Passive Voice

What is the passive voice?

In general we tend to use active voice. That is when a subject does an
action to an object.

1. Somebody stole my laptop. (subject = Somebody / action(verb) =

stole / object = my laptop)

Passive voice is used when we want to emphasize the action (the verb)
and the object of a sentence rather than subject. This means that the
subject is either less important than the action itself or that we don’t know
who or what the subject is.

1. My laptop was stolen. (The object – now the subject = My laptop /

action= was stolen)

1. Passive: Napa Valley is known for its excellent wines.

2. Active: [Many people] know Napa Valley for its excellent wines.

1. Passive: Twenty civilians were killed in the bomb explosion.

2. Active: Someone killed twenty civilians in the bomb explosion.
 The passive agent
When we know who the subject is, we put it at the end with by. We call this
an agent.

1. Passive: The Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. (agent

=Leonardo Da Vinci )
2. Active: Leonaro Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa.

Most writing instructors and editors recommend against using the passive
voice, when possible. The reason for this is that when you use the active
voice, your writing is clearer and less complicated.

1. Active: While Mr. Taylor was driving down Highway 101, a police
officer pulled him over and gave him a speeding ticket.
2. Passive: While Mr. Taylor was driving down Highway 101, he was
pulled over and given a ticket by a police officer.

If it’s a long sentence and you know who the subject is, it’s best to use the
active voice.
The passive is often used to report something or to state a fact.

1. Highway 15 was closed yesterday due to a serious road accident.

2. A lot of corn is grown in Iowa.

Forming the passive voice

The passive voice is not a tense in English. Each tense has its own passive
voice which is created by using a form of the auxiliary verb to be + V3
(past participle)
The passive voice in each tense:

Tense Auxiliary verb + Examples

sample V3 (past
participle)

Present am, is, are + made Wine is made from

simple grapes.
Many cars are
made in Japan.

Present am, is, are + being + The document is

progressive sent being sent right
now.
I am being sent to
work in the
London office.
The parcels are
being packed right
now

Past simple was, were + invited John was invited to

speak at the
conference.
We were invited to
Daniel and Mary’s
Tense Auxiliary verb + Examples
sample V3 (past
participle)

wedding.

Past was, were + being + The dog was being

progressive washed washed when I got
home.
Their cars were
being washed
while they were in
the mall shopping.

Future will be + signed The contract will

(will) be signed
tomorrow.
The documents
will all be signed
by next week.

Future am, is, are + going to A bridge is going

(going to) be + built to be built within
the next two years.
New houses are
going to be built in
Tense Auxiliary verb + Examples
sample V3 (past
participle)

our neighborhood.

Present has, have + been + sold That start-up has

perfect been sold for $5
million.
The rights to his
book have been
sold for $250,000.

Past perfect had + been + hired The new manager

had been hired
before John left the
company.
All the employees
had hired before
the store opened.

Future will + have been + The car will have

perfect finished been loaded by the
time he gets home.
The crates will
have been loaded
Tense Auxiliary verb + Examples
sample V3 (past
participle)

by then.

Modals: can, could + be + A passport can

can/could issued only be issued at
the embassy.
He said the
documents could
be issued within
the week.

Modal: have to, has to, had A babysitter has to

have to to + be + arranged be arranged for this
evening.
Joan’s travel plans
have to be arranged
by December.

Modal: must + be + stopped Criminals must be

must stopped before
they commit
crimes.
All of the rules for passive negatives and questions are the same as for the
active voice.
Note: Verbs that have no object / intransitive (no one to “receive” the
action) cannot be put into the passive, such as, arrive, come, die, exist, go,
happen, have, live, occur sleep, etc.
Only verbs that have object can be changed into passive, for example : eat,
buy, make, etc.

Active vs. Passive Voice

he passive voice is used to show interest in the person or object that experiences an
action rather than the person or object that performs the action. In other words, the most
important thing or person becomes the subject of the sentence.

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/active-vs-passive-voice/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA4b2MBhD2ARIsAIrcB-
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Catherine Traffis

GRAMMAR

Active voice means that a sentence has a subject that acts upon its
verb. Passive voice means that a subject is a recipient of a verb’s action.
You may have learned that the passive voice is weak and incorrect, but it
isn’t that simple. When used correctly and in moderation, the passive voice
is fine.

