Passive Verbs
There are two main things to remember when using passive verbs and writing passive sentences: (1) The focus is always on the person or thing that receives action. (2) The passive verb form uses a past participle, but this does NOT mean the passive is always in the past. Passive verbs can be in any tense and any aspect. If you are unclear about tense and aspect, watch the videos on the verb page of this site.
Passive verbs are created by using some form of the verb [to be] plus a past participle form of the main verb. Look at sentence (1).
1. The children were released from school early.
Notice that we use the simple past tense of [to be] which is [was]. Then we add the past participle of [to release] which is [released]. NOTE: When you are learning verb forms, it can sometimes be very hard to remember that many English regular verbs are spelled the same in their past form and past participle form. You need to remember that the passive uses the past participle form of the main verb. This does NOT have tense. The tense comes from the helping verb. In sentence one the tense of the sentence is the past. This is not because of [released]. It is due to [were].
Let's look at the difference between active sentences(where the subject does an action) and passive sentences(where the subject receives an action.) Look at the active sentence (2).
2. The man washed the windows yesterday.
This is active because [the man] is the noun that performed an action. [the windows] received an action. Now let's write a sentence that focuses on [the window]. Look at sentence (3).
3. The windows were washed by the man yesterday.
What did we just do? There are a lot of changes. Look at each change. First, we put [the windows] first as our subject. Second, we added a past tense form of [to be] [were] as our helping verb. Notice that the spelling did not change with [washed], but it is a different verb form. Sentence (3) is using a past participle (which doe NOT have tense). That is why we add [were]. Third, we added the preposition [by]. This indicates who did the action.
Sometimes, however, we don't know or care who or what does an action, so we don't use the preposition [by], and there is no noun or noun phrase after the verb. Look at sentence (4).
4. His car was stolen.
Since we don't know who stole the car, we cannot add a person after the passive verb. Here is another example in sentence (5).
5. This jacket was made in Italy.
There is information after the verb but not a person or thing that did action. We only have a prepositional phrase indicating place.
Passive verbs are created by using some form of the verb [to be] plus a past participle form of the main verb. Look at sentence (1).
1. The children were released from school early.
Notice that we use the simple past tense of [to be] which is [was]. Then we add the past participle of [to release] which is [released]. NOTE: When you are learning verb forms, it can sometimes be very hard to remember that many English regular verbs are spelled the same in their past form and past participle form. You need to remember that the passive uses the past participle form of the main verb. This does NOT have tense. The tense comes from the helping verb. In sentence one the tense of the sentence is the past. This is not because of [released]. It is due to [were].
Let's look at the difference between active sentences(where the subject does an action) and passive sentences(where the subject receives an action.) Look at the active sentence (2).
2. The man washed the windows yesterday.
This is active because [the man] is the noun that performed an action. [the windows] received an action. Now let's write a sentence that focuses on [the window]. Look at sentence (3).
3. The windows were washed by the man yesterday.
What did we just do? There are a lot of changes. Look at each change. First, we put [the windows] first as our subject. Second, we added a past tense form of [to be] [were] as our helping verb. Notice that the spelling did not change with [washed], but it is a different verb form. Sentence (3) is using a past participle (which doe NOT have tense). That is why we add [were]. Third, we added the preposition [by]. This indicates who did the action.
Sometimes, however, we don't know or care who or what does an action, so we don't use the preposition [by], and there is no noun or noun phrase after the verb. Look at sentence (4).
4. His car was stolen.
Since we don't know who stole the car, we cannot add a person after the passive verb. Here is another example in sentence (5).
5. This jacket was made in Italy.
There is information after the verb but not a person or thing that did action. We only have a prepositional phrase indicating place.
