Passive Voice Definition and Examples

In traditional grammar, the term passive voice refers to a type of sentence or clause in which the subject receives the action of the verb. (For example, the sentence A good time was had by all is constructed with a passive voice, in contrast with Everyone had a good time, which is constructed using an active voice.) In Defense of the Passive Voice Linguist Jane R. Walpole, who has authored several books on the subject of grammar believes that the passive voice can be a valuable tool if used correctly. Indiscriminate slandering of the passive voice ought to be stopped, she writes. The passive should be recognized as a quite decent and respectable structure of English grammar, neither better nor worse than other structures. When it is properly chosen, wordiness and obscurity are no more increased than when the active voice is properly chosen. Its effective and appropriate use can be taught. Passive Voice Examples Though many style guides discourage the use of the passive voice, the construction can be quite effective, especially when the performer of an action is unknown or unimportant. Passive constructions can also enhance cohesion. Here are some good examples: [Fern] found an old milking stool that had been discarded, and she placed the stool in the sheepfold next to Wilburs pen.—from Charlottes Web by E.B. White America was discovered accidentally by a great seaman who was looking for something else...America was named after a man who discovered no part of the New World. History is like that, very chancy.—from The Oxford History of the American People by Samuel Eliot Morison Her bones were foundround thirty years laterwhen they razedher building toput up a parking lot.—Chicken-Licken by Maya Angelou from Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well In the beginning, the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.—from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams Fiction was invented the day Jonas arrived home and told his wife that he was three days late because he had been swallowed by a whale.—Gabriel Garcia Marquez Pandora, from Greek mythology, was given a box with all the worlds evils in it.—from The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch The young gentleman was later seen by me in front of the gare Saint-Lazare.—Passive from Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau Evasive Use of the Passive Voice Noted Chicago-based journalist Sydney J. Harris, best remembered for his long-running weekday column, â€Å"Strictly Personal, wryly noted that the use of the passive voice as a vehicle with which to make excuses is a sign of immaturity. We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voice—that is, until we have stopped saying It got lost, and say, I lost it, he observed. And yet, the practice is common enough, especially in the world of politics, as evidenced by these mistakes were made disclaimers: [W]hen [New Jersey Governor Chris Christie] said mistakes were made, did he know he was quoting Nixon press secretary Ron Ziegler, or did that particular obfuscatory use of the passive voice just pop into his head?—Katha Pollitt, Christie: A Bully’s Bully. The Nation, February 3, 2014 Mistakes were made. I didnt make them.—Chief of Staff and later Secretary of State Alexander Haig, Jr., on the Watergate scandals, January 1981 We did not achieve what we wished, and serious mistakes were made in trying to do so.—President Ronald Reagan, regarding the Iran-Contra affair, January 1987 Clearly, no one regrets more than I do the appearance of impropriety. Obviously, some mistakes were made.†Ã¢â‚¬â€Chief of Staff John Sununu, when caut using government military aircraft for personal trips, December 1991 Mistakes were made here by people who either did it deliberately or inadvertently.—President Bill Clinton, when it was discovered that he had invited the countrys senior banking regulator to a meeting with the Democratic Party’s senior fund-raiser, January 1997 I acknowledge that mistakes were made here.—Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, regarding the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, March 2007 Proper Uses of Passive Voice in Journalism Lauren Kessler and Duncan McDonald, authors of When Words Collide, a grammar and usage guide for media writing, suggest that there are two situations in which the passive voice must be used for journalistic purposes. The first is when the receiver of the action is more important than the creator of the action. This is the example they cite: A priceless Rembrandt painting was stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art yesterday by three men posing as janitors. Here, even though it receives the action, the painting remains the subject of the sentence because a Rembrandt is more important than the thieves who stole it. The second compelling use for the passive voice in journalism when a writer simply doesnt know who the person or thing responsible for creating an action is. This is the example they cite: The cargo was damaged during the trans-Atlantic flight. Here, theres no way to know what caused the damage. Was it turbulence? Vandalism? Human error? Since there can be no answer (at least without further investigation), the passive voice must be used. True Passives, Semi-Passives, Passive Gradient The most common form of the passive in English is the short passive or agentless passive: a construction in which the agent (i.e, the one who performers an action) is not identified. For example, Promises were made. In a long passive, the object of the verb in an active sentence becomes the subject. According to linguist Christopher Beedham, statistics indicate that about four-fifths of the occurrences of passive voice lack a by-phrase, however, in the active construction, subjects are required—meaning there can be no active sentences that dont have a subject. So where do all these passives with no agent come from whereby the agent is unknown? he asks. Not from an underlying active, obviously. It is common practice to assume a dummy subject in such cases, equivalent to someone, i.e. underlying My house was burgled is the sentence Someone burgled my house. But that is stretching a point beyond credibility. For the answer, Beedham refers to the authoritative reference text A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Citing the following examples, he explains that the way to get past this problem is by using a passive gradient along with the concept of the semi-passive: This violin was made by my father.This conclusion is hardly justified by the results.Coal has been replaced by oil.This difficulty can be avoided in several ways. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - We are encouraged to go on with the project.Leonard was interested in linguistics.The building is already demolished.The modern world is getting more highly industrialized and mechanized.My uncle was/got/seemed tired. The dotted line indicates the break between real passives and semi-passives, he says. Those above the line are real passives, those below the line are increasingly remote from the ideal passive with a unique active paraphrase, and are not real passives at all—they are semi-passives. Rise of the Get-Passive Often the passive voice is formed by using the appropriate form of the verb to be (for example, is) and a past participle (for example, formed). However, passive constructions arent always made up of be and a past participle. The get-passive construction has become increasingly popular. The passive in English is usually formed with the verb to be, yielding they were fired or the tourist was robbed, explains noted American linguist and author Arika Okrent. But we also have the get passive, giving us they got fired and the tourist got robbed. She goes on to say that while the get-passive dates back at least 300 years, its use has seen a marked increase over the last 50 years. It is strongly associated with situations which are bad news for the subject—getting fired, getting robbed—but also situations that give some kind of benefit. (They got promoted. The tourist got paid.) However, the restrictions on its use may be relaxing over time and get-passives could get a whole lot bigger. Sources Walpole, Jane R. Why Must the Passive Be Damned? College Composition and Communication. 1979Beedham, Christopher. Language And Meaning: The Structural Creation of Reality. John Benjamins. 2005Okrent, Arika. Four Changes to English So Subtle We Hardly Notice Theyre Happening. The Week. June 27, 2013Knight, Robert M. A Journalistic Approach to Good Writing: The Craft of Clarity. Second Edition. Iowa State Press. 2003Kessler, Lauren; McDonald, Duncan. When Words Collide. Eighth Edition. Wadsworth, 2012Quirk, Randolph;  Greenbaum, Sidney; Leech, Geoffrey N.;  Svartvik, Jan. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Pearson Education ESL.  February 1989