Using Passive Voice — I can use passive voice appropriately to focus on processes or outcomes at my level. - Adult Literacy Advanced

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Historical Context & Motivation

The distinction between active voice and passive voice is deeply embedded in the history of English grammar and rhetoric. In classical rhetoric, Latin and Greek speakers employed passive constructions to shift emphasis away from the agent and toward the action or the recipient of an action, a technique that carried over into English as the language evolved from its Old English roots through Middle English and into the modern era. Understanding why the passive voice exists — and why it has been both celebrated and maligned — is essential for any writer who wishes to wield it as a deliberate stylistic and rhetorical tool rather than fall into it by accident.

c. 700 • Old English Inflections

Old English employed extensive inflectional endings to mark voice, tense, and mood; passive constructions were formed using participial forms combined with auxiliary verbs such as weorðan (to become) and bēon (to be), mirroring Latin patterns.

1762 • Bishop Lowth's Grammar

Robert Lowth published A Short Introduction to English Grammar, one of the first prescriptive English grammars to formally categorize active and passive voice as distinct syntactic constructions, influencing centuries of grammar instruction.

1918 • Strunk's Elements of Style

William Strunk Jr. published his famous manual advising writers to "use the active voice," creating a widespread but often oversimplified prejudice against the passive. His advice was context-dependent, yet generations of students absorbed it as an absolute rule.

1946 • Orwell's "Politics and the English Language"

George Orwell critiqued the passive voice as a tool of political evasion, arguing that writers should "never use the passive where you can use the active." His essay deepened the cultural suspicion of passive constructions while simultaneously demonstrating their rhetorical power.

2000s • Modern Corpus Linguistics

Computational analysis of large text corpora revealed that passive voice is used strategically and systematically across academic, scientific, legal, and journalistic registers, rehabilitating its reputation as a legitimate and often necessary construction.

The central question this lesson addresses is not whether to use passive voice, but when and why passive voice serves a writer's purpose better than active voice. By learning to recognize the grammatical structure of passive constructions, understanding the rhetorical contexts that call for them, and practicing the transformation between active and passive forms, you will gain the ability to make informed, strategic choices about voice in every sentence you write.

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Core Principles & Definitions

Before deploying passive voice strategically, you must understand its grammatical anatomy and the principles that govern when it is most effective. At its core, voice is a grammatical category that determines the relationship between a verb, its subject, and its object. In an active construction, the subject performs the action; in a passive construction, the subject receives the action. This seemingly simple reversal carries profound consequences for emphasis, tone, and information flow within a sentence and across a paragraph.

The Grammatical Formula

Passive voice is formed with a form of "to be" (is, are, was, were, been, being) plus the past participle of the main verb. The agent may appear in a "by" phrase or be omitted entirely.

Foregrounding the Receiver

The passive voice places the recipient of the action in the subject position, making it the topic of the sentence. This is invaluable when the action or outcome matters more than who performed it.

Agent Demotion or Deletion

The agent (the doer) can be moved to a prepositional phrase ("by the researcher") or omitted altogether. This allows writers to create objectivity, conceal responsibility, or simply acknowledge that the agent is unknown or irrelevant.

Information Flow & Cohesion

English sentences tend to move from given information (old/known) to new information. Passive voice allows writers to maintain this flow by placing the already-known element in subject position.

Certain genres — scientific reports, legal documents, news headlines, and bureaucratic communications — employ passive voice at significantly higher rates than conversational or narrative prose. Recognizing genre conventions is key to appropriate use.

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KEY TAKEAWAY

Think of active and passive voice like a camera angle in filmmaking. Active voice is a shot from behind the pitcher, showing the throw; passive voice is a shot from behind the batter, showing the ball arriving. Neither angle is "wrong" — the director chooses the angle that tells the story most effectively. Similarly, a skilled writer selects voice based on what the reader needs to see most clearly: the doer or the outcome.

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Visual Explanation: Active vs. Passive Transformation

The diagram illustrates the core transformation from active to passive voice. Notice how the receiver (the data) moves into subject position, the verb gains an auxiliary form of "to be," and the agent (the researcher) is demoted to a "by" phrase — or dropped entirely.

