Grammarbites part 11 – passive voice

Part 1 – introduction

Part 8 – Building words, prefixes and suffixes

Part 9 – Latin, Greek, French, Norse and English words

Part 6 – sentence types

Part 5 – nouns

Part 10 – determiners

Part 2 – auxiliary and modal verbs

Part 3 – regular and irregular main verbs

Part 7 – pronunciation – the basic sounds of English

Part 4 – pronunciation – consonant clusters

9.1 – Passive voice

(1a) Juliet is a young woman.

(1b) Juliet is in love.

(1c) Juliet is happy.

(2) The Prince banishes Romeo. > (2’) Romeo is banished by the Prince.

(3a) This makes Juliet sad. > (3a’) (?) Juliet is made sad by this.

(3aa) This saddens Juliet. > (3aa’) Juliet is saddened by this.

(3b) This makes Juliet cry. > (3b’) (?) Juliet is made to cry by this.

(4) Friar Lawrence gives Juliet a potion. > (4’) Juliet is given a potion by Friar Lawrence. >> (4’’) (?) A potion is given Juliet by Friar Lawrence.

(4a) Friar Lawrence gives a potion to Juliet. > (4a’) A potion is given to Juliet by Friar Lawrence. >> (4a’’) To Juliet is given a potion by Friar Lawrence.

(5) Juliet dies.

[For more about these sentence types, see here.]

Passive voice is often misunderstood — by students, teachers and people who write about it in books and online. Ignore anyone or anything which tells you not to use it, or to prefer active voice to passive.

Active and passive voice are ways of focusing our attention on one person (or thing) or another. In sentence (2) we are focused on the Prince and in sentence (2’) we are focused on Romeo.

But there are many restrictions of grammar and usage about how passive voice can and can’t be used. Sentences like (1a-c) and (5) can’t be changed into passive voice, while sentences like (3a’-b’) and (4’-4a’’) are possible but sometimes awkward and sentences like (2’) are very possible, often the better choice and sometimes the only choice.

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Usually, to be able to be changed into passive voice, an active voice sentence needs a “do-er” (person or thing) (subject), an action (verb) and a “done to” (person or thing) (direct and/or indirect object). In sentences (1a-c), Juliet doesn’t “do” anything, she simply “is”. In sentence (5), she “does” something, but all by herself; she doesn’t do anything to another person or thing. Compare Juliet kills [someone or something].

In sentence (2), the “do-er” is the Prince, the action is banishment and the “done to” is Romeo. Passive voice doesn’t change these roles. In sentence (2’), the Prince is still the “do-er” even though he’s at the end of the sentence, and Romeo is still the “done to” even though he’s at the beginning.

In sentence 4, the “do-er” is Friar Lawrence and the “done tos” are the potion (directly) and Juliet (indirectly), which is why there are so many choices for that sentence.

In sentences (3a-b), the “do-er” is “This” (that is, Romeo’s banishment by the Prince), which is part of why sentences (3a’-b’) are awkward. But the whole sentence structure doesn’t really suit passive voice: (?) Juliet is made sad by Romeo’s banishment, Juliet is saddened by Romeo’s banishment, (?) Juliet is made to cry by Romeo’s banishment.

It is almost always possible to tell a story entirely in active voice, as in the original sentences. It is impossible to tell a story entirely in passive voice; sentences (1a-c) and (5) simply can’t be changed to passive voice.

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Unfortunately, passive voice combines three of the hardest grammar points in English – verb be (usually), the past participle form of main verbs (usually) and subject and object pronouns (sometimes).

The active voice verb tells us the main verb and a verb tense. The passive voice equivalent needs verb [be] in that verb tense and the V-pp form of the main verb.

banishes	> is	banished
banish–present simple	be–pr simp	banish–pp

Banish is a regular verb and its V-pp ends in -ed. Give is irregular (give~gave~given).

gave	> was	given
give–past simple	be–ps	give–pp

Present simple and continuous passive involve a choice between are, am and is, and past simple and continuous passive involve a choice between were and was, depending on the subject of each sentence.

