Maybe most of the English language instructors have instilled a sort of ban regarding the use of the passive voice, but is the Passive Voice always bad? Let’s take George Orwell, who actually said not to use the passive voice when you could use the active but who frequently used the passive voice himself. According to Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, the passive voice should not be entirely discarded, because it is “frequently convenient and sometimes necessary.”
A. The passive – Use
⃰ We use the passive voice when we do not know who the agent of the action is, when we don’t want to say who it is, or when we don’t care who the agent is:
The freezer was left open all night.
Or, if the agent is known but not significant:
My shoes have been repaired.
Or, so that the subject of the verb is not a very long phrase:
Tom was very impressed by the way Derek managed the company.
(Rather than: The way Derek managed the company impressed Tom.)
⃰ We frequently use the passive in scientific and technical writing:
The results of the experiments are then analysed in the laboratory.
⃰ We use the passive in historical and geographical texts:
The pound was devalued in the 1960s.
The English |King, Charles I, was executed in 1649.
⃰ We often use the passive with modal verbs (e.g. can, must, should) to express an instruction or rule in a courteous and impersonal way:
The doors must be kept shut at all times.
Mobile phones should be switched off.
The answer can be found on page 6.
B. The passive – form
⃰ The passive is formed by adding a form of the auxiliary be to the past participle of the main verb.
- Present simple passive: Stamps are sold in supermarkets now.
- Present continuous passive: Gabriel’s room is being painted this afternoon.
- Present perfect passive: The CD has been recorded in London.
- Past Simple passive: Jane was last seen in Paris.
- Past continuous passive: The cat was being chased.
- Future passive: The doctor will be given an award in October.
We form passive questions by putting the auxiliary verb be at the beginning of the sentence, or after the question word:
Was the picture painted by your sister?/ Who were the curtains made by?
C. Using the passive with by
⃰ If you want to specify who or what the agent is in a passive sentence, you use by after the main verb or the object – we use this pattern when we want to indicate that the agent is particularly significant or unexpected:
The trees were blown down by the storm.
My father was left a fortune by an uncle.
Tips – When should I avoid passive voice?
– It is not recommended to use the passive in academic writing (because they can be vague about who is responsible for the action); too many passive sentences can create confusion.
– Passive sentences often sound wordy and indirect. They can make the reader work unnecessarily hard. And since they are usually longer than active sentences, passive sentences take up precious room in your paper.
Let’s practise! :)
1. Write the correct passive form of the verb in brackets in each gap.
The Titanic (build)………………… in 1912. It (design)……………………. in a new way and it was (think)………………….. to be unsinkable. Because of this, it (not, give)………………………………….. enough lifeboats for the passenger and crew. The hull (damage)……………………………….. by a collision with huge iceberg and it sank very fast. A total of 1,513 people (drown)………………………… that day. Because of this disaster, new international safety laws (pass)……………………………………… and the Ice Patrol (establish)………………………………………. In 1985 the wreck (locate)……………………………. On the sea bed and the ship (explore)………………………………….. . Several successful films (make)………………….. about the Titanic since then, and the most recent (release)………………………………….. in 1997.
2. Make two passive sentences from each of the following statements. The beginning of the first two sentences is given.
- The chef baked a huge cake for the President’s daughter.
A huge cake……………………………………………………………………….
The President’s daughter ………………………………………………….
2. The director of the gallery showed the journalists the new sculpture.
3. A record company offered Robbie Williams a multi-million dollar contract recently.
4. The government granted some war veterans a pardon.
Autor: Ana-Maria Hănţoiu, trainer A_BEST de limba engleză
Comenteaza