Active and Passive Voice
The passive voice is used when focusing on the person or thing affected by an action.
- The Passive is formed: Passive Subject + To Be + Past Particple
- It is often used in business and in other areas where the object of the action is more important than those who perform the action.
For Example: We have written over 20 different papers in the past 2 years.
Changes to: Over 20 different papers have been written in the past two years.
- If the agent (the performer of the action) is important, use "by"
For Example: Dan Brown wrote The Da Vinci Code in 2004.
Changes to: The Da Vinci Code was written in 2004 by Dan Brown.
Only verbs that have an object can be used in the passive.
Look at the changes from the active to the passive voice in the following chart.
Active |
Passive |
Tense |
| They make microchips in Taiwan. | Microchips are made in Taiwan. | Simple Present |
| Joanne is cooking supper. | Supper is being cooked by Joanne. | Present Continuous |
| Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliette. | Romeo and Juliette was written by Shakespeare. | Simple Past |
| John and Ann were writing the song when I arrived. | The song was being written when I arrived. | Past Continuous |
| They have launched 12 new products in the past 3 years. | Twelve new products were launched in the past 3 years. | Present Perfect |
| They are going to build a new school in our town. | A new school is being built in our town. | Future Continuous |
| They will finish it tomorrow. | It will be finished tomorrow. | Future Simple |