I, she, he, we and they as the subject of an active voice sentence become me, her, him, us and them in the “by x” part of the passive voice equivalent, and me, her, him, us and them as the object of an active voice sentence become I, she. he, we and they as the subject of the passive voice equivalent. (You and it do not change.)

So we can say The Prince banished Romeo or Romeo was banished by the Prince, while the Prince can say I banished Romeo or Romeo was banished by me and Romeo can say The Prince banished me or I was banished by the Prince.

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Present perfect (simple and continuous) passive and past perfect (simple and continuous) passive need have/has/had been V-pp.

Modal passive (including will for future) needs can/could … will/would be V-pp (simple), can/could … will/would be being V-pp (continuous), can/could … will/would have been V-pp (perfect (simple)) and can/could … will/would have been being V-pp (perfect continuous). There is also be going to for future, which works similarly to the present tense verbs.

So the complete table of active and passive voice verb tenses is:

	simple	continuous	perfect	perfect continuous
present – active	give / gives	are / am / is giving	have / has given	have / has been giving
– passive	are / am / is given	are / am / is being given	have / has been given	have / has been being given
past – active	gave	were / was giving	had given	had been giving
– passive	were / was given	were / was being given	had been given	had been being given
modal (inc future) – active	will give	will be giving	will have given	will have been giving
– passive	will be given	will be being given	will have been given	will have been being given
be going to (for future) – active	are / am / is going to give	are / am / is going to be given	are / am / is going to have given	are / am / is going to have been giving
– passive	are / am / is going to be given	are / am / is going to be being given	are / am / is going to have been given	are / am / is going to have been being given

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We most naturally use passive voice when the “done-to” or the action is more important than the “do-er”. This often happens when the “do-er” is unknown, irrelevant or obvious, or when the most important information is in an adjunct of place or time.

Someone informed the Prince that Romeo had returned to Verona. (possible)

> The Prince was informed that Romeo had returned to Verona (usual/natural).

Who by? We don’t know, or if we do, we don’t care. What’s important is that the Prince was informed.

Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in the early 1590s and the Lord Chamberlain’s men first performed in the Globe Theatre, London. (possible)

> Romeo and Juliet was written by Shakespeare in the early 1590s and first performed by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in the Globe Theatre, London. (possible)

>> Romeo and Juliet was written in the early 1590s and first performed in the Globe Theatre, London. (usual/natural).

The first sentence combines one fact about “Shakespeare” and one fact about “the Lord Chamberlain’s Men”. The second and third sentences combine two facts about “Romeo and Juliet”. In fact, we often use passive voice to keep the focus on the same person, place or thing across two or more sentences: Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. It was written in the early 1590s and first performed in the Globe Theatre, London.

But don’t use passive voice just because you can. Using it too much will become very awkward very quickly.

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So why do some people say or write that we mustn’t or shouldn’t use passive voice? The most common reason is that it is “vague on agency” — that it, about the “do-er”. But Romeo and Juliet was written by Shakespeare is just as clear about the “do-er” (Shakespeare) as Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet.

In many cases, though, the “by x” part can be omitted. After Tybalt kills Mercutio and Romeo kills Tybalt, Benvolio tells the Prince what happened and the Prince summarises: Romeo killed Tybalt because Tybalt killed Mercutio (active). He might say Tybalt was killed by Romeo because Mercutio was killed by Tybalt (full passive), but doesn’t say Tybalt was killed because Mercutio was killed (short passive), because “by who?” is crucial here.

But there are other sentences where no-one would ever omit the “by x” part: Romeo and Juliet was written, though we can easily say Romeo and Juliet was written in the early 1590s.

But active voice can be equally vague on agency. We have Friar Lawrence gives Juliet a potion (active), Juliet is given a potion by Friar Lawrence (full passive) and Juliet is given a potion (short passive). But we might just as easily say Juliet received a potion (active voice, but no mention of “by who?” (actually, “from who?”)).

In real life, people sometimes use passive voice deliberately, in order to be vague on agency. During a political crisis in the USA, someone said Mistakes were made. By who?

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