Passive voice

Ana Sofía Herrera García

Valentina Noreña Gómez
Leandro Quiroz Londoño
María Paulina Arenas Alzate
English passive voice
Voice is a grammatical category which makes it possible to view the action of a sentence in
either two ways, without change in facts reported: passive and active.

In the passive, the person or thing that the action was done to becomes the topic or
theme. We can leave out the ‘doer’ or agent, or we can place the ‘doer’ in a prepositional
phrase (by + ‘doer’).
ACTIVE VOICE: James Cameron directed Titanic.
agent / direct
‘doer’ object

PASSIVE VOICE: Titanic was directed by James Cameron.

English passive constructions
1. Personal
Subject + to be + past participle + to infinitive
e.g. The terrorist is claimed to be living abroad.

2. Impersonal
It + to be + past participle + that-clause
e.g. It is said that women live longer than men.

3. Causative
Have/get + n. + past participle
e.g. I had my house painted last month.
1. Personal
○ The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
○ Transitive verbs

e.g. The terrorist is claimed to be living abroad.

Subject + to be + past participle + to infinitive
2. Impersonal
○ Intransitive verbs
○ Only possible with verbs of perception
(think, believe, say, report, know, expect, consider, understand, etc.)

e.g. It is said that women live longer than men.

It + to be + past participle + that-clause
3. Causative

1. Intentional use 2. Unintentional use

○ When you get somebody else to do ○ Things happen to us but we do not want
something for you. them to happen or ask for them to be done.

e.g. I had my house painted last month. e.g.We had our car damaged by a falling tree.

Have/get + n. + past participle

Passive voice pragmatics in English

(1) The questionnaire was also sent to universities and institutions to which one of us was linked
or which were referred to us by some others.
(2) In general, at the university level, bioethics is preferentially taught to advanced students
complementing classical disciplines.
(3) In all cases the role of these institutions in the teaching of bioethics is clearly perceived | One
can clearly perceive in all cases the role of these institutions in the teaching of bioethics (active).
(4) The high impact of organ transplantation in different societies is well known.
(5) The question whether universities possessed appropriate funding for bioethics was negatively
answered by all respondents.
Spanish passive voice
Voice Diathesis

the morphological and syntactic manifestations Each grammatical structure that allows the expression of

of the diathesis the arguments of the verb

active voice passive voice

subject - active agent subject - pacient

ACTIVE VOICE: Los perros mordieron al forastero.
subject direct
(agent) complement

PASSIVE VOICE: El forastero fue mordido por los perros.

subject agent
(patient) complement
Spanish passive constructions

1. Periphrastic 3. Impersonal
Ser/estar + past participle Se + active verb form in 3rd person sg
e.g. El trabajo f ue hecho con entusiasmo. e.g. Se vive bien en España.

2. Reflexive 4. Middle voice

Se + v. (transitive) in 3rd person sg/pl Se/- + active verb form
e.g. En verano se comen muchas verduras. e.g. Se secan los campos | Crece la hierba

*e.g. Este auto se estaciona fácilmente.

1. Periphrastic
○ Transitive verbs
○ Express or tacit agent
○ Particular, concrete, punctual events
○ Used to express the procedures where the experimenter performs a task out of the ordinary.

e.g. El trabajo f ue hecho con entusiasmo.

Ser/estar + past participle

2. Reflexive
○ Transitive verbs
○ The agent does not usually appear explicitly.
○ Used for generic situations.
○ Agreement between the subject and the verb
○ Used to express routine procedures with established techniques.

e.g. En verano se comen muchas verduras.

Se + v. (transitive) in 3rd person sg/pl
3. Impersonal
○ Intransitive, linking and transitive verbs
○ It doesn’t have an express or tacit subject.

e.g. Se trabaja mejor en equipo. | Se está mejor solo. | Se busca a los culpables del crimen.

Se + active verb form in 3rd person sg

 Reflexive Impersonal

● Se hacen fotocopias. ● Entre los gitanos se respeta mucho a

los ancianos.
● Se produjeron irregularidades.
● Se entrevistó a los candidatos para el
● Se buscan actores para la película. puesto.

