Use the word passive voice in a sentence

В этой статье мы изучим правила образования пассивного залога в английском языке, а также на примерах разберемся в каких случаях он используется.

Далеко не всегда мы можем уточнить, кто выполняет действие, а порой нам это и вовсе не нужно. В таких случаях уместно употреблять пассивный или страдательный залог, который в английском языке называют passive voice. Давайте разберем, что такое passive voice и правила его образования, а затем рассмотрим случаи его употребления.

Образование passive voice

В английском языке существует два залога — активный (active voice) и пассивный или страдательный (passive voice). В активном залоге действие выполняет подлежащее. В пассивном залоге действие происходит над подлежащим. Давайте сравним:

Mary cleans the office every morning. — Мэри убирает офис каждое утро. (активный залог)

Подлежащее (Мэри) выполняет действие (убирает).

The office is cleaned every morning. — Офис убирают каждое утро. (пассивный залог)

Неизвестно, кто выполняет действие. Подлежащее (офис) подвергается действию (его убирают).

She asked her students to come earlier. — Она попросила студентов прийти раньше. (активный залог)
The students were asked to come earlier. — Студентов попросили прийти раньше. (пассивный залог)

Страдательный залог в английском языке образуется с помощью вспомогательного глагола to be и смыслового глагола в третьей форме. На месте подлежащего в утвердительных предложениях будет стоять человек или предмет, над которым будет производиться действие. Посмотрите на схеме ниже, как активный залог можно преобразовать в пассивный.

Образование пассивного залога в разных временах представлено в таблице ниже. Времена группы Perfect Continuous, а также Future Continuous в пассивном залоге не используются.

Время	Когда используем	Формула	Пример
Present Simple	– регулярное действие – констатация факта	is/am/are + V3	Thousands of dollars are spent on coffee in America every day. — Тысячи долларов тратятся на кофе в Америке каждый день.
Past Simple	– завершенное действие в прошлом	was/were + V3	The radio was invented 150 years ago. — Радио изобрели 150 лет назад.
Future Simple	– действие произойдет в будущем	will be + V3	The letter will be sent tomorrow. — Письмо отправят завтра.
Present Continuous	– действие происходит в момент речи, прямо сейчас	am/is/are + being + V3	The car is being refueled now. — Машину заправляют сейчас.
Past Continuous	– действие происходило в определенный момент в прошлом, акцент на продолжительности действия	was/were + being + V3	The exam was being taken yesterday morning. — Экзамен сдавали вчера утром.
Present Perfect	– действие уже завершилось, акцент на результат	has/have + been + V3	The flowers have already been watered. — Цветы уже полили.
Past Perfect	– действие завершилось до определенного момента или другого события в прошлом	had + been + V3	The police had been called before the burglars ran away. — Полицию вызвали до того, как воры убежали.
Future Perfect	– действие будет завершено до определенного момента в будущем	will + have + been + V3	The article will have been rewritten by tomorrow morning. — Статью перепишут к завтрашнему утру.

Для образования отрицательной формы пассивного залога необходима частица not. Ставим ее после вспомогательного глагола. Если вспомогательных глаголов несколько, ставим not после первого.

I left my camera on the bench and it was not stolen! — Я забыл камеру на лавочке, и ее не украли!
The car has not been transported yet. — Машину еще не перевезли.

Чтобы задать вопрос в пассивном залоге, необходимо поставить вспомогательный глагол на первое место.

Will the meeting be held next week? — Встречу проведут на следующей неделе?
Was the match canceled because of the weather? — Матч отменили из-за погоды?

Если есть необходимость указать, кем выполняется действие, в конце предложения ставим предлог by + того, кто выполняет действие.

The book was written by an unknown author. — Книга была написана неизвестным автором.
You will never be disappointed by your loyal employees. — Ты никогда не будешь разочарован своими верными сотрудниками.

Разобраться в сложной грамматической теме вам поможет один из наших опытных преподавателей.

Случаи использования passive voice

1. Когда тот, кто выполняет действие, неизвестен, неважен или очевиден. Действие важнее того, кто его совершает.

   My project for English literature is ruined! Who did it? — Мой проект по английской литературе испорчен! Кто это сделал?
   Your delegation will be met at the airport. You will see a card with your name. — Вашу делегацию встретят в аэропорту. Вы увидите карточку с вашим именем.
   You may go to your room. Your suitcase will be taken there in a minute. — Вы можете проходить в свою комнату. Ваш чемодан принесут туда через минуту.

