What is the passive voice?

It is the form in which the receiver of an action is the subject of the sentence: The letter was delivered, rather than The postman delivered the letter. It is built from be in the appropriate tense plus a past participle. English uses it when the doer is unknown, unimportant, or obvious, or when the receiver is what the sentence is about.

When should I use the passive instead of the active?

When the doer does not matter or is not known (My phone was stolen), when it is obvious (He was arrested), when the receiver is the topic you want to keep at the front (The castle was built in 1200 and was extended in 1450), and in formal or scientific writing that describes processes (The samples were frozen). If none of those applies, the active is usually the better choice.

Do I always need by in a passive sentence?

No, and most passives have no by-phrase at all. Add by plus the agent only when the agent is new or important information: The song was written by a fourteen-year-old. If the agent would be someone, people, or they, leave it out: The window was broken, not The window was broken by someone.

Is the passive voice bad style?

Not in itself. It is the right choice for processes, notices, news reports, and any sentence where the receiver is the topic: Your order has been dispatched. It becomes a problem when it is used to hide responsibility (Mistakes were made) or when a simple active sentence would be clearer and shorter. Good writing uses both voices and picks each one for a reason.

What is the difference between was broken and got broken?

Both are passive, but get is informal and stresses that something happened to the subject, often suddenly or unluckily: The vase got broken. He got fired. We got soaked. Be is neutral and is the only option in formal writing and for states: The museum is closed on Mondays. Get also needs do in questions: Did anyone get hurt?

English grammar · Intermediate

Passive Voice: When and Why English Uses It, with Examples

Written by Eleanor Whitfield, Lead English Curriculum Editor · Reviewed September 2026

The passive voice makes the receiver of an action the subject of the sentence: The window was broken, instead of Someone broke the window. It is formed with be plus a past participle, and English chooses it when the doer is unknown, unimportant, or obvious, when the receiver is the topic, or when a writer wants a neutral, impersonal tone. The doer can be added with by, but usually is not.

The bridge was built in 1932.

the builders are unknown and unimportant; the bridge is the point

What it is

Every action has a doer (the agent) and, usually, a receiver. In the active voice the doer is the subject: The council closed the road. In the passive voice the receiver moves to the front and becomes the subject: The road was closed (by the council). The action is the same; what changes is the starting point of the sentence, and with it the emphasis. English reaches for the passive when the doer does not matter or is not known, when the receiver is what the conversation is about, or when a process needs describing without personal reference, as in science, news, and official notices. Even so, the passive is a minority form: most sentences in writing are active, and in speech the active dominates almost completely.

My bike has been stolen. (Who stole it is unknown; my bike is what I care about.) The samples were heated to 60 degrees. (A method, with no scientist named.)

How to spot it

Look for a form of be (is, are, was, were, been, being) or get followed by a past participle: is made, were taken, has been sold, got hurt. If you can ask by whom? after the verb and the answer is not the subject, the sentence is passive.

The results will be announced on Friday. (by whom is irrelevant; the results matter)
He was arrested last night. (by the police, so obvious that it is left out)
These shoes are made in Portugal. (the product is the topic, not the workers)
The novel was written by a teenager. (the by-phrase is kept because the agent is the surprise)

Not every be + participle is a passive. The shop is closed can describe a state (it is shut) as well as an action (someone closed it), and I am tired and she is married are adjectives. Ask whether anyone did anything.

Passive Voice Quick Reference

Why a writer or speaker chooses the passive

Reason	Example	What the passive does
The agent is unknown	My wallet has been stolen.	avoids an empty someone
The agent is obvious	The suspect was charged with fraud.	everyone knows the police charge suspects
The agent is unimportant	The road is being resurfaced.	the work matters, the workers do not
The receiver is the topic	The castle was built in 1200 and was extended twice.	keeps the castle as the subject across the sentence
Impersonal or formal tone	Applications must be submitted by 1 March.	no I or we; the rule speaks for itself
Tact, or avoiding blame	Mistakes were made.	no one is named as responsible
Process and method	The mixture is stirred and then filtered.	science, recipes, and instructions

Common Passive Voice Examples in English

Grouped by the reason the passive was chosen, because that reason is the whole point of the form:

Unknown or Unimportant Doer

My car was scratched in the car park.: no idea who did it
The letter was posted on Tuesday.: who posted it does not matter
Rice is grown in the north of the country.: farmers in general, not worth naming
Two people were injured in the crash.: news style: the event, not the cause

If you would have to write someone or people as the active subject, the passive is usually better.

