PASSIVE VOICE

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.
§ My bike was stolen.
In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I do not know, however, who did it.
Sometimes a statement in the passive voice is more polite than the active voice, as the following example
shows:
§ A mistake was made.
In this case, I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame anyone (e.g. You have made a
mistake.).

® Why might the passive voice be controversial occasionally?

The primary reason is that sometimes the information seems incomplete or confusing. Let’s look at a sentence
from a student’s paper on Homer’s The Odyssey:
§ When her house was invaded, Penelope had to think of ways to delay her remarriage.
Like many passive constructions, this sentence lacks explicit reference to the actor — it doesn’t tell the reader
who or what invaded Penelope’s house. The active voice clarifies things:
§ After suitors invaded Penelope’s house, she had to think of ways to fend them off.
Thus, many instructor s— the readers making sense of your writing — prefer that you use the active voice. They
want you to specify who or what is doing the action.

® Scientific writing
All this advice works for papers in the humanities, you might note, however, in scientific areas instructors
recommend or even require the passive voice in such writing. The rationale for using the passive voice in
scientific writing is that it achieves “an objective tone” — for example, by avoiding the first person.

Attention: note that passive voice exists in all tenses! Look at the table below and analyse how to
transform to passive voice in each tense.

ACTIVE VOICE PASSIVE VOICE

I keep the butter in the fridge
I am keeping the butter in the fridge
I kept the butter in the fridge
I was keeping the butter in the fridge
I have kept the butter in the fridge
I had kept the butter in the fridge
I will keep the butter in the fridge
I might keep the butter in the fridge
The butter is kept in the fridge
The butter is being kept in the fridge
The butter was kept in the fridge
The butter was being kept in the fridge
The butter has been kept in the fridge
The butter had been kept in the fridge
The butter will be kept in the fridge
The butter might be kept in the fridge
Task 1. Change the active voices into passive voices.
a. Steven has forgotten the book.
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b. The pupils handed in their homework.
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c. Maria crashed into the blue car.
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d. Alex learned the poem.
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e. My mom is really happy because rescued a puppy today.
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f. The technician has not repaired the DVD recorder.
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g. They play handball.
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h. Sue puts the rucksack on the floor.
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i. The girls had lost the match.
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j. The teacher is not going to open the window.
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