Passive voice NEW

PASSIVE VOICE


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_CONTENTS ………………………………………………………………..…………..2
_ Introduction …………………………………………………………………...…….3
_ PASSIVE VOICE………….……………………………………..3
-DEFINING THE PASSIVE VOICE…………………………..……3
-CLARITY AND MEANING……………………………………….4
_When is it to use the passive?.......................................... ...............................................4
_Stative passives…………………………………………………………………………5
-ADJECTIVAL PASSIVES………………………………………….6
-PASSIVES WITHOUT ACTIVE COUNTERPARTS………………6
_Double passives…………………………………………………………………………6
_Other passive constructions………………………………………………..……..…….7
-Ergative verbs…………………………………………………………….…………….7
_Reflexive verbs…………………………………………………………….…………..7
_Passive & Active voices…………………………………………………….………….7
_Passive verb formation…………………………………………………………………8
_Verb forms in passive structures…………………………………………….………..9
_The passive tenses……………………………………………………………..……..11
_Passive voice Q & A………………………………………………………..…………12
_Criticisms…………………………………………………………………….……….14
_Abstract……………………………………………………………………….………15
_ REFERENCE SOURCES……………………………………………………………17


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Passive Voice
What this handout is about...
This handout will help you understand what the passive voice is, why many professors and writing instructors frown upon it, and how you can revise your paper, using simple strategies, to achieve greater clarity. Some things here may surprise you. In any case, we hope this handout will help you to understand the passive voice and allow you to make more informed choices as you write.
Myths
So what is the passive voice? First, let's clear up what the passive voice isn't. Below, we'll list some common myths about the passive voice:
1. Use of the passive voice constitutes a grammatical error.
Use of the passive voice is not a grammatical error. It's a stylistic issue that pertains to clarity--that is, there are times when your use of the passive prevents a reader from understanding what you mean.
2. Any use of "to be" (in any form) constitutes the passive voice.
The passive voice entails more than just using a being verb. Using "to be" can weaken the impact of your writing, but it is occasionally necessary and does not constitute the passive voice by itself.
3. The passive voice always avoids the first person; if something's in first person ("I" or "we") it's also in the active voice.
On the contrary, you can very easily use the passive voice in the first person: "I was hit by the dodgeball."
4. You should never use the passive voice.
While the passive voice can weaken the clarity of your writing, there are times when the passive voice is OK and even preferable.
5. I can rely on my grammar checker to catch the passive voice.
See Myth #1. Since the passive voice isn't a grammar error, it's not always caught. Typically, grammar checkers catch only a fraction of passive voice usage.
Do any of these misunderstandings sound familiar? If so, you're not alone. So we wrote this handout. It discusses how to recognize the passive voice, when you should avoid it, and when it's OK.
Defining the passive voice
A passive construction occurs when you make the object of an action into the subject of a sentence. That is, the one performing the action is not the grammatical subject of the sentence. To rephrase a familiar joke:
Why was the road crossed by the chicken?
The chicken is the actor in this sentence, but the road is the grammatical subject. The more familiar phrasing places the actor as the subject--a subject doing something: A chicken (actor/doer) crossing the road (object). We use active verbs to represent that "doing," whether it be crossing roads, proposing ideas, arguing arguments, or invading houses (more on that shortly). Passive constructions are easy to spot; look for a form of "to be" (is, are, am , was, were, has been, have been, had been, will be, will have been, being) followed by a past participle. (The past participle is a form of the verb often, but not always, ending in "-ed." Some exceptions to the "-ed" rule are words like "paid" and "driven.") Here's a sure-fire formula for identifying the passive voice:
form of "to be" + past participle = passive voice
For example:
The metropolis has been scorched by the dragon's fiery breath.
When her house was invaded, Penelope had to think of ways to delay her remarriage.
**NOTE: the passive voice is marked by a form of "to be" + the past participle--not a form of "have" alone + the past participle, as some students believe. So don't let the combination of "have" and "to be" fool you. In the next section, we discuss why you often want to avoid using the passive voice, but let's briefly look at how to change passive constructions into active ones. You can usually just switch the order, making the actor and subject one--putting the doer up front:
The dragon scorched the metropolis with his fiery breath.
After suitors invaded Penelope's house, she had to think of ways to fend them off.
