English · Chapter 9

Passive Voice: When the Action Matters More than the Agent

The passive voice is a fundamental tool in professional, academic, and journalistic English — understanding when and how to use it distinguishes advanced writers from intermediate ones.

Active vs. Passive: The Core Distinction

In an active sentence, the grammatical subject performs the action. In a passive sentence, the grammatical subject receives the action. The choice between active and passive is not random — it reflects what the speaker wants to emphasize.

    Active: The government (subject/agent) passed the new law (object/receiver).

    Passive: The new law (subject/receiver) was passed by the government (optional agent).

    In the passive, the original object becomes the subject. The original subject (agent) becomes optional and is introduced with by — or omitted entirely.

Forming the Passive: Be + Past Participle in All Tenses

Tense	Active	Passive (be + past participle)
Present Simple	They make cars here.	Cars are made here.
Past Simple	Someone stole my wallet.	My wallet was stolen.
Present Continuous	They are building a bridge.	A bridge is being built.
Past Continuous	They were painting the house.	The house was being painted.
Present Perfect	They have announced the results.	The results have been announced.
Past Perfect	They had completed the project.	The project had been completed.
Future (will)	They will deliver the package.	The package will be delivered.
Future (going to)	They are going to repair the road.	The road is going to be repaired.
Modal passive	Someone must fix this.	This must be fixed.
Infinitive passive	We need someone to sign this.	This needs to be signed.

When to Use the Passive Voice

The passive is chosen strategically, not randomly. There are four main reasons to prefer passive over active:

1. Agent Unknown

— "My car was broken into last night." (We don't know who did it.)
— "The Mona Lisa was painted in the early 16th century." (Known fact; who did it is secondary in context.)
— "Several people were injured in the accident."

2. Agent Unimportant or Obvious

— "The suspect was arrested at 3 a.m." (Obviously by police — no need to state it.)
— "The contract was signed yesterday." (Who signed it is less important than the fact it's done.)
— "English is spoken in over 50 countries." (By people — obvious, unnecessary to state.)

3. To Avoid Assigning Blame or Responsibility

— "Mistakes were made." (Classic political/diplomatic passive — avoids saying who made them.)
— "The deadline was missed." (More tactful than "You missed the deadline.")
— "The data was misinterpreted."

4. To Maintain Topic Focus

Context: We are discussing a new drug.
— "The drug was tested on 5,000 patients. It was found to reduce symptoms by 70%. It was approved by the FDA in 2023."
(Keeping "the drug" as the subject throughout; switching to active would disrupt the flow.)

Scientific and Academic Writing: Why Passive Dominates

In academic and scientific writing, passive voice is standard and expected. It signals objectivity — the focus is on the experiment or findings, not the researcher.

Academic passive examples:
— "The samples were collected from three different regions."
— "The results were analyzed using SPSS software."
— "It has been demonstrated that caffeine improves short-term alertness."
— "The hypothesis was supported by the data."

Passive with Get: Informal Contexts

In informal spoken English, get is frequently used instead of be to form the passive. This "get-passive" often implies that the subject was affected by an unexpected or unpleasant event.

    Get-passive structure: Subject + get + past participle

    — "He got fired last week." (informal = he was fired)

    — "They got married in Hawaii."

    — "She got promoted to manager."

    — "Our luggage got lost at the airport."

    — "Don't walk there at night — you might get mugged."

Causative Passive: Have/Get Something Done

The causative structure with have or get describes arranging for someone else to do something for you (usually a professional service). You don't do it yourself — you arrange it.

    Structure: Subject + have/get + object + past participle

    Meaning: The subject arranges for a service to be performed on the object.

— "I had my car repaired." (I arranged for a mechanic to repair it.)
— "She had her hair cut at the new salon."
— "We're getting the house painted next month."
— "He had his tooth extracted by the dentist."
— "You should have your eyes tested regularly."

Compare:
"I cut my hair." (I did it myself.)
"I had my hair cut." (A hairdresser did it for me.)

Passive Reporting Structures

These structures are common in news reporting, academic writing, and formal contexts to present information without explicitly crediting a specific source.

    Pattern 1: It + passive reporting verb + that + clause

    Pattern 2: Subject + passive reporting verb + to + infinitive

    Common reporting verbs: say, believe, think, report, claim, allege, expect, know, understand, consider

Pattern 1	Pattern 2 (equivalent)
It is said that he is wealthy.	He is said to be wealthy.
It is believed that the virus originated in bats.	The virus is believed to have originated in bats.
It is reported that prices will rise.	Prices are reported to be rising.
It is expected that the CEO will resign.	The CEO is expected to resign.
It was alleged that he had taken bribes.	He was alleged to have taken bribes.

Common Passive Voice Errors

Incorrect	Correct	Error
"The book was written by him in 1990."	"The book was written in 1990." or keep the agent if needed	Redundant agent when unnecessary
"The meeting is being had tomorrow."	"The meeting is taking place tomorrow." or "A meeting has been scheduled."	Some verbs (have, contain, resemble) rarely use passive
"I was borned in Madrid."	"I was born in Madrid."	Born is already past participle — no extra -d
"She got be promoted."	"She got promoted."	Get-passive: get + past participle (no be)
"The cake was eaten by me."	"I ate the cake."	Passive is unnatural when agent is a personal pronoun and the focus

Stative Verbs That Rarely Take the Passive

Some verbs describe states rather than actions and generally cannot be passivized: have, contain, resemble, lack, suit, fit, belong to, consist of.

The bottle is contained water. ✗
The bottle contains water. ✓

He is resembled his father. ✗
He resembles his father. ✓

Chapter Summary

The passive is formed with be + past participle and can be used in all tenses; the agent (doer) is introduced with "by" or omitted entirely.
Use the passive when the agent is unknown, unimportant, obvious, or when you deliberately want to avoid identifying who performed the action.
In academic and scientific writing, passive voice is standard because it shifts focus from the researcher to the research and signals objectivity.
The get-passive (get + past participle) is common in informal speech and often implies an unexpected or unwelcome event affecting the subject.
The causative (have/get + object + past participle) describes arranging for a professional service — "I had my car repaired" means a mechanic did it, not me.
Passive reporting structures ("It is believed that..." / "He is said to be...") are essential in news and academic writing to present claims without committing to a source.
Stative verbs such as contain, resemble, belong to, lack, and consist of describe states rather than actions and cannot normally be used in the passive voice.