3. Facts about Passive Voice

Note the following: As evidenced above, in converting a sentence in active voice to a sentence in the passive voice, the object of the active voice sentence becomes the subject of the passive voice sentence. EXAMPLE: He drew the picture. / The picture was drawn by him. Sentences in the passive voice do not make sense if the "doers" are not mentioned. EXAMPLE: "The match was won." ('doers' left out) as opposed to "The match was won by Liverpool" A transitive verb is a verb that has an object that comes after it and so can be changed into the passive voice. EXAMPLE: "Lee throws a ball." can be changed to "A ball is thrown by Lee". An intransitive verb is a verb that does not have an object following it and so cannot be changed into the passive voice. EXAMPLE: Lee walks away. (INCORRECT: Lee was walked away.) The passive voice is often used to evade responsibility by people or organizations. EXAMPLE: The report was lost by somebody. (Who is that 'somebody'?) EXAMPLE: All workers are encouraged to work overtime. (Encouraged by whom?) Notices often use the passive voice. EXAMPLE: Customers are advised to leave all their belongings here. An active sentence when changed to a passive sentence conveys the same meaning. The only difference is that the object in an active sentence is repositioned to become the subject in a passive sentence, and the subject in the active sentence becomes the object in the passive sentence. We need to be sure of what we are saying. If we are not sure of our facts, we can exercise caution by saying: It is said that he is the culprit. / He is said to be the culprit. It is possible to use 'get' instead of 'to be', especially so in our everyday conversation. EXAMPLE: I got cheated by the salesman. / They think he will get beaten in the race.