To repeat, the key to identifying the passive voice is to look for both a form of "to be" and a past participle, which usually, but not always, ends in "-ed."
Clarity and Meaning
The primary reason why your instructors frown on the passive voice is that they often have to accompany the passive voice:
Gender training was conducted in six villages, thus affecting social relationships.
And a few pages later:
Plus, marketing links were being established.
In both paragraphs, the writer never specifies the actors of those two actions (Who did the gender training? Who established marketing links?). Thus the reader has trouble appreciating the dynamics of these social interactions, which depend upon the actors conducting and establishing these things.
The following example, once again from that paper on The Odyssey, typifies another instance where an instructor might desire more precision and clarity:
Although Penelope shares heroic characteristics with her husband, Odysseus, she
is not considered a hero.
Who does not consider her a hero? It's difficult to tell, but the rest of that paragraph suggests that the student does not consider Penelope a hero (the topic of the paper). The reader might also think the student refers to critics or scholars. One might argue that the meaning comes through here--the problem is merely stylistic. Yet style affects how your reader understands your argument and content. Awkward or unclear style prevents your reader from appreciating the ideas that are so clear to you when you write. Thus knowing how your reader might react enables you to make more effective choices when you revise. So after you identify instances of the passive ("to be" + the past participle), you should consider if your use of the passive inhibits clear understanding of what you mean.
.
So when is it OK to use the passive?
Sometimes it's better to use the passive. Indeed, many style "gurus" would argue that good style depends on variety; thus why shouldn't that apply to the active and passive voices? We agree--but note that variety itself is not the issue. You should be deliberate when choosing between the active and passive. We highlight a few instances when the passive voice is quite useful:
1. To emphasize an object.
X number of votes are required to pass the bill.
2. To de-emphasize an unknown subject/actor.
Over 120 different contaminants have been dumped into the river.
If you don't know who the actor is, then the passive makes more sense. But remember, if you do know the actor, and if the clarity and meaning of your writing would benefit from indicating him/her/it/them, then use an active construction. Yet consider the third case.
3. If your readers don't need to know who's responsible for the action.
Here's where your choice can be difficult; some instances are less clear than others. Try to put yourself in your reader's position to anticipate how they will react to the way you have phrased your thoughts.
Stative passives
The passives described so far have all been eventive (or dynamic) passives. There exist also stative (or static, or resultative) passives; rather than describing an action, they describe the result of an action. English does not usually distinguish between the two. For example, consider the following sentence:
• The door was locked.
This sentence has two meanings, roughly the following:
• [Someone] locked the door.
• The door was in the locked state.
The former meaning represents the canonical, eventive passive; the latter, the stative passive. (The terms eventive and stative/resultative refer to the tendencies of these forms to describe events and resultant states, respectively. The terms can be misleading, however, as the canonical passive of a stative verb is not a stative passive, even though it describes a state.)
Some verbs do not form stative passives. In some cases, this is because distinct adjectives exist for this purpose, such as with the verb open:
• The door was opened. →opened the door.
• The door was open. → The door was in the open state.

Adjectival passives
Adjectival passives are not true passives; they occur when a participial adjective (an adjective derived from a participle) is used predicatively. For example:
• She was relieved to find her car undamaged.
Here, relieved is an ordinary adjective, though it derives from the past participle of relieve.
In some cases, the line between an adjectival passive and a stative passive may be unclear.

Passives without active counterparts
In a few cases, passive constructions retain all the sense of the passive voice, but do not have immediate active counterparts. For example:
• He was rumored to be a war veteran. ← rumored him to be a war veteran.
(The asterisk here denotes an ungrammatical construction.) Similarly:
• It was rumored that he was a war veteran. ← rumored that he was a war veteran.
In both of these examples, the active counterpart was once possible, but has fallen out of use.



