Passive Voice

The ball was thrown by the pitcher.

When we went back to the hostel, the meal had already being served.

The New Testament was originally written in Greek by several Christians in the first century AD.

Mary has caressed the cat.

In other words, the most important person or thing becomes the subject of the sentence.

The passive voice can be used in different situations. The main ones would be:

When the agent subject is unknown.

When the agent subject is evident and it is not important to mention it.

When you want to give more emphasis to the object than to the subject.

The active voice is the most common sentence structure, in which the action is performed by the agent subject. The structure of the active voice is as follows:

SUBJECT + VERB + DIRECT COMPLEMENT

In the construction of the passive sentence from an active sentence, the following changes take place:

Inversion of the subject (agent) and the complement of the direct object (receiver of the action).

Use of the preposition by followed by the agent, when the latter is known or relevant.

Change of verb tense, by introducing the verb to be.

One of the two “voices” of verbs (see also active voice). A verb is in the passive voice when the subject of the sentence is acted on by the verb.

Writers, speakers, and students are often advised not to use too much passive voice.

Sentences written in the passive voice are usually harder to understand, and some sound awkward even if they are grammatically correct, as in The world was traveled all around by us.