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Questions tagged [passive-voice]

The passive voice is a grammatical construction (a "voice") in which the subject of a sentence or clause denotes the recipient of the action (the patient) rather than the performer (the agent).

The passive voice is a grammatical construction (a "voice") in which the subject of a sentence or clause denotes the recipient of the action (the patient) rather than the performer (the agent).

In the English language, the English passive voice is formed with an auxiliary verb (usually be or get) plus a participle (usually the past participle) of a transitive verb.

For example, Caesar was stabbed by Brutus uses the passive voice. The subject denotes the person (Caesar) affected by the action of the verb. The counterpart to this in active voice is, Brutus stabbed Caesar, in which the subject denotes the doer, or agent, Brutus.

For interesting details about what is and is not passive, please see CGEL linguist Geoffery Pullum’s short essay about the passive in English at Language Log.

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Passive of "tried to eat"

OK, so I'm trying to complete the following analogy: John ate the worms. is to The worms were eaten. as John tried to eat the worms. is to The worms were tried to be eaten. or The worms were eaten attemptively. ... ? I feel like such an…
JohnJamesSmith
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When do you use "is being" in English?

When should I use is being in English? For example, do you say "something is changed," or "something is being changed"?
IAdapter
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Is “This room was slept in by Milton” grammatical even though ‘sleep’ is an intransitive verb?

Milton slept in this room. According to Cambridge, sleep is an intransitive verb (A1). So we shouldn't be able to rewrite the sentence in the English passive voice. But I want the most important part of the sentence to be the room and not…
Arm the good guys in America
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Passive voice misuse?

"I was defeated by one of my biggest enemies." When I checked the above sentence for grammar issues using Grammarly, it pointed out that I misused the passive voice. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out the reason for this, since I'm using the…
Pegasus008
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Passive voice after the verbs "to order, command, tell, ask for"

I found the following sentences in an English language texbook (written by a non-native speaker) and I'm not sure about them. I've tried to find similar examples elsewhere, but couldn't. I think the sentences exist only in this book and not in real…
Starcatcher7
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Passive voice of "Stay"

What would be the passive voice of "passengers stay in a hotel". The whole sentence would be "passengers can be forwarded to their destination in a new flight, or (be kept) in a hotel". "Kept" is not a word I want to use for humans :)
Midhat
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Is it right to ask "Where is the world's most fresh water?" without using the word found or located?

Is it right to ask this question: Where is the world's most fresh water? Can I ask this question without using the word "found" Where is the world's most fresh water found?
zuhair
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Is the sentence "X is located in Y" active or passive voice?

It looks passive to me, due to the structure to be + past participle. However, if I take Z as a doer of the verb locate and change it around as in Z locates X, I am very confused with the meaning which I feel different from that in the "passive"…
Kwanbhan
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The passive with "let"

As a rule, we don't use the passive voice with "let". "Allow" or "permit" is normally used instead: We were allowed to do whatever we wanted. We were permitted to drive the vehicle. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, we don't usually use the…
Enguroo
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Usage of passive forms without "be" verb

I will very grateful if you can help me understand the following issue: As I understand, the next two sentences are interchangeable and have the same meaning: 1) Acts that are done by humans are not necessarily moral. 2) Acts done by humans are not…
Yuri Feigin
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Is to be + verb-ing passive voice?

I am a university student. I submitted an essay and a professor told me I should avoid passive voice with examples. But some of those examples sounded weird to me. When I asked the professor about this, she sent me a reply as following: Everyone is…
Andy Junghyun Kim
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"Testing started" versus "testing has been started"

I wish to notify my colleagues that they may start testing because I have prepared the environment. Among the many ways to say this, I wonder whether I can say simply Testing started or Testing has been started. I feel that passive voice is not…
Roman Boiko
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Does starting a sentence with "it is" make it passive?

Suppose I say: It is foolish to lick a metal pole. Is this in the passive voice? Would this sentence be better as: To lick a metal pole is foolish. How about: Licking a metal pole is foolish.
HungryBuck
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Phrase: "This area is being supervised by video". Can "video" really supervise?

In the city of Potsdam I have seen the following label on the main station building: "This area is being supervised by video". The meaning of the phrase is pretty clear, but can "video" be really used as an actor for the action of supervising?
Andrey Adamovich
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Is this a passive construction?

Take the medicine as prescribed. As there is no verb to be in this sentence, is it passive because it is implied? ..i.e., Take the medicine as (it was) prescribed.?
user45069
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