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The passive voice is one of the most important — and most misunderstood — structures in English. Learners are often told to "avoid the passive," yet native speakers use it constantly in news reports, academic papers, formal letters, and scientific writing. The real skill is knowing when to use it, when to avoid it, and how to form it correctly across all tenses. This complete guide explains everything, from the basics through to modal passives and the causative structure.
1. What is the Passive Voice?
In an active sentence, the grammatical subject is the person or thing that performs the action. In a passive sentence, the grammatical subject is the person or thing that receives the action.
Active: The manager approved the budget.
Passive: The budget was approved (by the manager).
Notice three things about the passive sentence above:
- The object of the active sentence (the budget) becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
- The verb changes to was approved (past tense of be + past participle).
- The original subject (the manager) can be added in a by-phrase, but it is often omitted.
The passive voice is used in English for three main reasons:
- Unknown agent: You do not know who performed the action. My car was stolen last night.
- Unimportant agent: Who did it is obvious or irrelevant. The road is being repaired.
- Focus on the result: You want to emphasise what happened, not who did it. The contract has been signed.
2. How to Form the Passive Voice
The formula is always the same regardless of tense:
Subject + correct form of "to be" + past participle (+ by-phrase optional)
The letters are sent every Friday. (present simple passive)
The report will be reviewed tomorrow. (future simple passive)
The key is choosing the correct tense of "be" to match the intended time, and using the past participle (not the base form or the -ing form) of the main verb. Here is the complete formation table:
| Tense | Active example | Passive form | Passive example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present Simple | They clean the office daily. | is/are + pp | The office is cleaned daily. |
| Present Continuous | They are repairing the road. | is/are being + pp | The road is being repaired. |
| Present Perfect | They have finished the project. | has/have been + pp | The project has been finished. |
| Past Simple | Someone stole the painting. | was/were + pp | The painting was stolen. |
| Past Continuous | They were building the bridge. | was/were being + pp | The bridge was being built. |
| Past Perfect | They had submitted the form. | had been + pp | The form had been submitted. |
| Future Simple | They will announce the results. | will be + pp | The results will be announced. |
| Future Perfect | They will have completed the work. | will have been + pp | The work will have been completed. |
3. The Optional By-Phrase
The by-phrase tells us who or what performed the action. It is included only when the information is useful or necessary.
The novel was written by Charles Dickens. (by-phrase needed — the author is important)
The package was delivered this morning. (no by-phrase — the delivery person is irrelevant)
The window was broken. (no by-phrase — the agent may be unknown)
A common mistake is including an unhelpful by-phrase that clutters the sentence. If you are writing "The report was written by the team," consider whether the active "The team wrote the report" is cleaner and more direct.
4. When to Use the Passive Voice
Understanding the context where the passive is natural and appropriate is more important than knowing the grammar rule alone. Here are the key contexts:
Academic and Scientific Writing
Academic writing uses the passive extensively to create an objective, impersonal tone. Rather than writing "We tested the samples," a researcher writes "The samples were tested." This removes the first person and foregrounds the procedure rather than the researcher.
The experiment was conducted over a period of six months.
Data were collected from 200 participants and analysed using standard statistical methods.
News Reporting
News headlines and reports frequently use the passive when the agent is not yet known, when identifying the agent is legally sensitive, or when the event itself is more newsworthy than who caused it.
Three people have been arrested in connection with the robbery.
A new law was passed by parliament yesterday.
Formal and Professional Emails
In business English, the passive can soften bad news or avoid direct blame, which is considered more tactful and professional.
Your application has been reviewed, and unfortunately it has not been successful. (softer than "We reviewed and rejected your application")
Your order will be dispatched within 48 hours.
Process Descriptions
When describing how something is made or how a process works, the passive is the standard choice because each step focuses on what happens, not on an unnamed agent performing each step.
The grapes are harvested, crushed, and then the juice is fermented for several weeks.
5. When NOT to Use the Passive
The passive is frequently overused, which leads to heavy, indirect, and confusing writing. Avoid it in these situations:
- When the agent is important and clear: "The CEO was praised by the board" is weaker than "The board praised the CEO."
- In everyday conversation: "Was the door locked by you?" sounds unnatural. Say "Did you lock the door?"
- In narrative writing: Passive constructions slow the pace of a story. Active verbs are more vivid and direct.
- When it creates ambiguity: "Mistakes were made" is often criticised as vague and evasive — it is unclear who made the mistakes.
✗ The homework was forgotten to be done by me.
✓ I forgot to do my homework.
6. Passive Voice with Modal Verbs
Modal verbs (can, could, may, might, must, should, will, would, ought to) combine with the passive to express ability, permission, obligation, or possibility in passive structures. The formula is:
Modal + be + past participle
| Modal | Passive example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| can | This task can be completed in one hour. | possibility/ability |
| could | The problem could be solved with more funding. | past possibility |
| must | All forms must be submitted by Friday. | obligation |
| should | The document should be checked carefully. | recommendation |
| may | Entries may be disqualified without notice. | possibility |
| might | The flight might be delayed due to weather. | weak possibility |
| will | Results will be published next week. | future certainty |
| would | The matter would be reviewed in due course. | polite/conditional |
Modal passives are extremely common in formal writing, legal documents, academic papers, and workplace emails. For example: "All data must be encrypted and stored securely. Passwords should never be shared with other users. Access permissions can be changed by an administrator."
7. Causative Have and Get
The causative structure means having someone else do something for you. It looks like a passive but has a slightly different meaning — it implies you arranged the action rather than doing it yourself.
Structure: have/get + object + past participle
I had my car serviced at the garage. (Someone else serviced it for me)
She got her hair cut at the salon.
We had the house painted last summer.
Have vs Get: Both are correct but "get" is slightly more informal and is more common in spoken English. "Have" is preferred in formal writing. Compare:
I need to have these documents translated. (formal)
I need to get these documents translated. (informal/spoken)
Note: The causative can also be used in a negative sense when something unwanted happened to you: "She had her bag stolen on the train." (She didn't arrange it — it happened to her.)
8. Common Passive Voice Mistakes
Even intermediate learners make predictable errors with the passive. Here are the most frequent ones — with corrections:
| Mistake | Wrong | Correct |
|---|---|---|
| Using the base verb instead of past participle | The letter was write yesterday. | The letter was written yesterday. |
| Omitting "be" in the passive | The car stolen last night. | The car was stolen last night. |
| Wrong tense of "be" | The work is finished before I arrived. | The work had been finished before I arrived. |
| Using "by" with reflexive agent | The problem solved by itself. | The problem solved itself. (active — reflexive) |
| Passive with intransitive verb | The accident was happened here. | The accident happened here. (intransitive — no passive) |
| Redundant by-phrase with obvious agent | I was born by my mother. | I was born. (the agent is obvious) |
Intransitive verbs — verbs that cannot take a direct object — cannot be made passive. Verbs like happen, arrive, die, exist, appear, sleep have no passive form. ✗ The bus was arrived late. ✓ The bus arrived late.
9. Active vs Passive: Choosing Wisely
The best writers do not avoid the passive — they choose it deliberately when it serves the reader. Ask yourself these three questions before using the passive:
- Is the agent unknown, unimportant, or obvious? If yes, passive is appropriate.
- Do I want to focus on what happened rather than who did it? If yes, passive is appropriate.
- Is this a formal or academic context? If yes, passive is often expected.
If you answered "no" to all three, the active voice is almost certainly clearer and more effective.
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