ACTIVE AND PASSIVE

ACTIVE
The subject is doing the action. "Steve loves Amy." Steve is the subject, and he is doing the action: he loves Amy, the object of the sentence. The focus is on Steve, not Amy

PASSIVE
The target of the action gets promoted to the subject position. "Amy is loved by Steve." The subject of the sentence becomes Amy, but she isn't doing anything. The focus of the sentence has changed from Steve to Amy.

Passive Verb Formation

TENSE SUBJECT

AUXILIARY
SINGULAR PLURAL

PAST PARTICIPLE

Present Present continuous Present perfect Past Past continuous Past perfect Future Future continuous Future perfect

The car/cars is The car/cars is being The car/cars has been The car/cars was The car/cars was being The car/cars had been The car/cars will be The car/cars will be being The car/cars will have been

are are being have been were were being had been will be

designed.
designed. designed. designed. designed. designed. designed.

will be being designed. will have been designed.

When to Use Passive Voice

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9.

The action is more important than the agent. The agent or doer is obvious. The agent or doer is unknown. When the agent or doer has already been mentioned. When a sentence has two objects, then the indirect object becomes the subject of the sentence in the passive. When we wish to emphasize the direct object in a sentence and place it as the subject. When people in general are the agents. When we wish to conceal the agents identity or to distance ourselves from our own actions. When a preposition occurs after a verb in the active voice.