2. Когда описываем действие в новостях, заголовках, рекламных объявлениях.

   The local shop was robbed this morning. — Местный магазин ограбили этим утром.
   A big discount will be provided for the first ten customers. — Большая скидка будет предоставлена первым десяти покупателям.

3. Когда описываем общие факты, идеи, мнения.

   Quentin Tarantino is known all around the world. — Квентина Тарантино знают по всему миру.
   His picture was described as the best artwork of the past year. — Его картина была описана, как лучшая работа прошедшего года.

4. Когда хотим сделать высказывание более вежливым или формальным.

   Have you cancelled the meeting? — Ты отменил встречу? (прямой вопрос)
   Has the meeting been cancelled? — Встречу отменили? (более вежливый вопрос).

   You haven’t paid for electricity since January! — Вы не платите за электричество с января!
   The electricity hasn’t been paid for since January. — За электричество не платят с января.

Другие формы passive voice

Разберем, в каких еще формах и конструкциях можно употреблять страдательный залог.

1. Пассивный залог также используется в следующих вариантах:
   

   Форма	Формула	Пример
   Present Infinitive	to be + V3	She hopes to be invited to the party. — Она надеется, что ее пригласят на вечеринку. They expect the work to be done by the weekend. — Они ожидают, что работу закончат к выходным.
   Perfect Infinitive	to have been + V3	He pretended to have been given money. — Он притворился, что ему дали деньги. He was really surprised to have been granted a certificate. — Он был очень удивлен, что ему выдали сертификат.
   -ing form	being + V3	Nobody likes being treated badly. — Никому не нравится, когда с ним обращаются плохо. I hate being told what to do. — Я ненавижу, когда мне говорят, что делать.
   Perfect -ing form	having been + V3	They admitted having been told about that. — Они признали, что им это говорили. I don’t remember having been asked to help her. — Я не помню, чтобы меня просили ей помочь.
   Modals	must/can be + V3	This rule must be taken into consideration. — Это правило должно быть принято во внимание. It can be postponed till Tuesday. — Это можно отложить до вторника.

2. Глаголы to believe (верить, полагать), to expect (ожидать), to feel (чувствовать), to hope (надеяться), to know (знать), to say (говорить), to think (думать), to report (сообщать, докладывать), to understand (понимать, подразумевать) могут использоваться в пассивном залоге только в двух типах конструкций: impersonal construction, personal construction. Эти конструкции нужны, когда у нас нет необходимости ссылаться на мнение кого-то конкретного. Мы говорим об общеизвестных фактах, общем мнении.
   

   Название конструкции	Формула	Пример
   Impersonal construction	It + пассивный залог + that-clause	It is believed that they are from a very rich family. — Считается, что они из очень богатой семьи. It was expected that they would come on Friday. — Ожидалось, что они приедут в пятницу.
   Personal construction	Подлежащее + пассивный залог + to + infinitive	They are believed to be from a very rich family. — Считается, что они из очень богатой семьи. They were expected to come on Friday. — Ожидалось, что они приедут в пятницу.

   Давайте еще раз посмотрим, как из предложений в активном залоге образуются пассивные конструкции.

   People say Anna is a gossiper. — Люди говорят, что Анна — сплетница.
   It is said that Anna is a gossiper. — Говорят, что Анна — сплетница. (impersonal construction)
   Anna is said to be a gossiper. — Говорят, что Анна — сплетница. (personal construction)

   They know that Eric works for FBI. — Они знают, что Эрик работает на ФБР.
   It is known that Eric works for FBI. — Известно, что Эрик работает на ФБР. (impersonal construction)
   Eric is known to work for FBI. — Известно, что Эрик работает на ФБР. (personal construction)

3. Когда действие выполняет кто-то за нас или для нас, используется конструкция have something done. Как правило, речь может идти о предоставлении каких-либо услуг. Предложения с этой конструкцией строятся следующим образом:

   Подлежащее + have + дополнение + глагол в 3-ей форме

   I did my nails yesterday. — Я сделала маникюр вчера.
   I had my nails done yesterday. — Мне сделали маникюр вчера.

   His parents will build a house tree. — Его родители построят домик на дереве.
   They will have their tree house built. — Им построят домик на дереве.

