THE PASSIVE
VOICE
English grammar
4ºESO
Montse Flores Adeva & Ana Hernández Bartolomé
IES Hoces del Duratón
The Passive Voice: Outline
1. Shifts in grammatical levels
-
Verb phrase level
Clause level
2. Constraints
-
Verb constraints
Agent constraints
Frequency constraints
1. Grammatical levels

The transformation from the passive
to the active voice involves two
grammatical levels:
1. The verb phrase level
2. The clause level
Grammatical levels (2)
1. THE VERB PHRASE LEVEL
Active voice verb
tense &
agreement
meaning
Passive‘BE’ + past participle
Grammatical levels (3)

THE VERB PHRASE LEVEL (2)
Examples: active  passive
Present: simple, continuous, perfect, perfect
continuous
Past: simple, continuous, perfect, perfect continuous
Future: simple, continuous, perfect, perfect
continuous
Conditional: simple, continuous, perfect, perfect
continuous
Infinitive: present, perfect
Participle: present, perfect
Auxiliary verb
Grammatical levels (4)
2. THE CLAUSE LEVEL
The passivization involves the
rearrangement of 2 elements:
1. The active object becomes the
passive subject.
Intel makes Pentium chips.
Pentium chips are made by Intel.
Grammatical levels (5)
THE CLAUSE LEVEL (2)
2. The active subject becomes the
passive agent. If mentioned, the
preposition ‘BY’ appears before the
agent.
Engineers design PC languages.

PC languages are designed by engineers.
Some problems are solved by technicians.
Some tools were stolen last night. (by
thieves).
Grammatical levels (6)
THE CLAUSE LEVEL (3)
3. In sentences with D.O. and I. O. there are
two passive forms, but the passive with
the I.O. subject is the most common one
(if animated).

The company sent us all the information.
All the information was sent to us by the
company.
We were sent all the information.
They sent us a CV.
The boss gave me a raise.
I gave the dog a bone.
They gave their daughter to the church.
2. Constraints
1. VERB CONSTRAINTS
 Intransitive verbs cannot be turned
into passive voice.
The child is sleeping soundly.
The girl plays happily.

Copulative verbs (resemble, look
like...) cannot be turned into passive.
Tom resembles his grandad.
Constraints (2)
2. AGENT CONSTRAINTS

The agent in the passive is often optional
(contrary to subject in active)

Omitted when irrelevant, not known,
redundant or impossible to be expressed
in active.
I was sent to the shop to buy buns but all
the buns were sold.
John and Jim had a fight and John was
beaten.
Order has been restored without violence
and without bloodshed.
Constraints (3)
3. FREQUENCY CONSTRAINTS
The passive voice is generally used:

To express the idea which requires a
reflexive or impersonal construction in
another language.
English is spoken here.
Shoes mended while you wait.

When the active would involve the
use of an indefinite, a redundant or a
vague pronoun.
I’ve been robbed.
The victor was cheered.
Constraints (4)
3. FREQUENCY CONSTRAINTS (2)

To avoid a difficult or awkward change of
subject in the middle of a long sentence.
The PM arrived back from Australia last
night and he was asked about the
opinion of the latest detentions of
suspected terrorists.

When we wish to make a statement sound
impersonal for reasons of modesty or
umpleasant news.
A lot of care has been taken with the
present text.
Constraints (5)
3. FREQUENCY CONSTRAINTS (3)
 To express an order more forcefully
and more impersonally
The job must be done by six.

When we are more interested in what
happened to the subject than in what
the agent did.
The soldier was wounded by a bullet.