Passive Voice: How Active and Passive Change Your Focus
Understand how active and passive voice change the focus, form passive sentences correctly and recognise common mistakes.
In passive voice, the subject receives the action: “The bread is baked every morning.” A common pattern is be + past participle. In active voice, the subject performs the action: “The baker bakes the bread.” Choose the form that puts the useful information first.
Imagine describing a bakery to a visitor. You could explain what each worker does, or follow a loaf from the mixing bowl to the shop counter. Both descriptions can be clear. Passive voice helps when the product, process or result is your starting point.
This guide uses ordinary examples to show how active and passive sentences differ. You will practise keeping the original time reference, choosing the right form of be and deciding whether the person doing the action needs a mention.
Active vs passive voice: compare the focus
Active: A technician repaired the coffee machine.
Passive: The coffee machine was repaired by a technician.
The active sentence begins with the technician; the passive begins with the machine. They describe the same repair. If someone asks what the technician did, the first version fits. If someone asks what happened to the machine, the second fits.
The grammatical subject is not always the person doing something. In the passive example, “the coffee machine” is the subject, so the verb agrees with it. Compare “The machine was repaired” and “The machines were repaired.”
How to form a passive sentence
Find what receives the action
In “The team checks the orders,” the orders receive the checking. Make that phrase your new subject.
Keep the time and choose be
The original sentence describes a routine in the present. Use “are” because orders is plural: “The orders are...”
Add the past participle
The past participle of check is checked: “The orders are checked.” Irregular verbs need their own forms, such as write - written and make - made.
Add the doer only if useful
You can finish with “by the team.” Leave it out when the reader already knows who checks the orders or that detail does not matter.
Passive voice examples in common verb forms
Present simple: is/are + participle
The bread is baked each morning. The windows are cleaned on Fridays. These describe regular actions.
Past simple: was/were + participle
The oven was repaired yesterday. The invitations were sent last week. These describe completed past actions.
Present continuous: is/are being + participle
The shop is being painted this week. The orders are being packed now. These describe work in progress.
Present perfect: has/have been + participle
The delivery has been delayed. All the forms have been signed. These connect a past action with the present situation.
Will: will be + participle
The results will be announced on Monday. This describes an expected future announcement.
Other modals: modal + be + participle
The label must be replaced. This ticket can be used tomorrow. Keep the base form be after the modal.
The participle stays the same when you change time: baked, was baked, is being baked. The words before it carry the grammatical changes. Do not replace a present passive with a past passive just because the participle resembles a past-tense form.
When should you use passive voice?
Use it when the receiver is the topic: “Your parcel has been delivered.” Use it when the doer is unknown: “My bag was taken.” It also works in process descriptions: “The dough is mixed, shaped and left to rise.”
In a workplace update, passive voice can keep the focus on progress. However, if someone needs to know who owns the next task, name them. “The invoice will be checked” gives less practical information than “Amina will check the invoice this afternoon.”
“By” introduces the doer; “with” can introduce a tool. Compare “The cake was decorated by the baker” with “The cake was decorated with a small brush.” They answer different questions.
Negatives, questions and common mistakes
- Missing be: “The email sent yesterday” needs a finite verb for this meaning: “The email was sent yesterday.”
- Wrong participle: Use “The note was written,” not “was wrote.” Check an irregular-verb entry when unsure.
- Wrong agreement: “The boxes were delivered,” not “The boxes was delivered.”
- Forcing every verb into a passive: An ordinary clause like “The guests arrived” has no direct object to turn into a passive subject. Keep it active.
Put not after the first auxiliary: “The order has not been sent.” For a question, move that auxiliary before the subject: “Has the order been sent?” With a simple passive, ask “Was the oven repaired?” rather than adding did.
A five-minute practice routine
Choose a process you know: making lunch, receiving a parcel or preparing a meeting. Write three active sentences and identify their objects. Make passive versions, keeping the time unchanged. Finally, choose which version gives your intended reader the clearest starting point.
Use passive wording with a clear purpose
Choose what comes first
“The gate was painted by the volunteers yesterday” foregrounds the gate. By the volunteers can be omitted when the doer is unimportant or already known.
Keep the time and verb form
“The lift is being repaired now” describes work in progress. “Have the tickets been booked?” puts have before the subject; “The message was written” uses the participle written.
Check that the pattern fits
“The visitors arrived” is already complete. Arrived has no direct object here, so it cannot simply be turned into an ordinary passive version.
Review time references with present perfect vs past simple, or use clear ownership in a project update in English.
Keep the event and its focus accurate
Passive voice as a writing choice
It can organise a process or put the receiver first. Prefer an active sentence when the doer matters or it makes responsibility clearer.
Be without a passive meaning
“The room is quiet” describes a state with an adjective. “The room is cleaned daily” describes a repeated action in the passive.
Naming the doer when useful
Add a by phrase when the doer is useful information. Many ordinary passive sentences leave it out.
Further reading
British Council: active and passive voice; British Council: passive forms; British Council: choosing active or passive. References checked on 7 October 2026. The explanations, situations and examples and guidance on this page are original.
Put the grammar into your own sentences
Explore Grammar Practice, then save useful examples in your Word Vault for review.