Double passives
It is possible for a verb in the passive voice — especially an object-raising verb — to take an infinitive complement that is also in the passive voice:
• The project is expected to be completed in the next year.
Commonly, either or both verbs may be moved into the active voice:
• expects the project to be completed in the next year.
• is expected to complete the project in the next year.
• expects to complete the project in the next year.
In some cases, a similar construction may occur with a verb that is not object-raising in the active voice:
• ?The project will be attempted to be completed in the next year. ← will attempt the project to be completed in the next year. ←] will attempt to complete the project in the next year.
(The question mark here denotes a questionably-grammatical construction.) In this example, the object of the infinitive has been promoted to the subject of the main verb, and both the infinitive and the main verb have been moved to the passive voice. The American Heritage Book of English Usage declares this unacceptable, but it is nonetheless attested in a variety of contexts.
Other passive constructions
Past participle alone
A past participle alone usually carries passive force; the form of be can therefore be omitted in certain circumstances, such as newspaper headlines and reduced relative clauses:
• Couple found slain; Murder-suicide suspected.
• The problem, unless dealt with, will only get worse.
• A person struck by lightning has a high chance of survival.

With get as the auxiliary
While the ordinary passive construction uses the auxiliary be, the same effect can sometimes be achieved using get in its place:
• Jamie got hit with the ball.
This use of get is fairly restricted. First of all, it is fairly colloquial; be is used in news reports, formal writing, and so on. Second of all, it typically only forms eventive passives of eventive verbs. Third of all, it is most often (but not necessarily) used with semantically negative verbs; for example, the phrase get shot is much more common than the phrase get praised.

Ergative verbs
Main article: Ergative verb
An ergative verb is a verb that may be either transitive or intransitive, and whose subject when it's intransitive plays the same semantic role as its direct object when it's transitive. For example, fly is an ergative verb, such that the following sentences are roughly synonymous:
• The airplane flew.
• The airplane was flown.
• [Someone] flew the airplane.
One major difference is that the intransitive construction does not permit an agent to be mentioned, and indeed can imply that no agent is present, that the subject is performing the action on itself. For this reason, the intransitive construction of an intransitive verb is often said to be in a middle voice, between active and passive, or in a mediopassive voice, between active and passive but closer to passive.


Reflexive verbs
A reflexive verb is a transitive verb one of whose objects is a reflexive pronoun (myself, yourself, etc.) referring back to its subject. In some languages, reflexive verbs are a special class of verbs with special semantics and syntax, but in English, they typically represent ordinary uses of transitive verbs. For example, with the verb see:
• He sees her as a writer.
• She sees herself as a writer.
Nonetheless, sometimes English reflexive verbs have a passive sense, expressing an agentless action. Consider the verb solve, as in the following sentences:
• He solved the problem.
• The problem solved itself.
One could not say that the problem truly solved anything; rather, what is meant is that the problem was solved without anyone solving it.
Gerunds and nominalization
Gerunds and nominalized verbs (nouns derived from verbs and referring to the actions or states expressed by them), unlike finite verbs, do not require explicit subjects. This allows an object to be expressed while omitting a subject. For example:
• The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
• Generating electricity typically requires a magnet and a solenoid.