● Se contratarán nuevos trabajadores ● Se busca a quienes presenciaron lo

para el proyecto. ocurrido.

● Se necesitan especialistas en
informática
4. Middle voice
○ Intransitive sentences
○ Middle voice ≠ reflexive verb
e.g. Me mojé.

*
○ Features characterizing the things that are mentioned.
○ Expresses the ease or difficulty with which a certain action is carried out.
e.g. Este auto se estaciona fácilmente.

Se/- + active verb form

Theoretical framework
According to Oxford:

■ In scientific or technical writing the passive is seen as a crucial means of achieving objectivity.

■ Overuse of the passive in formal non-scientific writing often leads to wordiness.

e.g. We have been asked by your home insurers to obtain your written confirmation that all their
requirements have been completed by yourself.
≠
e.g. Your insurers have asked us to obtain your written confirmation that you have completed all their
requirements.
In scientific or technical writing, there is a common (but not universal) perception that
personal pronouns can undermine the objectivity of the writer or distract from
important information.

This is one reason writers opt for the passive voice saying:

■ “The wire was cut”

■ “I cut the wire”
According to FundéuRAE :

■ Restricted application in Spanish.

■ Translators use more passives.
■ The passive form with ser and the reflexive passive are convenient and even indispensable.
e.g. El ministro no asistió a la reunión y ha sido criticado por los sindicatos.
 Translation of passive voice
■ Newmark, 1988, p. 89
Reflexive is normally preferred to a passive in the Romance languages.

■ Baker, 1992, p. 106

One must weigh the potential change of rendering a passive structure by an active
structure, or conversely an active structure by a passive structure.

■ Vázquez-Ayora, 1977, p. 109

One must consider the opportunities where passive voice should be used.
 Translation of passive voice in technical texts
❖ In many cases, the periphrastic passive is convenient and even indispensable.

✓ El paciente acudió a urgencias y f ue operado al día siguiente.

✓ En el estudio participarán cuatro ratas por grupo, que serán sometidas a vigilancia intensiva.
❖ When one is translating a text in which the passive has both subject and agent
that cannot be omitted, it should not be translated into Spanish as the reflexive
passive.

╳ Se ha publicado una excelente revisión sobre el asunto por McWyrshiff.

✓ McWyrshiff ha publicado una excelente revisión sobre el asunto.

❖ The reflexive passive (construction) can only refer to things or actions, never to defined
people.

╳ Se vacunaron las embarazadas.

✓ Las embarazadas f ueron vacunadas.

✓ Se vacunó a las embarazadas.
e.g. Such persons, in contrast with ╳ Tales personas, a diferencia de los
agentes diplomáticos, se definen…
diplomatic agents, are defined...
(¿las personas mismas se definen?)

✓ A tales personas, a diferencia

de los agentes diplomáticos,
se las define...
Activities
1. Crossword
2. Translation
References
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Butterfield, J. (Ed.). (2015). Fowler's dictionary of modern english usage. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from:
https://bit.ly/3nI7Cak
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Claros, M (2017). Cómo traducir y redactar textos científicos en español: reglas, ideas y consejos. Fundación Dr.
Antonio Esteve. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/3m9BJ9f
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Encuentros Complutenses en Torno a la Traducción, 2-6 de abril de 1990, 137. Retrieved from:
https://bit.ly/3ocXTcm
Fernández, J. (s.f.). Pasiva perifrástica con ser y pasiva refleja con se. Retrieved from: https://cutt.ly/Pgvof6Y
FundéuRAE. (2010). Oraciones pasivas. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/2HnAu7t
Navarro, F., Hernández, F., & Rodríguez, L. (1994). Uso y abuso de la voz pasiva en el lenguaje médico escrito. Med
Clin (Barc), 103(12), 461-464. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/37uTxrs
Newmark, P. (1988). Approaches to Translation. Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall.
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Quirk, R. (2010). A comprehensive grammar of the English language. Pearson Education India.
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Sánchez, A. & Márquez, M. La voz pasiva del inglés al español: funciones discursivas y equivalencia contextual en
textos científicos 1. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/2TgH9CO
Vázquez-Ayora, G. (1977). Introducción a la traductología: curso básico de traducción. Georgetown University Press