In English grammar, verbs have five properties: voice, mood, tense,

person, and number; here, we are concerned with voice. The two
grammatical voices are active and passive.
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What’s the difference between active and

passive voice?

Active voice

When the subject of a sentence performs the verb’s action, we say that the
sentence is in the active voice. Sentences in the active voice have a strong,
direct, and clear tone. Here are some short and straightforward examples
of active voice.

Active voice examples

Monkeys adore bananas.

The cashier counted the money.

The dog chased the squirrel.

All three sentences have a basic active voice construction: subject, verb,
and object. The subject monkey performs the action described by adore.
The subject the cashier performs the action described by counted. The
subject the dog performs the action described by chased. The subjects are
doing, doing, doing—they take action in their sentences. The active voice
reminds us of the popular Nike slogan, “Just Do It.”
Passive voice

A sentence is in the passive voice, on the other hand, when the subject is

acted on by the verb. The passive voice is always constructed with a
conjugated form of to be plus the verb’s past participle. Doing this usually
generates a preposition as well. That sounds much more complicated than
it is—passive voice is actually quite easy to detect. For these examples of
passive voice, we will transform the three active sentences above to
illustrate the difference.

Passive voice examples

Bananas are adored by monkeys.

The money was counted by the cashier.

The squirrel was chased by the dog.

Let’s take a closer look at the first pair of sentences, “Monkeys adore
bananas” and “Bananas are adored by monkeys.” The active sentence
consists of monkeys (subject) + adore (verb) + bananas (object). The
passive sentence consists of bananas (object) + are adored (a form of to
be plus the past participle adored) + by (preposition) + monkeys (subject).
Making the sentence passive flipped the structure and necessitated the
preposition by. In fact, all three of the transformed sentences above
required the addition of by.

When to use active and passive voice

Using the active voice conveys a strong, clear tone and the passive voice is
subtler and weaker. Here’s some good advice: don’t use the passive voice
just because you think it sounds a bit fancier than the active voice.
That said, there are times the passive voice is useful and called for. Take
“The squirrel was chased by the dog,” for example. That sentence
construction would be helpful if the squirrel were the focus of your writing
and not the dog.

A good rule of thumb is to try to put the majority of your sentences in the
active voice, unless you truly can’t write your sentence in any other way.

Here’s a tip: Grammarly catches instances of passive voice in your writing so you know
when you need to switch it up.

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How to change a sentence in passive voice to

active voice

Here is an example of a business communication that could be

strengthened by abandoning the passive voice.

An error has occurred with your account, but every attempt was made to remedy it.

That sentence is not incorrect, but it does sound a bit stiff and dishonest. It
sounds less trustworthy than it could—almost evasive. Who wants to do
business with a company that avoids taking full responsibility by slipping
into formal passive voice territory? Face the responsibility head on instead.
Own it.

We made an error with your account, but we have made every attempt to remedy it.
To make that sentence active rather than passive, I identified the
subject: we. It was “our company” that was responsible.

If there are any questions, I can be reached at the number below.

Here’s a tip: What to remember: to change a sentence from passive voice into active voice,
identify the subject.

The structure of this sentence is weak because it doesn’t identify the

subjects in either clause. Let’s unveil them. Who might have questions to
ask? The person being addressed: you. Who will be doing the reaching (by
calling the number below)? It is still the communication’s recipient.

If you have any questions, call me at the number below.

PASSIVE VOICE

Pengertian Passive Voice

Passive voice adalah suatu bentuk kalimat dimana subjek kalimat
menerima aksi, bukan melakukan aksi. Tidak seperti active voice yang
fokus terhadap pihak yang melakukan aksi (doer of action), bentuk ini
lebih berfokus kepada pihak atau objek yang menerima hasil dari suatu
aksi tersebut (receiver of action).

My parents plant some flowers

Active (Pelaku aksi)
Some flowers are planted by my parents
Passive (Penerima aksi)

Umumnya, kalimat aktif yang bisa ditransformasi menjadi kalimat pasif

berbentuk kalimat aktif yang mengandung transitive verbs (kata kerja
yang memerlukan objek langsung) seperti make, bring, buy, write dan
sebagainya. Sebaliknya, kalimat pasif yang mengandung intransitive
verbs (kata kerja yang tidak memerlukan objek langsung) seperti cry,
swim, go, arrive, dan die tidak bisa diubah menjadi kalimat pasif.
Namun, apabila intransitive verbs tersebut diikuti oleh preposition, ada
kemungkinan kalimat tersebut bisa diubah menjadi kalimat pasif tetapi
kalimat pasif yang terbentuk akan sangat kaku.

