Look at these examples to see how the passive voice is used.
A lot of olive oil is produced in Italy.
This book was written by Angela Davis.
The suspect will be released tomorrow.
This product has not been tested on animals.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
We use the passive voice to change the focus of the sentence.
My bike was stolen. (passive – focus on my bike)
Someone stole my bike. (active – focus on someone)
We often use the passive:
- when we prefer not to mention who or what does the action (for example, it's not known, it's obvious or we don't want to say)
- so that we can start a sentence with the most important or most logical information
- in more formal or scientific writing.
How we make the passive
We make the passive using the verb be + past participle. We start the sentence with the object.
| Avatar | was | directed by James Cameron. |
| ↓ | ↓ | ↓ |
| Object | + be + | past participle |
It is not always necessary to add who or what did the action.
| My flight | is | cancelled. |
| ↓ | ↓ | ↓ |
| Object | + be + | past participle |
Only the form of be changes to make the tense. The past participle stays the same. Here are examples of the passive in its most common tenses.
| Tense | Example | Structure |
| Present simple | Alioli is made from oil, garlic and salt. | is/are + past participle |
| Present continuous | The hall is being painted this week. | is/are being + past participle |
| Past simple | John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. | was/were + past participle |
| Past continuous | The signs were being put up last week. | was/were being + past participle |
| Present perfect | Oranges have been grown here for centuries. | has/have been + past participle |
| Past perfect | When he got home, he found that his flat had been burgled. | had been + past participle |
| Future simple | The work will be finished next week. | will be + past participle |
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hi tunalee,
I would say --> The cover was thought to be made of iron.
After "was thought" it's also common to use an adjective (e.g. It was thought necessary / It was thought impossible). However, it's not common to put an -ed verb form there (e.g. The cover was thought made of iron), so I think the full form thought to be made ... is preferred.
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello team
Kindly help me change this sentence to passive.
Experts say that the rains will be heavy this year .
Hi paddyjosy,
There are a couple of ways I can think of.
In the second sentence, "are said" is followed by the infinitive "to be", which loses the future reference of the original sentence ("will be"). We can, however, keep that meaning by changing the vocabulary (e.g. "The coming rains are said to be heavy this year" or "The rains later this year are said to be heavy").
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello. Could you please help me? Which sentence is correct?
- I made the fish cooked.
- I made the fish be cooked.
Thank you.
Hello Ahmed Imam,
I'm afraid neither is correct. You can make someone do something or you can have something done, but you can't make something done (or be done).
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello teachers,
Could you please tell me about the exercise number 7 in Grammar test 1?
The fire service still________ the fire.
The answer is haven't put out
The third answer makes more sense; I also think that. However, why not use hasn't instead; I think the subject of the sentence is singular or the subject itself means Plural? Why?
Hello Kunthea,
Words which describe organisations and institutions can often be both singular and plural. Thus we can say The police is... or The police are....
Other examples are the fire service, the army, the United Nations, Manchester United, the European Union, my class, the government, Microsoft etc.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you very much.
Hi,
Is it alright to begin a sentence with a PASSIVE VERB (in caps)?
For example, CONSTRUCTED on this land is a premium condominium.
If not why?
Is the following better?
A premium condominium has been CONSTRUCTED on this land.
A more complex one is as follows:
Social elites promoted the "great tradition", which pushes forward "practice" through "discourse, "entirely breaking down idols".
Does it make sense to rewrite it as follows?
PROMOTED by social elites, the “great tradition” pushes forward “practice” through “discourse”, “entirely breaking down idols”.
Thank you for your advice as I was unable to find any help even on the Internet.
Hello Eureka,
Regarding your first question, the second version is definitely the better one in the vast majority of situations. As far as I can tell, the first version would only work in poetry or some very unusual and specific situation.
As for the second sentence, both versions are correct and mean the same thing.
Please note that a passive verb is not composed just of the past participle, but also of the auxiliary verb. So in your first sentence, for example, the full passive verb is 'has been constructed'.
The sentences beginning with the past participles actually use a participle clause (not a passive verb). As you'll see on the page I've linked to, we get a lot of questions about participle clauses. This is ironic, since they are relatively uncommon, but my point is that you might want to read through some of the comments and our answers to learn more.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team