Obvious Doer

She was elected in 2022.: by the voters, obviously
The patient was operated on this morning.: by surgeons; the phrasal verb keeps its on
I was born in Manchester.: the most common passive in English; the agent is never stated
Our flight has been delayed.: by the airline, who else

Adding the obvious agent sounds odd: She was elected by the voters says nothing new.

Focus on the Receiver or the Process

The vaccine is stored at minus 70 degrees.: method, impersonal
First the fruit is washed, then it is sorted by size.: a process described step by step
This house was built in 1890 and was restored last year.: the house stays the subject of both clauses
Your order has been dispatched.: business writing: the order is what you care about

Scientific and technical writing uses the passive to keep attention on materials and steps rather than on the people doing them.

Keeping the Doer, with By

Hamlet was written by Shakespeare.: the agent is the information
The goal was scored by a seventeen-year-old.: the surprising agent goes at the end, where new information sits
The area is visited by thousands of tourists every year.: the agent completes the meaning
The window was broken by a falling branch.: by + a cause, not a person

English puts new or important information at the end of a sentence. The by-phrase lets the agent take that spot when it deserves it.

How the Passive Works

The form is simple to build; the skill is in knowing when the passive earns its place.

Be Plus the Past Participle

Be carries the tense and agrees with the subject; the past participle never changes. Whatever the tense, only be moves: is made, was made, has been made, will be made, is being made. Irregular participles (built, taken, written, sold) have to be known.

The bread is baked every morning. The bread was baked at six.

only be changes tense; baked stays the same

Be does the tense; the participle does the meaning.

The Object Becomes the Subject

Only a verb with an object can be made passive, because the passive works by promoting that object to subject. The agent either disappears or moves into a by-phrase at the end. Intransitive verbs (arrive, happen, sleep) have no object and therefore no passive.

Someone has taken my seat. My seat has been taken.

my seat moves to the front; someone drops out

No object, no passive.

Leave Out the Agent Unless It Adds Information

Most passives in real English have no by-phrase at all. Add the agent only when it is new, surprising, or needed to complete the meaning. By someone and by people are almost always redundant.

The painting was stolen. The painting was stolen by its own security guard.

no agent, then an agent worth mentioning

By only when the doer is news.

The Passive Shifts Emphasis, Not Meaning

Active and passive describe the same event. The passive changes what comes first, and so what the sentence is about. Writers use it to keep the same subject running through a passage instead of jumping between doers.

We interviewed ten candidates. Three were shortlisted, and one was offered the job.

the candidates stay the topic once they are introduced

Choose the subject you want to talk about.

Formality Is a Side Effect, Not the Purpose

Passives cluster in formal writing because that writing often has no personal agent to name. Used without a reason, though, the passive hides responsibility and slows the prose. In conversation the active dominates, and in most writing the active should be the default.

It was decided that the office would close. We decided to close the office.

the first hides who decided; the second owns the decision

Passive for a reason, not for a tone.

Common Mistakes with Passive Voice

Incorrect: The meeting was happened yesterday.

Correct: The meeting happened yesterday.

Happen is intransitive: it has no object, so there is nothing to move to the subject position and no passive form exists. The same goes for arrive, occur, die, and appear.

Incorrect: The email was sent by someone yesterday.

Correct: The email was sent yesterday.

By someone adds nothing: the passive exists precisely so that an unknown agent can be left out. Add a by-phrase only when the agent is new information.

Incorrect: I was explained the rules.

Correct: The rules were explained to me.

Explain takes a thing as its direct object and a person only after to, so the person cannot become the passive subject. Give, tell, show, and offer allow I was given the rules; explain, describe, and suggest do not.