Passive and Active Voices
Verbs are also said to be either active (The executive committee approved the new policy) or passive (The new policy was approved by the executive committee) in voice. In the active voice, the subject and verb relationship is straightforward: the subject is a be-er or a do-er and the verb moves the sentence along. In the passive voice, the subject of the sentence is neither a do-er or a be-er, but is acted upon by some other agent or by something unnamed (The new policy was approved). Computerized grammar checkers can pick out a passive voice construction from miles away and ask you to revise it to a more active construction. There is nothing inherently wrong with the passive voice, but if you can say the same thing in the active mode, do so (see exceptions below). Your text will have more pizzazz as a result, since passive verb constructions tend to lie about in their pajamas and avoid actual work.
We find an overabundance of the passive voice in sentences created by self-protective business interests, magniloquent educators, and bombastic military writers (who must get weary of this accusation), who
The passive voice does exist for a reason, however, and its presence is not always to be despised. The passive is particularly useful (even recommended) in two situations:
• When it is more important to draw our attention to the person or thing acted upon: The unidentified victim was apparently struck during the early morning hours.
• When the actor in the situation is not important: The aurora borealis can be observed in the early morning hours.
The passive voice is especially helpful (and even regarded as mandatory) in scientific or technical writing or lab reports, where the actor is not really important but the process or principle being described is of ultimate importance. Instead of writing "I poured 20 cc of acid into the beaker," we would write "Twenty cc of acid is/was poured into the beaker." The passive voice is also useful when describing, say, a mechanical process in which the details of process are much more important than anyone's taking responsibility for the action: "The first coat of primer paint is applied immediately after the acid rinse."
We use the passive voice to good effect in a paragraph in which we wish to shift emphasis from what was the object in a first sentence to what becomes the subject in subsequent sentences.
The executive committee approved an entirely new policy for dealing with academic suspension and withdrawal. The policy had been written by a subcommittee on student behavior. If students withdraw from course work before suspension can take effect, the policy states, a mark of "IW" . . . .
The paragraph is clearly about this new policy so it is appropriate that policy move from being the object in the first sentence to being the subject of the second sentence. The passive voice allows for this transition.†

Passive Verb Formation
The passive forms of a verb are created by combining a form of the "to be verb" with the past participle of the main verb. Other helping verbs are also sometimes present: "The measure could have been killed in committee." The passive can be used, also, in various tenses. Let's take a look at the passive forms of "design."

Tense Subject Auxiliary Past
Participle
Singular Plural
Present The car/cars is are designed.
Present perfect The car/cars has been have been designed.
Past The car/cars was were designed.
Past perfect The car/cars had been had been designed.
Future The car/cars will be will be designed.
Future perfect The car/cars will have been will have been designed.
Present progressive The car/cars is being are being designed.
Past progressive The car/cars was being were being designed.

A sentence cast in the passive voice will not always include an agent of the action. For instance if a gorilla crushes a tin can, we could say "The tin can was crushed by the gorilla." But a perfectly good sentence would leave out the gorilla: "The tin can was crushed." Also, when an active sentence with an indirect object is recast in the passive, the indirect object can take on the role of subject in the passive sentence:
Active Professor Villa gave Jorge an A.
Passive An A was given to Jorge by Professor Villa.
Passive Jorge was given an A.

Only transitive verbs (those that take objects) can be transformed into passive constructions. Furthermore, active sentences containing certain verbs cannot be transformed into passive structures. To have is the most important of these verbs. We can say "He has a new car," but we cannot say "A new car is had by him." We can say "Josefina lacked finesse," but we cannot say "Finesse was lacked." Here is a brief list of such verbs*:
resemble look like equal agree with
mean contain hold comprise
lack suit fit become



Verbals in Passive Structures
Verbals or verb forms can also take on features of the passive voice. An infinitive phrase in the passive voice, for instance, can perform various functions within a sentence (just like the active forms of the infinitive).
• Subject: To be elected by my peers is a great honor.
• Object: That child really likes to be read to by her mother.
• Modifier: Grasso was the first woman to be elected governor in her own right.
The same is true of passive gerunds.
• Subject: Being elected by my peers was a great thrill.
• Object: I really don't like being lectured to by my boss.
• Object of preposition: I am so tired of being lectured to by my boss.
With passive participles, part of the passive construction is often omitted, the result being a simple modifying participial phrase.
• [Having been] designed for off-road performance, the Pathseeker does not always behave well on paved highways.



Simple Present

present action or condition general truths non-action; habitual action future time
• I hear you.
• Here comes the bus. • There are thirty days in September. • I like music.
• I run on Tuesdays and Sundays. • The train leaves at 4:00 pm.

Present Progressive

activity in progress verbs of perception
• I am playing soccer now • He is feeling sad

Simple Past

completed action completed condition
• We visted the museum yesterday. • The weather was rainy last week.


past progressive

past action that took place over a period of time past action interrupted by another
• They were climbing for twenty-seven days. • We were having dinner when she told me.

Future

With will/won't -- Activity or even that will or won't exist or happen in the future With going to -- future in relation to circumstances in the present
• I'll get up late tomorrow.
• I won't get up early. • I'm hungry.
• I'm going to get something to eat.

