Using passive voice

Forming passive voice clauses

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Forming passive voice clauses

It is usual to describe the forms of passive clauses by comparing them with related active clauses :

Passive voice (original versions)

The decision was taken by the new chairman. (SCMP 13/6/92)

He was arrested and taken away in a car. (SCMP 3/9/92)

Active voice (reconstructed versions)

The new chairman took the decision.

The police arrested him and took him away in a car.

The differences in form between these passive and active clauses can be summarised as follows:

	The objects of the active clauses, ie the decision and him, are the subjects of the passive clauses (with him changing to the subject form he).
	The subjects of the active clauses, ie The new chairman and The police, either occur at the end of the passive voice clauses following the preposition by (as in by the new chairman), or are omitted entirely.
	The verbs in the active clauses (took and arrested ) are active verb forms. The verbs in the passive clauses (was taken and was arrested ) are passive verb forms. That is, they consist of a form of the verb be (was) followed by the en-form (taken and arrested).

The main effect of the difference in voice is thus to reverse the order of the two noun groups which represent the subject and the object in the active version. For information about the reasons for wanting to do this, see Using passive voice: What is passive voice for?

It is important to note that only transitive verbs can be passivised in this way (with a few exceptions). For further information about this, see Using passive voice: Passive voice and transitivity.

Teaching implications

Students are often asked to practise passive voice by changing active clauses into passive clauses. This may help them to master the differences in form between the two voices. However, it will not by itself teach them anything about meaning differences between active and passive voice, or help them to use passive voice appropriately in context. For this, they will need more meaningful, contextualised practice activities.