Passive Voice
Passive Voice is used when we want to focus on the action or the object, not on who is doing it.
Before this, learn: Irregular Verbs Part Ito be - Present Simple
PDF: Active and passive voice worksheet with answers (PDF)
1.Structures
1.1Structures of Sentences
To form the Passive Voice, follow these basic rules:
S = Subject
Verb(III) = the past participle form of the verb → Irregular Verbs List (3rd column)
QW = question word
| Structure | Examples | |
|---|---|---|
| + Affirmative | S + be (the form depends on the tense) + Irregular Verb (III)/Regular Verb+ed + ... | The book was written by my brother. The car is washed every week. |
| - Negative | S + be (the form depends on the tense) + not + Irregular Verb (III)/Regular Verb+ed + ... | The test isn't finished yet. Your work wasn't completed yesterday. |
| ? Question | (QW) + be (the form depends on the tense) + S + Irregular Verb (III)/Regular Verb+ed + ...? | When was the task completed? Is the project finished? Who was the book written by? |
Test yourself
1.2Active vs Passive
When we use an active verb, we say what the subject does. When we use a passive verb, we say what happens to the subject.
The person who performs an action in a passive sentence is called the Agent, introduced by by. So, if we want to say who does or what causes the action, we use by.
An object which causes something to happen is called an Instrument, introduced by with. So, if we want to say what tool or object was used to do the action, we use with.
| Active Subject = Agent active verb = what the subject does |
Passive Subject ≠ Agent passive verb = what happens to the subject. |
|---|---|
| Somebody built this house in 2022. | This house was built in 2022. |
| The company employs two hundred people. | Two hundred people are employed by the company.(agent) |
| The teacher explains the lesson. | The lesson is explained by the teacher.(agent) |
| The dog ate the cake. | The cake was eaten by the dog. (agent) |
| Somebody cut the cake with a knife. | The cake was cut with a knife. (instrument) |
Test yourself
1.3Verb + Verb Combinations
In verb + verb combinations we put the second verb into its passive form.
| Pattern | Formula | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb1 + Verb2 | → be + Ir. Verb(III)/ Reg. Verb+ed | Active: I can complete the task. Passive: The task can be completed. |
| Verb1 + to Verb2 | → to be + Ir. Verb(III)/ Reg. Verb+ed | Active: He wants people to hear him. Passive: He wants to be heard. |
| Verb1 + Verb2+ing | → being + Ir. Verb(III)/ Reg. Verb+ed | Active: We don't like it when someone keeps us waiting. Passive: We don't like being kept waiting. |
Test yourself
1.4Tenses
Although it is possible to form a wide range of passive tenses, the most used are presented here:
| Tense/Verb Form | Active Voice | Passive Voice |
|---|---|---|
| Present Simple | He often cleans the houses. He cleans the house every day. |
The houses are often cleaned. The house is cleaned every day. |
| Present Progressive | He is washing the dishes now. He is cleaning the house now. |
The dishes are being washed now. The house is being cleaned now. |
| Present Perfect | He has already cleaned the houses. He has already cleaned the house. |
The houses have already been cleaned. The house has already been cleaned. |
| Past Simple | He cleaned the houses yesterday. He cleaned the house yesterday. |
The houses were cleaned yesterday. The house was cleaned yesterday. |
| Past Progressive | He was washing the dishes at 5 PM yesterday. He was cleaning the house at 5 PM yesterday. |
The dishes were being washed at 5 PM yesterday. The house was being cleaned at 5 PM yesterday. |
| Past Perfect | He had already cleaned the houses by the time they arrived. | The houses had already been cleaned by the time they arrived. |
| Future Simple | He will clean the house tomorrow. | The house will be cleaned tomorrow. |
| Future Perfect | He will have cleaned the house by 5 PM tomorrow. | The house will have been cleaned by 5 PM tomorrow. |
| to be going to - Structure | He is going to clean the houses. He is going to clean the house. |
The houses are going to be cleaned. The house is going to be cleaned. |
Test yourself
2.Use
2.1Unknown / Unimportant Agent
When we use the passive, who or what causes the action is often unknown or unimportant.