Rumus Passive Voice

Untuk membentuk kalimat pasif, rumus sederhana berikut biasanya
digunakan tetapi tetap harus disesuaikan dengan tense kalimat.

Subject + to be (am/is/are) + past participle (pp)

Tense Rumus Passive Voice Contoh Passive Voice
Simple Present am/is/are + pp is created
Present
Continuous am/is/are being + pp is being created
Simple Past was/were + pp was created
Past Continuous was/were being + pp was being created
Present Perfect has/have been + pp has been created
Past Perfect had been + pp had been created
Simple Future will be + pp will be created
Future am/is/are going to be + is going to be created
Continuous pp
Future Perfect will have been + pp will have been created

Penggunaan kalimat pasif dengan perfect continuous tenses biasanya

jarang dilakukan karena menghasilkan struktur kalimat yang terlalu rumit
dan sulit dipahami. Oleh karena itu, hal ini sebaiknya dihindari meskipun
secara tata bahasa benar (grammatically correct).

Penggunaan & Contoh Passive Voice

Kalimat pasif umumnya digunakan dalam kondisi sebagai berikut:

My money has been stolen.

a) Ketika pelaku aksi (doer of
action) tidak diketahui Dalam contoh passive voice ini,
pembicara tidak mengetahui siapa
  yang mencuri dompetnya.

Wheat is grown in Karawang.

b) Ketika pelaku aksi (doer of
action) sudah jelas dan tidak Dalam contoh ini, sudah sangat
perlu disebutkan jelas bahwa petani adalah pelaku
aksi atau orang yang menanam
  gandum.

Mistakes were made.

c) Ketika tidak ingin Dalam contoh ini, pembicara tidak

memberitahukan siapa pelaku mau memberitahu siapa yang
aksi (doer of action) melakukan kesalahan.

Transjakarta is used as an
alternative means of transportation
to avoid traffic jam.

Dalam contoh ini, pelaku aksi

d) Ketika pelaku aksi (doer of adalah semua orang karena
action) adalah semua orang transjakarta dapat digunakan oleh
/people in general) masyarakat luas.

e) Ketika pelaku aksi telah Mr. Han caught Vanessa cheating

disebutkan pada kalimat on the test. Vanessa was given
 punishment immediately.

Dalam contoh passive voice ini, Mr.

Han sebagai pelaku aksi sudah
disebutkan sebelumnya sehingga
sebelumnya (apabila terdapat di tidak perlu ditambahkan pada
suatu paragraf) kalimat kedua.

Pelaku Aksi dalam Passive Voice

Dalam beberapa kondisi penggunaan passive voice, by-phrase (frasa
yang menyatakan pelaku aksi) tidak digunakan karena beberapa alasan
sebagaimana tertulis di atas. Namun, sebenarnya kita dapat
memasukkan pelaku aksi jika informasi tersebut sangat penting atau
dalam kondisi sebagai berikut :

Bottled water comes from mountain

a) Ketika terdapat informasi baru water. It is produced by water
(kalimat kedua). company.
Siti Nurbaya was written by Marah
b) Ketika mengetahui nama jelas Roesli.
pelaku aksi atau pelaku aksi
adalah orang terkenal.  

c) Ketika identitas pelaku aksi It is hard to believe that this beautiful

sangat mengejutkan atau tidak jazz melody was composed by an
dikira-kira. eight-year-old.

Passive Voice dengan Get

Kata get dapat juga digunakan pada kalimat pasif untuk menggantikan
to be (am/is/are). Biasanya kalimat pasif dengan kata get digunakan
pada percakapan informal. Sama seperti ketika menggunakan to be
(am/is/are), bentuk get yang digunakan juga harus disesuaikan dengan
tense kalimat.

Contoh: - She gets bored staying at home during the pandemic

[ get + adjective/ kata sifat ]
get bored = (dikenai rasa bosan = bosan)
- Many students got involved in a chaos near the Parliament
building last Saturday
[ get + past participle/V3 ]
got involved = terlibat