   Эта конструкция может использоваться в разных временах. В зависимости от времени меняется вспомогательный глагол have.

   Время	Пример в активном залоге	Пример с конструкцией have something done
   Present Simple	She cleans my flat every weekend. — Она убирает мою квартиру каждые выходные.	I have my flat cleaned every weekend. — Мою квартиру убирают каждые выходные.
   Past Simple	I sent a parcel. — Я отправил посылку.	I had my parcel sent. — Мою посылку отправили.
   Future Simple	We will paint the kitchen. — Мы покрасим кухню.	We will have our kitchen painted. — Нам покрасят кухню.
   Present Continuous	They are repairing the road. — Они ремонтируют дорогу.	They are having the road repaired. — Им ремонтируют дорогу.
   Past Continuous	We were changing the wheel. — Мы меняли колесо.	We were having the wheel changed. — Нам меняли колесо.
   Future Continuous	I will be doing make-up. — Я буду делать макияж.	I will be having my make-up done. — Мне будут делать макияж.
   Present Perfect	Our neighbours have just built a fence. — Наши соседи только построили забор.	Our neighbours have just had the fence built. — Нашим соседям только построили забор.
   Present Perfect Continuous	I have been washing the car for two hours. — Я мою машину последние два часа.	I have been having the car washed for two hours. — Мне два часа моют машину.
   Past Perfect	He had stolen the wallet. — Он украл кошелек.	He had had his wallet stolen. — У него украли кошелек.
   Past Perfect Continuous	She had been sewing the dress. — Она шила платье.	She had been having the dress sewed. — Ей шили платье.

   В разговорной речи вспомогательный глагол have часто заменяют на get.

   I want to get my purchase delivered. — Я хочу, чтобы мою покупку доставили.
   He got the door installed. — Ему установили дверь.

Надеемся, наша статья была для вас полезной и вы разобрались в разных формах страдательного залога. Предлагаем пройти небольшой тест.

The party was held by a generous celebrity. Delicious food was eaten. Songs were sung. Joy and fun was had by all! 

Wow! Sounds like a fun party. But what’s going on in those sentences? Don’t they look … backwards?

All of these sentences are written in what is known as the passive voice. The passive voice flips the script and begins a sentence by saying who or what had something done to it. While this sounds exciting, the passive voice is usually left off of the guest list when it comes time to hold a grammar party. This might sound unfair, but there’s often a good reason why the passive voice gets left out in the cold. Before we get into that, though, let’s look a little closer at what the passive voice actually is and how we use it in our speech and writing.

What is the passive voice?

The passive voice is one of two main “voices” of verbs. A verb is in the passive voice when the subject of a sentence or clause is acted on rather than performing an action. For example, the sentence The dinner was cooked by Eduardo uses the passive voice. In this sentence, the subject (the dinner) did not do anything. Instead, it was acted on: Eduardo cooked it.

A sentence that doesn’t use the passive voice instead uses what is called the active voice. A verb is in the active voice when the subject is the one performing an action, as in the sentence Eduardo cooked the dinner.

In order to use the passive voice, our sentence will need to follow a basic structure. This is:

• [subject] + [the properly conjugated form of the verb be] + [past participle of a verb]

For example, the sentence My wallet was stolen is a grammatically correct sentence that uses the passive voice. When using the passive voice, the verb be is conjugated and put into the proper verb tense to show when in time an action happens. For example:

•  The shorter path has been taken.
• The preparations will be made.

Often, the passive voice also uses a prepositional phrase beginning with the word by to state who or what is performing an action on the subject. The sentence My wallet was stolen by a pickpocket is an example of this.

Want to know what else a prepositional phrase can do? Learn more about them here.

List of passive verbs

The most important thing to know about passive verbs is that they must be transitive verbs. A transitive verb is “a verb accompanied by a direct object and from which a passive can be formed.” The following list has examples of past participles of a variety of verbs ready to be used in the passive voice.

• admired, bought, convinced, discovered, eaten, found, given, hidden, investigated, jostled, kicked, loved, mentioned, nudged, opened, picked, questioned, removed, surprised, taken, uncovered, visited, washed, yanked, zapped

Examples of passive voice

The following sentences all use the passive voice. In all of these sentences, you will notice that the subject is having something done to it rather than doing something itself.