The agent is not mentioned if unknown. In this case, there is no point in adding 'by somebody'. The agent is not mentioned if unimportant.
| Example | Comment |
|---|---|
| My wallet has been taken. | It's unknown who took it; the focus is on the absence of the wallet. |
| The cookies were eaten before dinner. | It's unknown who ate them; the focus is on the absence of cookies. |
| The package was delivered this morning. | It doesn't matter who delivered it; the focus is on the package. |
| The painting was removed from the wall. | It's unknown who removed it; the focus is on the painting. |
| I was advised to obtain a visa in advance. | It is not important who gave me this advice; the focus is on the result, the advice itself. |
| The decision was made quickly. | It's unimportant who made the decision; the focus is on the result. |
| The car was damaged in the parking lot. | It's unknown who damaged it; the focus is on the car and the damage. |
| The movie was filmed in Italy. | It doesn't matter who filmed the movie; the focus may be on the place here. |
Test yourself
2.2Obvious or Generalised Agent / Impersonality
If the subject is 'people in general' or 'you', we can use the Passive without mentioning the agent.
We don't mention the agent if it is obvious or has already been mentioned.
Using the passive is a way of avoiding the naming of a specific person who is responsible for an action.
In description of processes, there is emphasis on the actions performed rather than on the people who perform them.
| Example | Comment |
|---|---|
| English is spoken all over the world. | It's obvious that 'people' speak English, the agent isn't needed. |
| The instructions must be followed carefully. | It's implied that 'you' or 'people' must follow them. |
| The thief has been arrested. | It's obvious that the police arrested the thief, so the agent isn't needed. Focus is on the fact of the arrest. |
| The new law was passed last week. | It's obvious that the government passed the law, so the agent isn't mentioned. Here we can focus on the time. |
| It has been decided to cancel the meeting. | The focus is on the decision, not on who made it. Here we don't want to name the person. |
| Lots of mistakes were made during the project. | The focus is on the mistakes, not on who made them. I don't want to name the person who made the mistakes. |
| The coffee beans are harvested, roasted, and then ground into powder. | The focus is on the process, not on the people performing it. |
| The data is collected, analyzed, and then presented in a report. | The focus is on the steps, not on who does them. |
Test yourself
2.3Change of Focus
The Passive can change the emphasis (focus) of a sentence. The passive voice shifts the focus from the doer (agent) to the action or the object of the action.
| Active(Focus) | Passive (Focus) |
|---|---|
| Jack won the prize.(focus on Jack) | The prize was won by Jack. (focus on the prize) |
| The chef cooked the meal. (Focus is on the chef - the doer of the action.) | The meal was cooked by the chef. (Focus shifts to the meal - the result of the action.) |
| The company launched a new product. (Focus is on the company - the doer of the action.) | A new product was launched by the company. (Focus shifts to the product - the result of the action.) |
| The storm damaged the house. (Focus is on the storm - the cause of the action.) | The house was damaged by the storm. (Focus shifts to the house - the object affected by the action.) |
Test yourself
3.Passive voice examples: 30 sentences in every tense
Every passive verb is built the same way: be + past participle. Only be changes with the tense (is made, was made, has been made); the past participle stays the same. The 30 passive voice examples below come from everyday life, news, school and work, and they are grouped by tense, so you can watch one pattern repeat in every form. The passive verb is in bold.
Present simple passive (am / is / are + past participle)
- English is spoken in more than 50 countries.
- The office is cleaned every evening.
- These phones are made in Vietnam.
- Breakfast isn't included in the price.
- Are you paid weekly or monthly?
Present continuous passive (am / is / are being + past participle)
- The road is being repaired, so take the bus.
- Your order is being prepared.
- Are we being watched?
Past simple passive (was / were + past participle)
- The Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889.
- Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928.
- My bike was stolen last night.
- We weren't told about the change.
- When were these photos taken?
Past continuous passive (was / were being + past participle)
- The patient was being examined when the lights went out.
- I had the feeling that I was being followed.
- The bridge was being painted, so we took the ferry.
Present perfect and past perfect passive (has / have / had been + past participle)
- Your password has been changed.
- Two hundred guests have been invited.
- Has the problem been fixed yet?
- The concert has been postponed until May.
- When we arrived, all the tickets had been sold.
- She found out that her car had been towed away.
Future and future perfect passive (will be / be going to be / will have been + past participle)
- The results will be announced on Friday.
- You will be met at the airport.
- The old stadium is going to be pulled down.
- By 2030 the new metro line will have been finished.
- By the time you read this, the decision will have been made.
Passive with modal verbs (can / must / should be + past participle)
- This form must be signed by a parent.
- Phones can't be used during the exam.
- The windows should be opened every morning.
