Using passive voice
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Overview | page 6 of 6 |
Passives and -ed adjectives
Passive voice verbs consist of a form of the verb be followed by the -en form
of the verb, where -en stands for -en, -ed or, in the case of certain
irregular verbs, zero, ie no change at all 
:
like - was liked give - was given run - was run
However, not every instance of a form of be followed by what looks like the -en form of the verb can be considered passive voice:
Perhaps this David Li Kwok-po is related to the David Li Kwok-po who is on the board of Dow Jones, publishers of the "Far Eastern Economic Review".
In this example, is related is best regarded not as passive voice but as a form of the linking verb be followed by an -ed adjective. Try forming an active clause equivalent of such a clause to see whether it is truly a passive or a clause with a linking verb.
For further information about this, see 
Using passive voice:
Passive voice or be + adjective.
Introduction
Passives and -ed adjectives