• I was licked by a cat.
• The tree was struck by lightning.
• The party was held by the college fraternity.
• The event was canceled.
• We were fooled!

When do you use the passive voice?

In general, writers and speakers tend to avoid using the passive voice. It is highly likely that an English teacher has warned you against using the passive voice at some point. Among other reasons, this is because the passive voice can make sentences longer and more confusing than they need to be. In formal writing, the passive voice is usually only reserved for very specific uses and is otherwise avoided in most cases.

However, it isn’t wrong to use the passive voice, In fact, there may be instances where the passive voice makes more sense to use over the active voice. Let’s look at some instances where the passive voice may be the best option.

When the performer of the action is unknown

You are likely to see the passive voice used in reports of police investigations or historical discoveries where an unknown person or group did something.

• The jewels were stolen from the safe last night.
• The duke was kidnapped!
• This poem was written during the ninth century.

When it doesn’t matter who the actor is

The passive voice may be used when it really isn’t important who or what does something.

• The new shopping mall will be built downtown.
• After the performance is over, the fake money will be destroyed immediately.

When stating facts

Sometimes, the passive voice is used to speak generally about a truth.

• The statue was in a location where it could easily be seen.
• Prop swords are often flimsy, so they must be carefully used.

When emphasizing the person or thing acted on 

We can use the passive voice to shift the focus to the receiver of an action rather than the performer. Often, we do this if the subject is the focus of attention or is considered more important in a given context.

• The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson.
• The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell.
• I was attacked by a swarm of angry bees.

When avoiding assigning blame to someone

Because the performer of an action can be omitted when using the passive voice, we may use it to hide their identity in order to avoid assigning blame. (This might mean the speaker is the one who did the action!)

• My sister’s diary was taken from her room.
• We need to accept the fact that the last slice of pizza was eaten and move on with our lives.

When you want to use the same subject repeatedly

The passive voice can help you make natural sounding sentences when you want to say that a subject both did something and had something done to it.

• The monkey danced and was fed peanuts by passersby.
• Daniel worked really hard but was never appreciated.

When writing scientific reports

Scientists and researchers often use the passive voice because it is either obvious or unimportant who is doing a task or conducting an experiment. However, even scientists may avoid the passive voice depending on the rules of the style guide they prefer to use in their writing.

• 50 mL of iodine was added to the mixture.
• The mice infected with the bacteria were kept separate from the control group.
• The prospective voters were asked many questions about the potential candidates.

Learn more about the many types of verbs.

When should you avoid passive voice?

In formal and academic writing, the passive voice is frequently avoided. Generally speaking, the passive voice is only used in some of the specific instances mentioned above. While the passive voice is more acceptable in casual and informal speech, there are times when it is probably best avoided.

To avoid confusing sentences

Arguably the most common reason you would want to avoid using the passive voice is because it can cause long, confusing sentences or sentences that just sound awkward. Here are a view examples of this:

• Television was watched by me.
• At the circus, stunts were performed by acrobats, jokes were told by clowns, and tricks were performed by lions and bears.
• Jessica was met at her house by us, and then the bus was ridden by all of us.

While all of the above sentences are grammatically correct, you probably didn’t enjoy reading them very much. By using the passive voice, all of these sentences are much more confusing than they need to be.

To avoid vague sentences

Passive voice should be avoided if it makes a sentence too vague. For example,

• Adam, Barbara, and Calvin wanted the gold watch. It was stolen.
• The explorer fell into a hole filled with harmless spiders and poisonous snakes. He was bitten repeatedly.
• The home team and their rivals were evenly matched, but eventually the game was won.

In all three of these examples, the passive voice makes it impossible to tell who did what. All three examples would be much more clear if the active voice would have been used instead.

To avoid unknown sources

One of the main reasons passive voice is avoided in academia is because it allows a person to make claims or statements without explicitly naming a source of information. For example:

• Studies have been performed wherein the majority of people say a tomato is a fruit.
• It has been determined that cats are worse pets than dogs.
• The precedent has been established that the chicken came before the egg.

How to fix passive voice

In most cases, the best way to fix a sentence that uses the passive voice is to turn it into one that uses the active voice. When we do this, it is important that we don’t alter the meaning of the original sentence. Both the passive and active versions of the sentence should mean the same thing. In general, we turn a passive voice sentence active by turning the subject into a direct object and making the performer of the action the subject of the new sentence. To demonstrate, let’s take some of our problematic sentences from earlier and fix them up.

