Writing and Publishing Scientific Papers

Active vs. Passive voice

Enzo Gonçalves and Nathalia Seeber

Active

The boy broke the window

→ Focus on the subject who performs the action

Passive

The window was broken (by the boy)

→ The focus is not on the subject, but on the action or the object which
was acted upon.

Form of the passive

Subject + to be in the tense of the active verb + Past Participle

When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:

The object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive
sentence.
The form of the verb is the appropriate form of to be (the tense of the
active voice main verb) + the past participle.
The subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive
sentence (or it can be dropped.)