While the police chased the thief, he ran into a building. While being chased by the police, the thief ran into a building. Vercingetorix was able to withstand Caesar's onslaught until the Roman reserves cut off his supply lines. Vercingetorix was able to withstand Caesar's onslaught until his supply lines were cut off by the Roman reserves. To the right are the same thoughts rewritten in the active. On the left are those which use the passive. Just look for a form of the verb 'to be' (is, are, am, was, were, have been, etc.) followed by a verb usually (but not always) ending in - ed: is attacked, are eaten, am bitten, was infected, were contaminated, have been disemboweled, etc.)īelow are several examples of sentences where the same thought is written in each of the two voices. This makes clever mnemonic tricks involving zombies unreliable for determining voice. Technically speaking, the passive voice in English is constructed by combining a form of the verb 'to be' with a past participle (usually ending in - ed). *** Important Note! For the interested, the Gramma-philes, and the confused: here is a more technical explanation of voice followed by some examples of passive versus active constructions. In sum, if you are asked-or can be asked- by whom, then you need to fix your sentence and most often by removing a passive form or making it active. Example (active voice showing knowledge): ' Denise Schmandt-Besserat has shown that tokens are a precursor of cuneiform writing.' Since it's important to be specific about facts and authorship in historical writing, you must show you have done the proper research and know whose idea this is: 'Īgain, shown by whom? The absence of the historian's name who has argued convincingly tokens were a precursor of cuneiform suggests the writer of the sentence above either does not know the name or couldn't be bothered to look it up. Example (passive voice covering up a lack of knowledge): ' It has been shown that tokens are a precursor of cuneiform writing. Passives Covering up a Lack of Knowledge or Research Example (without passive voice construction): 'The ancient shaduf was a tool for raising water.' If it turns out that the passive construction is useless-and they often are!-then simply remove it. Another is 'by me or us,' but this is also to be avoided. Seen by whom? One possible answer is 'by you,' but you can't say ' you' in formal discourse. Example (with passive voice construction): 'The ancient shaduf is seen as a tool for raising water.' Passives with a First- or Second-Person Form Implied

The second derives from a lack of knowledge or research. The first involves an attempt to avoid first or second person. There are two instances when this typically happens. In formal discourse, the passive voice is unacceptable if it is being used to avoid saying who did some thing. Whenever you have the choice, you should use the active voice. While in some circumstances the passive voice is called for, the active voice works better in formal argumentation the vast majority of the time. Notice that the active voice says exactly the same thing but is more direct, clear, and forceful. In the second example, 'girl' is the agent. To indicate who's doing the action in the passive voice, English uses 'by' which shows the person, called the agent, who's doing the action. In the first example (active voice), the direct object is 'bread' because it's receiving the action of 'eating.' In the second example (passive voice), 'bread' is the subject but still receives the action of the verb because the verb is passive ('was eaten'). Example (passive voice): 'The bread was eaten by the girl.' The subject 'girl' is acting directly upon the object 'bread.' This same thought can be expressed in the passive voice: Example (active voice): 'The girl ate bread.' While the difference between these voices is simple in principle, in practice it can be very complicated. In the passive voice, the subject is acted upon by an agent. In the active voice, a subject acts upon an object. Should The Passive Be Avoided? Grammarians uses the term 'voice' to express who in a sentence is doing an action and who is receiving it.

Which sentence uses the active voice