Passive forms you will rarely see
The perfect continuous passives (has been being built, will have been being done) are possible in theory but sound clumsy, so speakers avoid them. They say The bridge has been under construction for two years or use the active: They have been building the bridge for two years. The future continuous passive (will be being cleaned) is just as rare.
An order can't really be passive, but imperative sentences have two passive-looking patterns: don't be + past participle (Don't be fooled by the low price.) and get + past participle (Get vaccinated before you travel.). Formal or old texts also use let + object + be + past participle: Let it be known that the shop will close.
A passive voice paragraph example
Descriptions of processes are the classic place for the passive, because nobody cares who does each step:
Paper is made from wood. First, the trees are cut down and the logs are taken to a mill. There the bark is removed and the wood is chopped into small chips. The chips are mixed with water and chemicals and cooked until they turn into pulp. The pulp is pressed into thin sheets, which are dried on hot rollers. Today most paper is recycled several times before it is thrown away.
There is no by phrase in the whole paragraph: the workers and machines are obvious. Only turn is active, because the chips do that themselves.
4.Active vs passive voice: how to tell them apart
In the active voice the subject does the action: The storm damaged the roof. In the passive voice the subject receives the action: The roof was damaged (by the storm). Both sentences report the same event; the passive simply starts with the thing that was affected. The hard part is not the definition but spotting the passive in a real text, because many sentences with was, been or an -ed word are active.
Three checks to identify the passive voice
- Find a form of be (or get) before the main verb: am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being, or get / got.
- Check that the main verb is a past participle: sent, built, written, eaten, or a regular -ed form.
- Ask "by whom?" If you can add by someone after the verb and the sentence still makes sense, it is passive. Writing teachers call this the "by zombies" test: The cake was eaten (by zombies) works, so it is passive; The children were eating (by zombies) makes no sense, so it is active.
Sentences that look passive but are not
| Sentence | Active or passive? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| She was walking home. | active | was + -ing form: past continuous |
| They had finished dinner. | active | had + past participle: past perfect, the subject did it |
| I'm interested in history. | active | interested is an adjective; you can't add by someone |
| He has been tired all week. | active | has been + adjective, no action |
| The shop is closed. | adjective (a state) | but The road was closed by the police is passive |
| The letter was sent yesterday. | passive | was + sent; it was sent by someone |
| She got promoted. | passive | get + past participle, the informal passive |
Tense and voice are two different things. Tense says when something happens; voice says who does it. A sentence is not passive just because it is about the past, and the passive exists in almost every tense.
Verbs that can't be passive
Only verbs with an object can become passive. Verbs without an object, such as happen, arrive, die, sleep, seem, exist, belong, have no passive form: say The accident happened at night, not The accident was happened at night. A few verbs with an object also refuse the passive because they describe a state, not an action: have (= own), fit, suit, lack, resemble. Say He has a car, not A car is had by him.
Active and passive voice examples side by side
| Active | Passive |
|---|---|
| Millions of people watch the final. | The final is watched by millions of people. |
| A dog bit my brother. | My brother was bitten by a dog. |
| They are building a new school. | A new school is being built. |
| Someone has stolen my phone! | My phone has been stolen! |
| The police will question the driver. | The driver will be questioned. |
| You must wear a helmet. | A helmet must be worn. |
| Who painted this picture? | Who was this picture painted by? |
| My aunt gave me this ring. | I was given this ring by my aunt. |
Two details from the table: in questions by moves to the end (Who was it painted by?), and a verb with two objects, like give, send or show, has two passives. I was given this ring is the more natural one; This ring was given to me puts the focus on the ring.
5.Passive voice misuse: when to use active voice instead
The passive is not a grammar mistake, but it is easy to overuse. The APA style manual and most writing guides give the same advice: use the active voice as much as possible, and choose the passive when you want to focus on the receiver of the action. Teachers mark a passive as "misuse" when it hides who did something, makes a sentence longer for no reason, or leaves the reader guessing.
Five passive voice misuse examples, with fixes
| Weak passive | Problem | Better |
|---|---|---|
| Mistakes were made. | hides who is responsible | We made mistakes. |
| It was decided by the committee that the event would be moved. | long and indirect | The committee decided to move the event. |
| After checking the data, a decision was made. | dangling: who checked the data? | After checking the data, we made a decision. |
| Your email has been received and will be replied to shortly. | stacked passives sound robotic | We've received your email and will reply soon. |
| The ball was kicked by Tom and the window was broken. | two passives where one active verb does the job | Tom kicked the ball and broke the window. |
The third one is the most common in essays. The -ing phrase at the start needs a person as the subject of the main clause, and a passive takes that person away.
