in the park.”
  • We can all see the grammatical difference between these two, but what’s the difference in function? One of these sentences tells you something that the other one doesn’t. Yes, that’s right, the passive sentence doesn’t tell you who saw the elephant.

    When we use a verb, normally we say who did it. For example, "John bought a coffee." This is the active voice. When we read the sentence, we know who did it; John did it. John was the "agent".

    We use the passive voice when:

    Don’t use the passive too much. George Orwell wrote 1984 and Animal Farm. He said “never use the passive where you can use the active”. A lot of people agree with him, and so does Microsoft Word. The passive is a very important part of writing English for Academic Purposes, so you will use it a lot if you go to university in Britain or the USA. We also see the passive a lot in business letters, and in newspapers where about 13% of verbs are in the passive.

     

    How do we make the passive?

    Example sentence TENSE
    The oceans are explored every day. PRESENT SIMPLE
    The oceans were partly explored last century. PAST SIMPLE
    The oceans are still being explored today. PRESENT CONTINUOUS
    The oceans were being explored when Charles Darwin wrote On The Origin of Species PAST CONTINUOUS
    The oceans have been explored in many ways. PRESENT PERFECT
    The oceans are going to be explored this century. FUTURE SIMPLE (1)
    The oceans will be explored this century. FUTURE SIMPLE (2)
    We can often make the passive using "get" plus the past participle. It's less common and often less formal:
    Simon and Sarah got engaged last week. PAST SIMPLE
    They are going to get married next week. FUTURE SIMPLE (1)
    They will get married next week. FUTURE SIMPLE (2)
    They are getting married next week. PRESENT CONTINUOUS FOR FUTURE

    We do use “get” + past participle about getting engaged and getting married, but we usually use it about bad things that happen to us. For example, our car may get hit by another car, or we may:
    • lose our house keys and get locked out
    get caught doing something wrong
    get arrested by the police
    get put in prison
    get wet because it’s raining
    get a broken arm
    get robbed by a criminal
    Remember, this is usually for bad things. We say “Tom got fired” but “David’s been promoted.

     

    Passive voice when we don't know who did it

    You go to lunch. You leave your iPhone on your desk. When you come back, the iPhone is not there. You don't know who took it. You think it was probably a criminal, so the verb is "to steal".

    You can use the active voice:
    "Somebody has stolen my iPhone."

    or you can use the passive voice:
    "My iPhone has been stolen."
    It sounds natural to use the passive voice this time.

    Some more examples:

  • Passive voice: “Potassium oxide is used in most fertilisers”.
  • Passive voice: “A state of emergency has been declared in New Orleans” (maybe there’s been another hurricane...)
  • Make a passive verb into an active verb:

    How could we make these sentences into the active voice for normal, natural speaking? We need an agent; we need to say who did it. But we don’t know who did it. There are two ways to do this:

    First, we can guess who did it:

  • Active voice: “Manufacturers use potassium oxide in most fertilisers.
  • Active voice: “The government has declared a state of emergency in New Orleans.
  • Second, we can use a non-specific word. We can use a personal pronoun ("we" or “you” or “"they") or an indefinite pronoun ("everybody” or "nobody"):

  • Active voice: “They use potassium oxide in most fertilisers.
  • Active voice: “They’ve declared a state of emergency in New Orleans.
  • Traditional English grammar books weren't very friendly. A grammar lesson on the Internet is quite friendly, so I use the active voice in my grammar lessons. When I need an agent, I use the word "we". For example:

  • Active (modern, friendly): "We need an agent."
  • Passive (traditional): "An agent is needed."
  • Can I use "one" as an agent?

    No, not really. A traditional English grammar book uses the passive voice a lot. If it uses a non-specific word for an agent, it won't be "we", "you", "they" or "everybody"; it'll be "one". "One does this", "One doesn't do that."

    However, in modern English we don't often use "one" like this. You may see it in an older cookery book ("One takes two eggs...") or in older literature ("If one is a gentleman, there are some things one just doesn't do").

