Passive Voice In English: Explanation, Examples | Lingbase

Passive voice is a specific form of the verb that we use to take an active subject out of the sentence. It is important that the action happens but it is not important who exactly does this action.

Examples

Active: We are building a house.

Passive: The house is being built. It doesn't matter who is building it.

Active: I'm sending the email.

Passive: The email has been sent. It doesn't matter who has sent it.

Pay attention

If we want to mention who does the action or what caused it, we can use "by".

Examples

The house was built by a leading development company. A leading development company built the house.

The email has been written by the technical support. The technical support wrote the email.

Severe damage was caused by the storm. The storm caused severe damage.

How to make passive

It is very simple to build the passive voice in any English tense. We always make passive by using to be + past participle, where the past participle never changes and "be" indicates a tense.

Passive = be done, where "be" changes according to the tense

To make passive in a certain English tense, we put the verb "be" into the form that it takes in this tense.

Passive and the most common tenses

Tense	be	past participle	Example
Present simple	am/is/are	donemadebuiltheardemployed...	You are employed.
Present continuous	am/is/are being		The script is being written.
Present perfect	have/has been		The changes have been made.
Past simple	was/were		I was born on the third of March, 1987.
Past continuous	was/were being		The room was being cleaned when we entered.
Past perfect	had been		The house had been renovated before it was sold.
Future simple	will be		The task will be completed tomorrow.

Pay attention

We make question sentences in the passive voice in the same way as in all the tenses. The auxiliary verb can be composed of one, two or even three words. But no matter how many words there are, the first word goes before the subject and all others go after the subject.

Examples of questions

Are you paid well? (Present simple)

Have the changes been made? (Present perfect)

Why was the room being cleaned? (Past continuous)

When will the task be completed? (Future simple)

How long has the script been being written? (Present perfect continuous)

Passive with modal verbs

We can use passive voice with other verbs including the modals:

modal verb + be + past participle

modal verb + have been + past participle

Examples of active and passive voice with modals

You must finish the work within two hours. → The work must be finished within two hours.

No one must see me. → I mustn't be seen.

We should cancel the meeting. → The meeting should be cancelled.

I can hear the sound. → The sound can be heard.

We might have predicted the changes. → The changes might have been predicted.

I could have sold my car for five thousand pounds. → My car could have been sold for five thousand pounds.

"To" + passive infinitive

There are a lot of words after which we can put "to + infinitive" (e.g. eager to do something, need to do something). We can use an active or a passive voice after "to". The infinitive of the passive is "be":

to be + past participle

Examples

Every child wants to be praised.

My cat doesn't like to be petted.

An employee has the right to be paid.