When the passive is the better choice
The Use lessons above cover the basic reasons: the doer is unknown, unimportant or obvious. In writing, three more reasons count:
- Science and reports: the method matters, not the researcher. The samples were heated to 80°C and left to cool.
- Keeping the same topic: Our town has an old castle. It was built in the 13th century and is visited by thousands of tourists every year. The passive keeps the castle as the subject, and the new information (thousands of tourists) comes at the end, where English puts the news.
- Being tactful: The form hasn't been filled in correctly sounds softer than You haven't filled in the form correctly.
Writing in passive voice: a quick editing test
Mark every be + past participle in your draft. For each one, ask two questions: do I know who did it, and does the reader need to know? If both answers are yes, rewrite the sentence in the active voice. If not, keep the passive. A text with no passives at all can sound unnatural too, especially in news reports, instructions and science.
6.Active and passive voice exercises with answers
Questions 1 to 3: is the verb active or passive? Questions 4 to 7: rewrite the sentence in the passive and leave out the agent if it is not needed. Questions 8 to 10: correct the mistake. The answers are right below.
- The bridge was opened in 1932.
- She was opening the window.
- I'm bored.
- Someone cleans the classrooms every day.
- Shakespeare wrote Hamlet around 1600.
- They are repairing my laptop.
- You can't park cars here.
- The accident was happened on Monday.
- The letters was sent yesterday.
- Who was this book written?
Answers: 1 passive (was + past participle) · 2 active (past continuous) · 3 active (bored is an adjective) · 4 The classrooms are cleaned every day. · 5 Hamlet was written by Shakespeare around 1600. (keep the agent: it is the point of the sentence) · 6 My laptop is being repaired. · 7 Cars can't be parked here. · 8 The accident happened on Monday. (happen has no passive) · 9 The letters were sent yesterday. (plural subject: were) · 10 Who was this book written by?
Got 1 to 3 wrong? Go back to the three checks in the active vs passive section. Missed 4 to 7? Find the tense in the 30 examples above and copy its pattern.
To practice on paper, download the active and passive voice worksheet with answers (PDF): a chart of active and passive forms in eight tenses and five exercises on spotting the passive, passive verb forms, active to passive and back, and common mistakes, with an answer key on the last page.
7.Frequently asked questions
When do you use the passive voice in English?
You use the passive voice when the doer is unknown, unimportant or obvious, or when you want to focus on the action or its result. For example: "My wallet has been taken" (we don't know who took it), "English is spoken all over the world" (people in general speak it) and "The thief has been arrested" (obviously by the police). The passive is also common when describing a process: "The coffee beans are harvested, roasted and then ground."
Active vs passive voice: what is the difference?
In the active voice the subject does the action; in the passive voice the action happens to the subject. Compare "The dog ate the cake" (active: the dog does something) with "The cake was eaten by the dog" (passive: something happens to the cake). To make an active sentence passive, the object becomes the subject, the verb becomes be plus the past participle, and the doer, if you keep it, goes after "by".
How do you form the passive voice in different tenses?
Put be in the tense you need and add the past participle: "is made", "was made", "has been made", "will be made". Only be changes; the past participle stays the same. Be also agrees with the subject: "The letter was sent", but "The letters were sent", and "The meal was prepared", not "The meal were prepared". If you mention the doer, it goes after by: "The bridge was built by the Romans."
Been or being in the passive voice: "was been sent" or "was being sent"?
Use being in continuous passives and been in perfect passives: "The letter was being sent" (in progress), "The letter has been sent" (finished). "Was been sent" is wrong; the past simple passive is just "was sent". Been only comes after have, has or had: "The house has been cleaned." Being comes after a form of be: "The house is being cleaned now." After modal verbs use be: "The task can be completed", not "The task can been completed".
Is it correct to say "The book was wrote" in the passive voice?
No: the passive uses the past participle (the third form of the verb), not the past simple, so say "The book was written". With regular verbs both forms end in -ed, as in "The car is washed every week", but irregular verbs often have a different third form. Say "He was given two weeks", not "He was gave two weeks", and "My dog was stolen", not "My dog was stole". Don't add -ed to an irregular verb either: "was stealed" is wrong.
