Part III. The Passive Voice

Voice is a grammatical term which is used to tell whether the subject of the sentence is acting or is receiving an action expressed by the verb. The terms “active voice” and “passive voice” refer to the form of a verb. In the active voice the subject of the sentence is the person or thing doing the action:

e.g. John cooked the food last night.

In the passive voice the action is done to the subject:

e.g. This food was cooked last night.

We can form the passive only with transitive verbs: these are verbs which can be followed by an object. The passive voice is formed by combining the auxiliary verb “to be” with the past participle of the principal verb:

Be + Participle II

There are some transitive verbs in the English language which correspond to intransitive verbs in Russian. They are affect, answer, assist, attend, follow, influence, join, help. They are used in the passive constructions in English but they are not used in the passive constructions in Russian, so there may arise some difficulty in translating passive constructions with these verbs into Russian.

e.g. The man was followed by the dog.

His question was not answered.

Her behaviour was influenced by the weather.

The passive constructions are used:

a) if the doer of the action is not known, so that an active construction is impossible.:

e.g. My purse has been stolen ( I don’t know by whom).

b) if the doer of the action is self-evident or unimportant:

e.g. He was crowned a king.

Mistakes are always made.

c) if we don/t want to mention the doer of the action:

e.g. I’ve been told that you are married.

d) if the object, the action is performed with, is more important than the doer of the action:

e.g. Mary was punished by her father.

e) if what was done is more important than the doer of the action:

e.g. America was discovered by Columbus.

The Passive Voice is mainly used in scientific prose.

The Passive Voice

1.1 State whether these verbs are transitive or intransitive:

Study, open, go return, play, arrive, wash, choose, hurt, eat, do, come, blow, breathe, care, carry, raise, lie, stop, lay, rise, catch, finish, cook, buy, step, slip, lose, read, speak, get, sink, sail.

1.2 Why do you think the passive constructions are used in these sentences?

1. The question was often put to me but I never answered it.

2. “Where is Frank?” “He’s taken care of.”

3. Ben was looked on as a sweet-tempered young man.

4. Mr. Smith was expected to return shortly.

5. The meal was somehow finished with, everyone moved out of doors.

6. I had been given a card to the Club and in the afternoon I used to go there to play bridge.

7. The house was locked when they set off.

8. When I arrived the family were in the sitting-room.

9. His calculations were proved wrong.

10. I was lent the book by my friend.

11. They had been caught by the war in Australia.

12. Two climbers are being looked for by the Scottish police in the Highlands.

13. The radio was invented by Popov.

14. The village was destroyed in the storm last week.

Note: When you use the passive, you often don’t mention the person or thing that performs the action at all. This may be because you don’t know or don’t want to say who it is, or because it doesn’t matter.

e.g. Her boyfriend was shot in the chest. Your application was rejected.

If you are using the passive voice and you do want to mention the person or thing that performs the action, you use “by”.

e.g. He had been poisoned by his girlfriend. He was brought up by his aunt.

You use “with” to talk about something that is used to perform the action (an instrument, tool, etc., which helps the agent to do an action).

e.g. He was killed with a knife. He was shot (by the policeman) with a revolver.

The doer of the action is not mentioned in 70% of passive constructions (in literature).But there are some verbs which demand mentioning the agent. They are accompany, attend, bring about, cause, characterize, control, follow, govern, influence, join, mark, rule, etc

e.g. He was accompanied by the crowd of correspondents.

1.3 Add the agent to the sentence using prepositions “by”, “with”.

1. Bread is cut (a knife).

2. The table is being laid for dinner (Ann).

3. Jack was overwhelmed (joy).

4. I was told the news (a man).

5. Sue was reprimanded (the Dean) yesterday as she had missed many classes.

6. I was introduced to the manager (the secretary).

7. The case has been mentioned to me (the lawyer).

8. The situation was explained to us (the parents).

9. In winter rivers and lakes are covered (ice).

10. Some flower, salt, eggs, sugar, butter and milk were beaten into the mixture (a mixer).