25 Passive Voice Examples in English

Passive voice

The passive voice It is a particular way of structuring a sentence in which, given an action that you want to describe, you focus mainly on the effects of the action.

Every action implies a subject that executes it and can also imply an “object”, that is to say something on which the action is executed. That "object" is not necessarily an inanimate object but can also be a person.

The passive voice is characterized by a specific order of those elements of the sentence:

Object + action + by + subject.

It is also considered passive voice if the subject of the action is not mentioned. In this case the elements of the sentence would be:

Object + action
The passive voice is opposed to the active voice, since it focuses on the subject of the sentence. Therefore, it can be used to talk about an action that you do not know who carried out. See also: Active Voice in English

It can be used in any tense, and also with modal verbs, that is, those that indicate the ability or possibility of performing an action.

The object of the action

The object of the action becomes, grammatically, the subject of the sentence, and is called the patient subject. The verb is conjugated according to the patient subject.

Verb in the passive voice

In the passive voice it is necessary to use an auxiliary verb together with the main verb: the verb “to be” (to be). The main verb takes a special form, which is the participle. The main verb is not altered by time or person. The verb that is conjugated is the verb "to be".

The subject of the action

The one who acts syntactically stops being a subject in the passive voice and becomes an agent complement.

See also: Active Voice Examples in English

Examples of passive voice sentences in English

1. The boy is picked up by her mother every day. (The child is picked up by his mother every day.)
2. The wall has been painted blue. (The wall has been painted blue.)
3. A lie was told by someone in this room. (A lie was told by someone in this room.)
4. The stolen money was found by the police. (The stolen money was found by the police.)
5. Nothing can be done. (Nothing can be done.)
6. The book was written by his grandmother of him. (The book was written by his grandmother.)
7. The pirate left the treasure where it couldn’t be found. (The pirate left the treasure where it could not be found.)
8. The song was written by me. (The song was written by me.)
9. The sweater was made by my girlfriend. (The sweater was made by my girlfriend.)
10. The suspect was arrested this morning. (The suspect was arrested this morning.)
11. He was born in 1980. (He was born in 1980.)
12. The house was built two decades ago. (The house was built two decades ago.)
13. The secret was never discovered. (The secret was never discovered.)
14. Taxes were increased this year. (Taxes were increased this year.)
15. New plans were made. (New plans were made.)
16. The company was founded in 1990. (The company was founded in 1990.)
17. These facts have been checked. (These data were checked.)
18. More important matters must be discussed. (More important matters must be discussed.)
19. The doctor was received at the airport. (The doctor was met at the airport.)
20. The fire was intentionally started. (The fire was started intentionally.)
21. Better results can be expected. (Better results can be expected.)
22. The girl was raised in boarding schools. (The girl was raised in boarding schools.)
23. The cake wasn’t correctly prepared. (The cake was not prepared correctly.)
24. She was nowhere to be found. (She couldn't find it.)
25. His new book was just published. (His new book of hers has just been published.)

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