What is passive voice in english, how do we use it and what are the rules?
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Passive voice is a grammatical construction where the focus shifts from the person or thing doing the action to the person or thing receiving the action. In active voice, the subject performs the action. In passive voice, the object becomes the subject and receives the action.
To form passive voice, use the structure: Subject plus a form of 'be' plus the past participle of the main verb, optionally followed by 'by' and the agent. The form of 'be' must match the tense and agree with the subject. The agent can be included or omitted depending on importance.
Use passive voice when the agent is unknown, like 'my car was stolen'. Use it when the agent is obvious, such as 'the suspect was arrested' where police is implied. Use it to emphasize the receiver of the action, or in formal and scientific writing to sound objective and impersonal.
The passive voice can be used in different tenses. The auxiliary verb 'be' changes to match the tense, while the main verb always remains in its past participle form. Present tense uses 'is' or 'are', past uses 'was' or 'were', future uses 'will be', and perfect tenses use 'has been' or 'have been'.
Remember these key rules: only transitive verbs that take an object can be made passive. The agent introduced by 'by' is often optional. Don't overuse passive voice as active voice is usually more direct and engaging. Use passive voice deliberately when you want to emphasize the receiver of the action or when the agent is unknown or unimportant.