The diagram above reveals the essential mechanics of the active-to-passive transformation. Three operations occur simultaneously: the object (receiver of the action) is promoted to subject position, the main verb is recast as a past participle preceded by the appropriate form of "to be," and the original subject (agent) is either relegated to a prepositional "by" phrase or omitted when the agent is unknown, obvious, or strategically unimportant. This last option — the agentless passive — is particularly common in scientific and technical writing, where the focus belongs on the method and the result rather than on who performed the action.

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The Mechanism: How Passive Voice Functions Across Tenses

Passive voice is not a single, static construction — it operates across every tense and aspect in English. The formula remains consistent: a conjugated form of "to be" matched to the desired tense, followed by the past participle of the main verb. Mastering the passive requires understanding how this formula maps onto the full tense system.

PASSIVE VOICE FORMULA

Subject (receiver) + form of "to be" + past participle (+ by agent)

The form of "to be" carries the tense: is/am/are (present), was/were (past), will be (future), has/have been (present perfect), had been (past perfect).

Tense	Active Voice	Passive Voice
Simple Present	The lab tests the samples.	The samples are tested (by the lab).
Simple Past	The committee approved the proposal.	The proposal was approved (by the committee).
Present Perfect	Researchers have published the findings.	The findings have been published.
Past Perfect	They had completed the experiment.	The experiment had been completed.
Future	The team will review the application.	The application will be reviewed (by the team).
Modal	We should consider all options.	All options should be considered.

Passive voice across the English tense system

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Common Misconception

Not every sentence containing a form of "to be" is passive. "The meeting was productive" uses "was" as a linking verb with a predicate adjective — there is no past participle of a transitive verb, so this is not passive voice. To confirm passive voice, ask: (1) Is there a past participle of a transitive verb? (2) Is the subject receiving the action? Both conditions must be met.

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When to Use Passive Voice: A Decision Framework

The most important skill in mastering passive voice is not constructing it — it is knowing when to choose it. Many writing guides oversimplify by branding passive voice as inherently "weak" or "bad." In reality, passive voice serves at least six distinct rhetorical functions, and skilled writers deploy it deliberately when one of these functions aligns with their communicative purpose. The following decision framework classifies these functions and provides model sentences for each.

This decision framework organizes the six primary reasons for choosing passive voice into three categories: emphasizing the process or action, foregrounding the receiver or result, and establishing objectivity or diplomatic tone. When none of these purposes applies, default to active voice.

The decision framework above provides a systematic approach to voice selection. When you begin drafting a sentence, consider your rhetorical purpose: if the agent is unknown, irrelevant, or deliberately concealed; if cohesion demands that the topic of the previous sentence remain in subject position; if you need to create an impersonal, objective tone in academic or scientific writing; or if tactful, diplomatic phrasing is required — these are the moments when passive voice is not merely acceptable but preferable. In all other situations, default to active voice for its directness and vigor.

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Worked Example: Revising a Paragraph for Strategic Voice

Let us work through a realistic revision scenario. Below is a draft paragraph from a research methods section. We will analyze each sentence, determine whether active or passive voice serves the writer's purpose, and revise accordingly.

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Original Draft

"We collected the survey responses over a three-week period. We entered the responses into SPSS. We ran a two-way ANOVA. We found that income level significantly predicted voting behavior. The p-value was less than 0.01."

Revising for Strategic Voice

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Step 1 — Identify the Purpose of Each Sentence

In a methods section, the focus should be on the process and procedures, not on the researchers themselves. The repeated subject "We" draws unnecessary attention to the agent. Each sentence describes a step in the research process, so the decision framework directs us toward passive voice with agent deletion.
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Step 2 — Convert Process Sentences to Passive

"We collected the survey responses" → "Survey responses were collected over a three-week period." The agent ("by us") is omitted because it is obvious from context. "We entered the responses into SPSS" → "Responses were entered into SPSS." "We ran a two-way ANOVA" → "A two-way ANOVA was conducted." Note the verb change from "ran" to "conducted" — a stylistic choice that suits formal academic register.

Three sentences converted to agentless passive for process focus.
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Step 3 — Evaluate the Findings Sentence

"We found that income level significantly predicted voting behavior" presents a finding. In academic writing, the passive "It was found that..." is common but can feel stilted. A strong alternative retains active voice with the finding as subject: "Income level was found to predict voting behavior significantly." This shifts focus to the variable of interest rather than the researchers.

Finding reframed with passive to foreground the result.
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Step 4 — Retain Active Where Appropriate

"The p-value was less than 0.01" is already using a linking verb, not passive voice. This sentence reports a factual observation and does not need revision — it is naturally agent-free. We keep it as is.