    This is where you will see the word "one" in modern English:

  • As a number ("one, two, three")
  • As a demonstrative ("This one?" "No, that one.")
  • As an indefinite pronoun for an object ("Have you got a pen?" "No, I can't find one.")
  • In the words "someone", "anyone" and "no-one".

    Try not to use "one" as an agent when you want to turn a passive verb into an active one.

     

    Passive voice when we're not interested in who did it

    Sometimes we don't say who did it because we don't care, and sometimes because it's obvious.

    We don't care who:
  • Penicillin was discovered in 1928.”
  • Advertisements for cigarettes were often designed to appeal to children”.
  • A new and larger museum will be built next year.”
  • 75 grammes of hydrogen peroxide were then added”.

  • These are all formal statements of fact. If you're being formal, it sounds right to use the passive in writing and speaking.

    Sometimes we're not interested in who did it because it's obvious. That could be because everybody did it, or because it's always the same people who do it:

    Everybody?
  • Passive: “The aurora borealis can sometimes be seen in Scotland”.
  • Passive: "The solar eclipse was seen over the whole of Switzerland".
  • This is how we write formal statements of fact. If we’re talking to a friend, we probably use the active, even though we have to add an agent: “You can sometimes see the aurora borealis in Scotland.” “Everybody in Switzerland saw the solar eclipse.” Maybe the person you're talking to has never been to Scotland; and obviously not everybody in Switzerland saw the eclipse (some were babies, some were asleep). These are just ways to add an agent, so that we can use the active voice for normal speaking.

    Always the same people?

    We normally use the verbs "arrest", "bear", "marry" and "promote" in the passive voice. That's because it's always the police who arrest criminals; it's always the mother that bears a child; it's always a priest (or a vicar or a registrar) who marries a couple; and it's always the employer who promotes an employee. We don't need to say every time that the agent was the police, the mother, the priest or the employer.

    For example:

  • "The criminal was arrested", not "The criminal was arrested by the police".
  • "I was born in 1990", not "My mother bore me in 1990."
  • "John and Sarah were married (or got married) in 2018", not "The priest married John and Sarah in 2018".
  • Prince William and Kate Middleton were married on 29 April 2011."
  • Prince William was born on 21 June 1982”.
  • "Sarah was promoted to Sales Manager for Germany and Austria" not "Sarah's employer promoted her to Sales Manager for Germany and Austria".
  • Sometimes we use the passive with an agent. Let's look at "arrest" again:

    Voice / agent Example Comment
    Passive voice without agent “The criminal was arrested the next day.” It was the police who arrested the criminal, obviously.
    Passive voice with agent “The criminal was arrested the next day, by the British Transport police.” It's normal to use the verb "to arrest" in the passive voice, but this time we're interested in the agent, because it was not the usual police. It's a surprise that the British Transport police did it.
    Active voice The British Transport police arrested the criminal the next day. We normally use the passive voice with "to arrest". Why use the active voice this time? Probably because the speaker already talked about the normal police and the British Transport police. He's more interested in the police than he is in the criminal.

    Now let's think about "blow". Like "arrest" and "promote", this verb is usually in the passive, because it's almost always the wind that blows things around (litter, pieces of paper), or blows things over:

    Voice / agent Example Comment
    Passive voice without agent “My bicycle was blown over last night.” It was the wind that blew over the bicycle, obviously.
    Passive voice with agent “My bicycle was blown over by the strong wind last night.” The speaker thinks the other person doesn't know there was a strong wind last night.
    Active voice The strong wind last night blew my bicycle over. We normally use the passive voice with "to blow". Why use the active voice this time? Probably because the speaker already talked about strong winds. He's more interested in the wind than he is in the bicycle.

     

    We're also not interested in 'who did it' when we do academic and scientific writing:
    Active voice for normal English: "We use the passive voice more often in academic writing."
    Passive voice for academic English: "The passive voice is used more often in academic writing."

    If you do some scientific research and then write to your mother about it, you use the active voice. "We took a sample and tested it with a Geiger counter." It's normal English, and there's no reason to use the passive, so you use the active voice. However, if you write a formal scientific article about it, normally you don't say who did it. You say, "A sample was taken and tested with a Geiger counter." Click here to read more about the passive voice in academic English.