• Passive: Television was watched by me.
• Active: I watched television.

The subject television (passive sentence) is now the direct object of the active sentence. Here are two more examples:

• Passive: The explorer fell into a hole filled with harmless spiders and poisonous snakes. He was bitten repeatedly.
• Active: The explorer fell into a hole filled with harmless spiders and poisonous snakes. Luckily, only the spiders bit him repeatedly.
• Passive: It has been determined that cats are worse pets than dogs.
• Active: The Society of Dog Lovers determined that cats are worse pets than dogs.

Passive vs. Active Voice

The two voices of verbs are the passive voice and the active voice. The biggest difference between passive vs. active voice is that the subject of a passive voice sentence is having an action performed on it, while the subject of an active voice sentence is the one performing the action. You can see this difference in the following two sentences:

• Passive: The bears are being cleaned by the zookeepers.
• Active: The bears are eating a lot of salmon.

In the first sentence, the bears aren’t doing anything but are having something done to them. In this sentence, it is the zookeepers who are actually doing something; they are cleaning bears. In the second sentence, the bears are the ones performing an action; they are eating delicious salmon.

As mentioned earlier, another major difference between active and passive voice is that the active voice can be used in a sentence that uses an intransitive verb (or a helping verb). If you attempt to use an intransitive verb in the passive voice, your sentence likely won’t make any sense. For example:

• Intransitive verb used in the active voice: The bears hibernated.
• Intransitive verb used in the passive voice: The bears were hibernated.

As you can see, the second sentence doesn’t make any sense. You can’t “hibernate” something, so you can’t actually use the verb hibernate in a passive voice sentence that makes grammatical sense.

Make an active choice to improve your grammar

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What is the difference between the active voice and the passive voice in English?

Compare these two sentences:

Active = “The doctor gave me a prescription”
Passive = “I was given a prescription”

The first sentence is in the “active voice”. The subject is the doctor, and the verb is “gave”. In active sentences, the focus of the sentence is on the subject.

The second sentence is in the “passive voice”. The object of the sentence (“I”) becomes the focus of the sentence.

How to form a passive sentence

1. Firstly, you need to make the object (from the active sentence) into the new subject.

For example, in “John helped me”, “me” is the object. The subject form of “me” is “I”.

Here is a list of objects and subjects:

me – I
you – You
him / her – He / She
us – We
them – They

2. Then you make the verb passive.

Put the verb “to be” into the same tense as the verb in the active sentence. For example, in the sentence “John helped me”, “helped” is the past tense. Therefore, you need the past simple tense of the verb “to be”, which is “was” or “were”.

“I was…”

Here’s a list of tenses for the verb “to be”:

Present simple – am / are / is
Present continuous – is being / are being
Present perfect – has been / have been
Simple past – was / were
Past continuous – was being / were being
Modals will, can etc – will be, can be etc.

3. Then add the past participle of the verb. For example “gave” – “given”, “help” – “helped”

“I was helped by John.”
“I was given a prescription by the doctor.”

4. If necessary, you can say who did the action. To do this, add “by” at the end of your sentence.
“She was awarded a degree by the University of London.”

When to use the passive voice

As a general rule, speak and write in the active voice. But passive forms can be useful in formal writing (such as scientific reports) when the emphasis is on process and results, rather than on who did the action.

1. To change the focus of a sentence.
Sometimes, the object of the sentence is more important than the subject. We can change the focus of the sentence by changing an active sentence into a passive sentence. For example, in the following sentence, the focus is on beautiful designs and colours – not on who creates or chooses them.

“Our beautiful designs are created by a team of experts. The colours are carefully chosen to blend in with the surroundings…”

2. If we don’t know who does an action.
“My bicycle has been stolen” – I don’t know who has stolen it.

3. If we don’t want to say who did something.
“The lights were left on all night.” (I don’t want to say that you left the lights on.)

4. If it is obvious who does something.
“I was given a prescription” – I know that only doctors give prescriptions, so I don’t need to add “by the doctor”.
“He was arrested” I know that the police arrest people, so I don’t need to add “by the police”.

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There’s a time and place for passive voice. We’ll explain what it is and when you should (or shouldn’t) use it.