No change needed — this is a linking verb construction, not passive voice.
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Step 5 — Assemble the Revised Paragraph

The final revised paragraph reads: "Survey responses were collected over a three-week period. Responses were entered into SPSS, and a two-way ANOVA was conducted. Income level was found to predict voting behavior significantly; the p-value was less than 0.01." The revised version is more cohesive, more formal, and appropriately focused on the methods and outcomes rather than on the researchers.

Final revised paragraph demonstrates strategic passive voice for academic objectivity and process focus.

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Strengths, Limitations, and Common Pitfalls

Like any syntactic tool, passive voice has both strengths and limitations. The key to mastery is understanding not only when passive voice improves your writing but also when it can damage clarity, accountability, or energy. The following comparison summarizes the advantages and risks.

Strengths of Passive Voice	Pitfalls / Limitations
Focuses attention on the action, process, or result rather than the agent	Can create vague, wordy sentences when overused
Maintains cohesion by placing known information in subject position (given-before-new principle)	May obscure responsibility — "Mistakes were made" evades accountability
Creates objective, impersonal tone appropriate for scientific and legal registers	Adds auxiliary verbs, increasing sentence length and reducing directness
Allows agent omission when the agent is unknown, obvious, or unimportant	Can confuse readers about who or what performed the action
Enables diplomatic, tactful phrasing in sensitive communications	Weakens imperative instructions: "The form should be completed" is less clear than "Complete the form"

Balancing the strengths and pitfalls of passive voice

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KEY TAKEAWAY

Think of passive voice as a precision tool in a toolkit — like a scalpel rather than a hammer. A surgeon does not use a scalpel for every task, but when tissue must be separated with care, no other tool will do. Similarly, passive voice is indispensable when your rhetorical situation demands focus on outcomes, objectivity, or diplomatic restraint. Overuse dulls the blade; strategic deployment is what separates proficient writers from careless ones.

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Connection to Advanced Theory: Voice in Discourse Analysis

The study of passive voice extends well beyond grammar handbooks into the realms of discourse analysis, critical linguistics, and systemic functional grammar (SFG). In Michael Halliday's SFG framework, the passive voice is understood as a resource within the "textual metafunction" — it allows writers to manage Theme (what the sentence is about) and Rheme (what is said about the Theme), controlling the flow of information across a text. At the advanced level, studying voice patterns in entire texts — not just individual sentences — reveals how writers construct authority, manage reader expectations, and navigate ideological positions.

Concept	Basic Understanding (This Lesson)	Advanced Application (Discourse Analysis)
Voice choice	Choose active or passive based on emphasis and clarity	Analyze voice patterns across entire texts to reveal ideological positioning and power dynamics
Agent deletion	Omit the agent when unknown or irrelevant	Examine systematic agent deletion in political and media discourse to uncover erasure of responsibility
Information flow	Use passive to place known info in subject position	Apply Theme-Rheme analysis (SFG) to map information progression across paragraphs
Register awareness	Recognize that passive is common in scientific and legal writing	Conduct corpus-based frequency analysis comparing passive usage across genres, disciplines, and time periods

From sentence-level voice choice to discourse-level analysis

As you advance in your academic career, you will encounter courses in rhetoric, linguistics, and professional communication that treat voice not merely as a grammatical rule but as a window into power, identity, and ideology in language. The foundational skills you build in this lesson — recognizing passive constructions, understanding their rhetorical effects, and deploying them strategically — will serve as the bedrock for those more sophisticated analyses.

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Practice Problems

Question 1: CONCEPTUAL

Consider the following sentence: "The experiment was conducted under controlled conditions." Identify the voice (active or passive), name the grammatical subject, and explain whether the agent is present or absent. Then explain one rhetorical reason why a scientist might choose this construction.

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This sentence is in passive voice. The grammatical subject is "the experiment," which is the receiver of the action "conducted." The agent is absent — there is no "by" phrase specifying who conducted the experiment. A scientist might choose this construction because in a methods section, the focus belongs on the process and procedures rather than on the individual researcher; the agentless passive creates an objective, impersonal tone that is conventional in scientific writing and directs the reader's attention to what was done rather than who did it.

Question 2: BASIC

Convert the following active-voice sentence into passive voice, maintaining the same tense: "The editorial board rejected the manuscript." Then write a second version that omits the agent.