Present Perfect

With verbs of state that begin in the past and lead up to and include the present To express habitual or continued action With events occuring at an indefinited or unspecified time in the past -- with ever, never, before
• He has lived here for many years. • He has worn glasses all his life. • Have you ever been to Tokyo before?

Present Perfect Progressive

To express duration of an acton that began in the past, has continued into the present, and may continue into the future
• David has been working for two hours, and he hasn't finished yet.
Past Perfect


to describe a past event or condition completed before another event in the past In reported speech
• When I arrived home, he had already called. • Jane said that she had gone to the movies.



Future perfect

to express action that will be completed by or before a specified time in the future
• By next month we will have finished this job.
• He won't have finished his work until 2:00.


THE PASSIVE TENSES
Simple present

active: passive:
• The company ships the computers to many foreign countries. • Computers are shipped to many foreign countries.

Present Progressive

active: passive:
• The chef is preparing the food. • The food is being prepared.

Simple Past

active: passive:
• The delivery man delivered the package yesterday. • The package was delivered yesterday.
Past Progressive

active: passive:
• The producer was making an announcement. • An announcement was being made.

Future

active: passive:
• Our representative will pick up the computer. • The computer will be picked up.


Present Perfect

active: passive:
• Someone has made the arrangements for us. • The arrangements have been made for us.

Past Perfect

active: passive:
• They had given us visas for three months. • We had been given visas for three months.

Modals

active: passive:
• You can use the computer. • The computer can be used.




Subject/Object

active: passive:
• They sent the man a package. • The man was sent a package.
By

active: passive:
• Their friends often take them to interesting places. • They are often taken to interesting places by their friends.


Modal verbs can express a liking for something, an obligation, or an ability to complete a task. Modals are used wiht another verb, which appears at the end of the sentence or main clause. The six modal verbs are as follows:
dürfen be permitted to Kassandra darf in die Disko gehen.
können can, be able to Kann ich das Internet jetzt surfen?
mögen may, like to Sie mögen im Moment nicht singen.
müssen must, to have to Ihr müßt sofort die Schuhe ausziehen.
sollen shall, be obliged to, ought Du sollst nicht immer so negative sein!
wollen want, to will (power) Ich will mich nicht duschen.

Inseparable prefixes* change the meaning of the verb. Their effect seems to be to create a concept, good, bad, or neutral. The different prefixes are listed below with examples.
[Similar prefixes exist in English, too: encompass, endeavor, mistrust, forego...]
be- sprechen
besprechen to speak
to discuss
emp- fehlen
empfehlen to lack, miss
to suggest
ent- kommen
entkommen to come
to escape
er- finden
erfinden to find
to invent
ge- stehen
gestehen to stand
to admit
miss- trauen
misstrauen to trust
to distrust
ver- fahren
verfahren to drive
to take a wrong turn
zer- stören
zerstören to disturb
to destroy

* Note: these prefixes do not receive a ge- prefix in the past participial verb form.

