How to Use the Passive Voice

In English, we can give sentences an active or passive voice, whatever tense it is. In the active form we start with the subject and we use this form to say what the subject does. E.g.

• I play football in the park every Friday.
• I fixed my bicycle after that accident.

We use the passive voice to say what happens to people and things, to say what is done to them. So the object of the sentence is moved to the beginning, while the subject goes to the end or is not included at all.

We make a passive sentence using the verb ‘to be’ and the past participle.

E.g.

• Football is played here.
• My bicycle is being fixed.

We use the passive form when we don’t know who did the action. It is often used like this in news reports. For example:

• The crown jewels were stolen last night!
• The toys are made in China.

We also use the passive voice when the action is more important than the subject (who did it). For example:

• The baby was born on Friday.
• I was told the bad news by Jim last week.

Here are some examples of how active sentences can be changed into passive ones. Notice how the tense always remains the same.

A man attacked me yesterday = I was attacked (by a man) yesterday
They’ll drive her to the airport at 11 = She’ll be driven to the airport at 11
Someone was burgling the house = The house was being burgled

Your Turn

Turn the active sentences into passive ones, and the passive sentences into active ones!

1. She completed the project at 8pm.
2. They sent the parcel to Johnny on Friday.
3. He was arrested by the police for drug smuggling.
4. You should cook the chicken for 25 minutes.
5. This bank has never been robbed by anybody.

Answers…

1. The project was completed (by her) at 8pm. (Active into passive)
2. The parcel was sent to Johnny on Friday. (Active into passive)
3. The police arrested him for drug smuggling. (Passive into active)
4. The chicken should be cooked for 25 minutes. (Active into passive)
5. Nobody has ever robbed this bank. (Passive into active)