Passive Voice Structure – Checklist

What / Where / When / Who / How / How long / Why

Where
When
Who (subject)
Object (What) + Passive Voice Verb + Adjuncts*
How
“To be”
+ How long
Past Participle
Why

1. Expressing where/when/how/how long in maps and processes using prepositional phrases

Structure – noun + verb + (preposition + articles/prepositional object)

• The recipe is mixed for 20 minutes by hand. (answers how long and how)
• The bank is located in the north side of the stadium. (answers where)
• The restroom is between the reception and the gym. (answers where)
• The bike path was constructed along the road by the year 2005. (answers where and when)
• The fruit is inspected by hand and then packed in a storage container. (answers how and where)

2. Using Active Voice Verb when you know the who/doer of the action in processes and maps (placing the
what/receiver of the action at the end)

Structure –

• who/doer made way for Y. – maps

• who/doer made way for the development/construction of Y. – maps
• X was/were removed to make for Y. – maps
• X was/were removed to make way for the development/construction of Y. – maps
• who/doer delivers the Y. – process
• who/doer sorts through the Y. – process
note – “to make way for” is a phrasal verb (band 7.0 range in lexical resource)

3. Expressing why using language of purpose in processes

Structure with conjunctions + verb –

• (action) … to remove bad oranges.

• (action) … in order to ensure the security of the building
• (action) … so as to keep them fresh during storage.

4. Providing extra information using a non-defining relative clause in processes

A non-defining relative clause adds extra information to sentences. If we take the clause out of the
sentence, the sentence still has the same meaning. We use non-defining relative clauses in a man-made
process report.

Structure with non-defining relative clauses –

• The fruit is delivered to the factory, where it is graded by hand.

• The oranges are graded by hand, which ensures no bad fruit is used to make the juice.

*an adjunct is a phrase that is not necessary to the structure of the clause, but adds some extra meaning to it.