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The passive construction with the agent retained is: "The manuscript was rejected by the editorial board." The tense remains simple past: "was" (past tense of "to be") plus the past participle "rejected." The agentless version is: "The manuscript was rejected." This version might be preferred in a context where the identity of the rejecting body is either already established or less important than the fact of the rejection itself.

Question 3: INTERMEDIATE

Read the following paragraph and identify which sentences are in passive voice and which are in active voice. Then explain whether each voice choice is effective or whether a revision would improve the writing. "(1) The patient was admitted to the emergency department at 3:15 a.m. (2) A CT scan was ordered. (3) The radiologist identified a subdural hematoma. (4) Emergency surgery was performed. (5) The patient's family was notified by the attending physician."

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Sentences 1, 2, 4, and 5 are in passive voice; sentence 3 is in active voice. Sentences 1, 2, and 4 effectively use agentless passive because the focus is on the patient and the medical procedures — the agents (nurses, doctors) are contextually obvious and less important than the process. Sentence 3 uses active voice appropriately because the radiologist's specific expertise is relevant to the diagnostic finding. Sentence 5 includes the agent ("by the attending physician"), which is effective here because it identifies who bears the specific professional responsibility for communicating with the family. Overall, this paragraph demonstrates skilled, strategic alternation between active and passive voice.

Question 4: APPLIED

You are writing an internal report for a company that experienced a data breach. Draft two versions of the same key finding: one using active voice that names the responsible party, and one using passive voice that focuses on the event and its impact. Then write a brief analysis (3–4 sentences) explaining in which organizational context each version would be more appropriate.

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Active: "The IT security team failed to update the firewall software, which allowed unauthorized access to 12,000 customer records." Passive: "The firewall software was not updated, which resulted in unauthorized access to 12,000 customer records." The active version is appropriate for an internal accountability review where leadership needs to identify which team is responsible and assign corrective actions. The passive version is more suitable for an external communication to affected customers or regulators, where the emphasis should be on what happened, what data was compromised, and what remediation steps are being taken, rather than on internal blame. This example illustrates how voice choice is inseparable from audience, purpose, and the ethical dimensions of corporate communication.

Question 5: CRITICAL THINKING

George Orwell wrote in 1946 that the passive voice is "wherever possible" used to avoid responsibility, and he advised writers to "never use the passive where you can use the active." Yet Orwell himself used passive voice throughout the very essay in which he made this claim. Write a nuanced analysis (5–7 sentences) that evaluates Orwell's advice in light of what you have learned in this lesson. Under what circumstances is his caution valid? When does it become an oversimplification?

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Orwell's caution is valid in the specific context he addressed: political writing designed to obscure uncomfortable truths. When politicians say "mistakes were made" or "civilians were killed," the agentless passive strategically erases the human decision-makers behind those actions, creating a veneer of inevitability that undermines democratic accountability. In this narrow context, active voice restores clarity and forces writers to name agents and accept responsibility. However, Orwell's rule becomes a harmful oversimplification when applied universally across all genres and registers. Scientific writing, legal prose, technical documentation, and journalistic reporting all depend on passive voice for objectivity, cohesion, and appropriate emphasis — uses that have nothing to do with evasion. The irony that Orwell used passive voice in his own essay actually proves the point: even the most ardent advocate of active voice recognized, at least implicitly, that passive constructions are sometimes the most natural and effective choice. The mature position, therefore, is not to avoid passive voice categorically but to deploy it consciously, understanding both its power and its potential for abuse.

SUMMARY

Lesson Summary

Summary

The passive voice is formed by combining a form of "to be" with the past participle of a transitive verb, placing the receiver of the action in subject position and optionally demoting or deleting the agent. This construction operates across all English tenses and serves six primary rhetorical functions: highlighting an unknown or irrelevant agent, maintaining information flow and cohesion, foregrounding outcomes and processes, and creating tones of objectivity or diplomacy.

Mastery of passive voice means not simply knowing how to construct it, but understanding when and why to choose it over active voice. Use the decision framework from this lesson: ask what you want to emphasize, evaluate whether the agent matters, and consider the genre conventions of your writing context. Default to active voice for directness and energy, but switch to passive voice strategically whenever your rhetorical purpose calls for it. The goal is conscious, deliberate choice — the hallmark of a skilled, literate writer.