    It's normal to use the passive when you're writing scientific articles, or even serious newspaper articles with facts about science, history, law, geography and natural events, Because it's normal, people often use tthe passive in formal writing even when they do want to say who did it. Each of these examples is the passive with an agent:

  • Penicillin was discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming.”
  • “America was discovered by Vikings in about 985 AD”.
  • “Japan is struck by several small earthquakes every month”
  • “The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci
  •  

    Passive voice when we don't want to say who did it

    People often don't want to say who did something bad - especially if they did it!

  • "The kitchen window has been broken." (Who broke it??)
  • The train from Folkestone to London has been delayed by thirty minutes”. (Who delayed it??)
  • "Shoplifters will be prosecuted." (A shoplifter is a criminal who steals things from shops, and to prosecute is to start the criminal justice procedure. You will see this sign in shops, because shops don't like to say "If you steal anything we will call the police.")
  •  

    Do the active and the passive always mean the same thing?

    Almost always, the answer is "yes", but sometimes the meaning changes. Think about these examples:

    ACTIVE: “In ordinary conversation we don’t often use the passive.”
    PASSIVE: “In ordinary conversation, the passive is not often used.”
    Do these mean the same?

    ACTIVE: “I don’t know the speed of sound
    PASSIVE: “The speed of sound is not known”.
    Do these mean the same?

     

    Exercise: Complete this table

    Click here for the answers

    Active voice (you must say who did it!) Passive voice Do they mean the same?
    I have completed the first two for you. The first two have been completed for you. Yes
    What shall we do? What is to be done? Yes, probably.
    ___________________ Insufficient data was obtained in the experiment. _____
    The postman opened the door. ___________________ _____
    Shakespeare wrote Romeo & Juliet. ___________________ _____
    ___________________ Shoplifters will be prosecuted. _____
    ___________________ The criminal was arrested near the Post Office. _____
    ___________________ Not all verbs can be used in the passive. _____

     

     

    Technical grammar points:

    Subject and object in active and passive sentences

    Active: “The cat chased the mouse.”
    Passive: “The mouse was chased by the cat.”

    In the active sentence, the subject is the cat, and the object is the mouse.
    In the passive sentence, the subject is the mouse.

    Not all verbs can be used in the passive

    The rule is that you can’t use an intransitive verb in the passive. When you think about it, this is obvious.

    A complete sentence in English usually needs subject, verb and object. That’s because most English verbs are transitive. A transitive verb is one that needs a direct object. For example to lift, to hold, to use. These are incomplete sentences: “Sarah lifted.” “Simon was holding”. “Caroline uses”. What did Sarah lift? What was Simon holding? What does Caroline use? We must give the verb an object: “Sarah lifted the baby, Simon was holding a book, Caroline uses a computer”.

    You can use a transitive verb in the active or the passive. Caroline can use a computer (active), or the computer can be used (passive).

    An intransitive verb does not have a direct object. For example, to laugh, to read, to arrive, to bark, to swim, to sing. These sentences have intransitive verbs so they are complete without a direct object: “Sarah laughed.” “The dog barked.” “Simon was reading.” “I was singing.

    This is why we can’t use an intransitive verb in the passive voice:

  • Sarah can laugh but she can’t be laughed.
  • Simon can read but he can’t be read.
  • A dog can bark but a dog can’t be barked.
  • I can arrive but I can’t be arrived.
  • Andrew can sing but he can’t be sung.
  • I can swim but I can’t be swum.
  • At this point, a student often says “But Sarah can laugh at Simon, and Simon can be laughed at by Sarah”. Yes, that’s true, but the verb to laugh is intransitive, and the phrasal verb to laugh at is transitive. Here are some more examples of verbs which become transitive when they become phrasal verbs: to bark at, to read about, to object to, to look into, to talk about, to talk to, to run over.

  • The dog barked at the cat / The cat was barked at by the dog.*
  • Peter talked about the farmer. / The farmer was talked about by Peter.*

  • *Both of these passive sentences sound a little unnatural. Remember, the passive voice is usually for writing, not for speaking; and Orwell tells us to use the active, unless there’s a good reason not to.