Criticisms
Many usage guides and teachers of English discourage the use or overuse of the passive voice because it is believed to obscure the agent or to create unnecessary ambiguity.
The passive voice may be vague, or it may obscure the cause but not the effect:
• Mistakes were made. (passive voice)
• I made mistakes. (active voice)
But this "bureaucratic passive" usage may be very effective when a writer/speaker intentionally wishes to avoid mentioning the party responsible for (or affected by) an untoward occurrence:
• Taxes were raised.
• Difficulties were encountered.
In other cases, the passive voice is less awkward and the active voice would rarely be used, possibly because the agent is implied:
• He was born on August 1. (passive voice)
rather than:
• His mother gave birth to him on August 1. (active voice)
Sometimes, the passive voice is preferable because a writer wishes to place or maintain emphasis on the patient of the action, not for purposes of deception or concealment, but simply as a matter of style. In such cases, the agent may also be obvious, or explicitly supplied with a by X construction later on.
• A foul ball hit the umpire. (active voice)
• The umpire was hit by a foul ball. (passive voice)
In related cases, the passive may be used to mainitain better "old/new information flow:" i.e., if the patient is known from previous context, but the agent (etc.) is new information. Compare the following:
Another highly valuable precious metal is gold. In prehistoric times, people first discovered this metal. (active voice)
Another highly valuable precious metal is gold. This metal was first discovered in prehistoric times. (passive voice)
Some people would consider the second pair of sentences to 'flow' better since 'this metal,' referring to 'gold' (i.e., the 'old' information in sentence 2), appears closer to the front of the sentence, more logically connecting it with the previous context and easing the transition to all the newer information about gold, which comes afterward.
The passive voice is still commonly used in formal and business communications. Particularly in journalistic writing, science writing, and law, the passive voice is often considered normal, rather than a sign of deception. Similarly, in scientific writing it is sometimes more convenient to use the passive voice with an implied agent, for example: The error was found to result from contamination instead of We found the error to result from contamination. However, contemporary scientific writing is increasingly using the active voice, usually with "we" as the subject. There is also a trend to reduce the use of the passive voice in law, particularly in documents meant for public consumption, such as software licenses. Journalism schools currently teach to avoid passive voice whenever possible, to the point where each sentence in passive voice can earn students a drop in one letter grade for an assignment.

Notes
* Language Log: How to defend yourself from bad advice about writing
* The American Heritage Book of English Usage, ch. 1, sect. 24 "double passive." Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. كل ما في الموقع من روابط للتحميل مثل صورة لعبة برنامج اغنية مقطع فلم على رسائل مسجات الى يوتيوب سواء للبنات او للشباب لابد من تسجيل اضغط هنا و استمتع مع اجمل و احلى مواضيع. Accessed 13 November 2006.
* "Double Your Passive, Double Your Fun," from Literalminded. كل ما في الموقع من روابط للتحميل مثل صورة لعبة برنامج اغنية مقطع فلم على رسائل مسجات الى يوتيوب سواء للبنات او للشباب لابد من تسجيل اضغط هنا و استمتع مع اجمل و احلى مواضيع. Accessed 13 November 2006.

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Summarizing history or literary plots with the passive voice: Don't be a lazy thinker or writer!
With the previous section in mind, you should also know that some instructors proclaim that the passive voice signals sloppy, lazy thinking--that those who use it have not thought through a process they are discussing. Imprecision follows. Consider these sentences from papers on American history:
The working class was marginalized.
African Americans were discriminated against.
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REFERENCE SOURCES


* كل ما في الموقع من روابط للتحميل مثل صورة لعبة برنامج اغنية مقطع فلم على رسائل مسجات الى يوتيوب سواء للبنات او للشباب لابد من تسجيل اضغط هنا و استمتع مع اجمل و احلى مواضيع

كل ما في الموقع من روابط للتحميل مثل صورة لعبة برنامج اغنية مقطع فلم على رسائل مسجات الى يوتيوب سواء للبنات او للشباب لابد من تسجيل اضغط هنا و استمتع مع اجمل و احلى مواضيع

*كل ما في الموقع من روابط للتحميل مثل صورة لعبة برنامج اغنية مقطع فلم على رسائل مسجات الى يوتيوب سواء للبنات او للشباب لابد من تسجيل اضغط هنا و استمتع مع اجمل و احلى مواضيع

*كل ما في الموقع من روابط للتحميل مثل صورة لعبة برنامج اغنية مقطع فلم على رسائل مسجات الى يوتيوب سواء للبنات او للشباب لابد من تسجيل اضغط هنا و استمتع مع اجمل و احلى مواضيع

كل ما في الموقع من روابط للتحميل مثل صورة لعبة برنامج اغنية مقطع فلم على رسائل مسجات الى يوتيوب سواء للبنات او للشباب لابد من تسجيل اضغط هنا و استمتع مع اجمل و احلى مواضيع

*كل ما في الموقع من روابط للتحميل مثل صورة لعبة برنامج اغنية مقطع فلم على رسائل مسجات الى يوتيوب سواء للبنات او للشباب لابد من تسجيل اضغط هنا و استمتع مع اجمل و احلى مواضيع