Incorrect: The house is build in 1950.

Correct: The house was built in 1950.

Two errors: the passive needs the past participle (built), and a finished date needs a past form of be. The tense lives in be; the participle never changes.

The Get-Passive and Passives with Two Objects

Two patterns that the basic be + participle rule does not cover, and one group of verbs that has no passive at all.

The get-passive

Get can replace be in informal English, mainly for events that happen to someone, often unwelcome or sudden: get hurt, get fired, get caught, get paid. It is not used for states or in formal writing.

He got sacked last week.: informal; with be it would be was sacked
Nobody got hurt in the accident.: get for an event with a personal effect
We got stuck in traffic for two hours.: very common with stuck, lost, caught, married

Get needs do in questions and negatives: Did anyone get hurt? It also carries a hint that the subject was affected or partly responsible, which be does not.

Passives with two objects

Verbs like give, send, offer, show, tell, pay, and teach have two objects (a person and a thing), so they have two possible passives. English usually makes the person the subject.

I was given a second chance.: the person as subject: the normal choice
A second chance was given to me.: the thing as subject: possible, more formal, and it needs to
We were shown the whole factory.: show + person + thing, with the person moved to the front

Explain, describe, and suggest never take the person as passive subject: The rule was explained to us, never We were explained the rule.

Verbs with no passive

Intransitive verbs (arrive, happen, sleep, die) have no object and so no passive. A few transitive verbs of possessing and fitting also resist it: have, lack, resemble, fit, suit.

The accident happened at noon.: no object, so no passive is possible
She resembles her mother.: not her mother is resembled by her
That colour suits you.: suit, fit, and become take no passive

Be born is the odd one out: it exists only in the passive (I was born in May) and never takes a by-agent.

Quick Check: Passive Voice

Rewrite or complete each sentence in the passive, deciding whether the agent should be kept.

1. Someone has stolen my bike. My bike ___.

Answer: has been stolen

unknown agent: leave it out

2. They are repairing the bridge. The bridge ___.

Answer: is being repaired

present continuous passive; the workers are not worth naming

3. A local architect designed the library. The library ___.

Answer: was designed by a local architect

the agent is the interesting information, so keep it

4. The company offered her the job. She ___.

Answer: was offered the job

two objects: the person becomes the subject

5. He ___ (get / hurt) playing rugby on Saturday.

Answer: got hurt

the informal get-passive for an unwelcome event

6. Where ___ you born? I ___ born in Cork.

Answer: were, was

born takes be in the past; the agent is never stated

Passive Voice FAQs

What is the passive voice?: It is the form in which the receiver of an action is the subject of the sentence: The letter was delivered, rather than The postman delivered the letter. It is built from be in the appropriate tense plus a past participle. English uses it when the doer is unknown, unimportant, or obvious, or when the receiver is what the sentence is about.
When should I use the passive instead of the active?: When the doer does not matter or is not known (My phone was stolen), when it is obvious (He was arrested), when the receiver is the topic you want to keep at the front (The castle was built in 1200 and was extended in 1450), and in formal or scientific writing that describes processes (The samples were frozen). If none of those applies, the active is usually the better choice.
Do I always need by in a passive sentence?: No, and most passives have no by-phrase at all. Add by plus the agent only when the agent is new or important information: The song was written by a fourteen-year-old. If the agent would be someone, people, or they, leave it out: The window was broken, not The window was broken by someone.
Is the passive voice bad style?: Not in itself. It is the right choice for processes, notices, news reports, and any sentence where the receiver is the topic: Your order has been dispatched. It becomes a problem when it is used to hide responsibility (Mistakes were made) or when a simple active sentence would be clearer and shorter. Good writing uses both voices and picks each one for a reason.
What is the difference between was broken and got broken?: Both are passive, but get is informal and stresses that something happened to the subject, often suddenly or unluckily: The vase got broken. He got fired. We got soaked. Be is neutral and is the only option in formal writing and for states: The museum is closed on Mondays. Get also needs do in questions: Did anyone get hurt?