Using passive voice
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Omitting or including the agent | page 2 of 3 |
Including the agent
Sometimes the motivation for using passive voice with the agent may be because the speaker or writer wishes to present the agent as new or important information:
More than 50 tenants, many of them elderly people, marched on Government House yesterday, in protest over the relaxation of rent controls for private residences.
The demonstration was organised by the Hong Kong Tenants Against Abolition of Rent Control and drew support from private tenants in some of Hong Kong's oldest residential areas. (SCMP 16/11/92)
In this example, the use of passive voice at the beginning of the second paragraph allows the writer to:
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start with The demonstration, which links back to the first
paragraph (picking up on marched on …in protest over) and is what the second
paragraph is about; and |
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place the agent the Hong Kong Tenants Against Abolition at the end of the clause, where it will receive the emphasis it deserves as an important piece of new information |
For further information about passive voice and new information, see 
Using passive voice: What is passive voice for?
For further information about the use of passive clauses with agents, see Using passive voice: Passive voice in context.
Including the agent
