The passive voice is where the subject is the recipient of the actions described by a verb. This is the opposite of the active voice, in which the subject is the one who performs the verb. A sentence that is written in the passive voice is called a passive sentence.
A passive sentence is a sentence that is written in the passive voice, which is where the person or object that receives an action is placed after the actual action itself.
We typically use the passive voice when we want to place importance on the action rather than the subject.
What are some passive sentences examples?
If you’re still wondering “what is a passive sentence?”, then don’t worry! The active and passive voices are difficult concepts to make sense of at first, and pupils may initially find it tricky to tell one from the other.
It’s a lot easier to get the hang of passive sentences with examples to help you, which is why we’ve put together this handy chart. In it, you’ll find a few helpful passive sentences examples. You’ll also see the same sentences written using the active voice on the left side, so you can compare the two.
| Active Voice | Passive Voice |
| Albert ate six sausages at dinner. | At dinner, six sausages were eaten by Albert. |
| Mother read my story in a single day. | My story was read to my mother in a single day. |
| Millions of tourists visit Barcelona each year. | Barcelona is visited by millions of tourists each year. |
| The music conductor will give you the notes. | The notes will be given to you by the music conductor. |
The reason we’re able to tell that the passive sentences examples on the right are written in the passive voice is because the noun or subject is placed in a secondary position to the verb. When the same sentence is written in the active voice, however, the subject comes before the verb and the sentence takes on a stronger, more direct tone.
When do we use the Passive Voice?
Now that you’ve read our definition of the passive voice and looked at a few passive sentences examples, you probably have a pretty good grasp of what it is. However, you might be wondering how and when we write in the passive voice.
The active voice and passive voices can have vastly different impacts on your reader. People tend to use the active voice rather than the passive voice when they’re writing about a subject performing an action. An example of this would be ‘the dog loves to play fetch’.
However, you might be more likely to use passive sentences when you’re presenting your work or ideas in a formal manner. Let’s take a look at some of these different uses, along with a few passive sentences examples to help us understand them:
Formal uses of the passive voice:
Here are three very common uses of the passive voice:
1) To report a crime or incident with an unknown offender:
Jessica’s phone was stolen on the train.
The jewellery shop was ransacked on Monday night.
The man’s computer was hacked.
One of the main reasons these crimes are so severe is that the offender is unknown. The use of a passive sentence helps to emphasise the actual action of the crimes, i.e., theft, instead of the perpetrator.
2) In a scientific context:
The scientists were working hard in the lab all day.
The subject of the study was placed in an observation room.
The scientist was given an award for his work in the field.
As you can see from looking at these passive sentences examples, the action of the sentences are much more important than the subjects, so the passive voice is required.
3) To emphasise an action over the person actually carrying out the action
The band was inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame.
The teacher was given a pile of homework to mark over the weekend.
The girl was selected to take part in a huge swimming competition.
In each of these passive sentences examples, the person carrying out the action can be dismissed as irrelevant and the inclusion of them would just be a distraction. You must use your best judgement to decide whether the subject of a sentence is more or less important than the action being carried out.
Informal uses of the passive voice:
Now that we’ve explored how we might use the passive voice in a more formal context, let’s explore how it can also be used in informal ways to make writing a bit more interesting.
Using the passive voice as a stylistic choice to shift around the emphasis in your writing is a fun, creative, and sophisticated way to spice up your work.
Here are some examples of creative uses of the passive voice:
1) To avoid blame
One creative use of the passive voice is to avoid getting blamed or to pass the blame off onto someone else. In this case, the subject will not be directly implicating someone else, but merely making sure that they appear innocent.
For example:
“Mistakes were made.”
2) To direct the reader’s attention to certain things
As we know, the passive voice focuses primarily on the action than on the person or thing carrying it out. This allows us to divert the reader’s attention to what was done rather than who did it, which is an effective way to create a sense of surprise or mystery in a piece of writing.
Misusing the Passive Voice:
Now that we’re no longer in the dark about what is a passive sentence is and we’ve looked at a few passive sentences examples, let’s look at some of the ways they can be used improperly:
1) Misidentifying passive voice:
Sometimes, what may appear to be a passive sentence isn’t actually passive at all. For example:
The teacher was pleased when she saw the students’ test scores.