passive voice
VOICE The distinction between active and passive can only be made with verbs that are transitive, that is verbs that can be followed by an object. The passive is very important in English. Probably quite 90 per cent of the passive sentences spoken or written are of the type replacing the indefinite pronoun or the reflexive in other languages. The choice between active and passive construction often depends on what has already been said, or on what the listener already knows. In the passive, the auxiliary BE is added to the verb phrase, followed by the -ed participle; but this does not necessarily refer to a past time. ... In the following chart we can illustrate how an active sentence becomes a passive one: a)ACTIVE: Bob mailed the package b)PASSIVE: The package was mailed by Bob a) and b) have the same meaning. ... In c): The Object of an active sentence becomes the Subject of a passive sentence. ... S V “by-phrase” The package was mailed by Bob In d) The subject of an active sentence is the object of by in the “by-phrase” in a passive sentence. ... f)PASSIVE: Our homework is corrected by the teacher g)ACTIVE: Mr. ... h)PASSIVE: This class will be taught by Mr. ... Form of all passive verbs: BE +PAST PARTICIPLE BE can be in any of its forms: am, is, are, was, were, has been, have been, will be, etc. ... At the clause level the change from active to passive has some results: a) The Active Subject, if retained, becomes the Passive Agent. b) The Active Object becomes the Passive Subject. ... In the passive the action is done to the subject. ... USES OF THE PASSIVE Spontaneous use and deliberate use of the passive In spoken English passive occurs naturally and spontaneously, without a conscious change from active to passive. ... But, the passive is sometimes deliberately used, when speakers do not want to take responsibility to actions, opinions, or statements of facts of which they are not completely certain (they do not now the identity of the agent of the action) or because the agent is unimportant or obvious from the context, and it is also used for scientific or technical writing .