Passive Sentence

Rafinazly (11910413014)

Department of English Education, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education

State Islamic University of Sultan Syarif Kasim Riau

Abstract

Voice refers to the form of a verb that indicates when a grammatical subject performs the action
or is the receiver of the action. When a sentence is written in the active voice, the subject
performs the action; in the passive voice, the subject receives the action. In academic writing, it
is generally preferred to choose an active verb and pair it with a subject that names the person
or thing doing or performing the action. Active verbs are stronger and usually more emphatic
than forms of the verb “be” or verbs in the passive voice.

Keywords : word, grammar, sentence, verb

introduction

Actions described by verbs in English typically involve two people or things: the person or thing
that performs the action (sometimes referred to as the agent), and the person or thing that is
affected or produced by the action of the verb. In English, the agent is often put at the beginning
of a sentence or clause, in subject position. The person or thing affected or produced then forms
the object of the verb. This is what we refer to as an active sentence, as illustrated below,
where My uncle is the agent (subject) and this house is the object. Passive voice is considered as
intermediated level of learning English.

In this article, we want to explain the meanings, the implementation in tenses, and benefits of
utilizing passive sentence. What differ passive of and active voice in terms of utilization is that
passive sentence is mostly used in formal writing e.g. Scientific Journal, and other academic
literature
DISCUSSION

passive sentence is a style of writing where what would be the object of a sentence
becomes the subject of the sentence. The passive writing voice occurs when something that is
ordinarily “done by” the subject of a sentence is “done by” the object of a sentence. In the
passive writing voice, whatever is doing the action of the sentence is not the grammatical subject
of the sentence.
In a passive voice construction, the grammatical subject of the clause receives the action
of the verb. So, the ball from the above sentence, which is receiving the action, becomes the
subject. The formula:

[subject]+[some form of the verb to be]+[past participle of a transitive verb]+[optional

prepositional phrase] e.g. The ball was kicked by Chester.

If you’re writing anything with a definitive subject who’s performing an action, you’ll be
better off using the active voice. And if you search your document for instances of was,
is,  or were and your page lights up with instances of passive voice, it may be a good idea to
switch to active voice.

How to make the Passive in English in tenses

We make the passive by putting the verb 'to be' into whatever tense we need and then
adding the past participle. For regular verbs, we make the past participle by adding 'ed' to the
infinitive. So ‘play’ becomes ‘played’.
 Tense Active Passive

present simple I make a cake. A cake is made (by me).

present continuous I am making a cake. A cake is being made (by me).

past simple I made a cake. A cake was made (by me).

A cake was being made(by

past continuous I was making a cake. me).

present perfect I have made a cake. A cake has been made (by me).

present perfect I have been making a A cake has been being

continuous cake. made (by me).

A cake had been made (by

past perfect I had made a cake. me).

future simple I will make a cake. A cake will be made (by me).

I will have made a A cake will have been

future perfect cake. made (by me).

If you’re writing anything with a definitive subject who’s performing an action, you’ll be better
off using the active voice. And if you search your document for instances of was, is, or were and
your page lights up with instances of passive voice, it may be a good idea to switch to active
voice.

When do I use passive sentence?

In some sentences, passive voice can be perfectly acceptable. You might use it in the following
cases:

1. The actor is unknown:

The cave paintings of Lascaux were made in the Upper Old Stone Age. [We don’t know
who made them.]

2. The actor is irrelevant:

An experimental solar power plant will be built in the Australian desert. [We are not
interested in who is building it.]

3. You want to be vague about who is responsible:

Mistakes were made. [Common in bureaucratic writing!]

4. You are talking about a general truth:

Rules are made to be broken. [By whomever, whenever.]

5. You want to emphasize the person or thing acted on. For example, it may be your main
topic:

Insulin was first discovered in 1921 by researchers at the University of Toronto. It is still

the only treatment available for diabetes.

6. You are writing in a scientific genre that traditionally relies on passive voice. Passive
voice is often preferred in lab reports and scientific research papers, most notably in the
Materials and Methods section:

The sodium hydroxide was dissolved in water. This solution was then titrated with
hydrochloric acid.
Conclussion.

Passive sentence is considered as the core of academic writing due to its complexity. In
order to learn passive sentence, knowing its rules is required. This article provides sort of
information related to passive voice i.e. definition, example, verb changes. We highly wish that
this article will assist in academic writing.

References

Alice E.M. Passive Voice. https://www.grammarly.com/blog/passive-voice/?

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REALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds.

Grammar Monster. What Is a Passive Sentence? (with Examples). https://www.grammar-

monster.com/glossary/passive_sentences.htm

One stop English. The passive in English – article. onestopenglish.com/support-for-teaching-grammar/the-

passive-in-english-article/152838.article
Tim Corson and Rebecca Smollett. Passive Voice: When to Use It and When to Avoid It.
https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/revising/passive-voice/

Writing Ex plained. What is Passive Voice? Definition, Examples of Passive Sentences in

Writing .https://writingexplained.org/grammar-dictionary/passive-voice