The passive voice is less commonly used compared to the active voice. We only use it when emphasizing the action instead of the doer.
Learn how to identify and write passive voice sentences through this guide. Then, answer the three passive voice exercises I provided to test your knowledge.
What Is the Passive Voice?
One of the two voices of verbs is the passive voice. This voice focuses on the action instead of the doer. For example:
- The movie is being watched by Candace.
The doer of the action, Candace, appears at the end of the verb, and the subject is the receiver of the action, being watched.
Every sentence in the passive voice has the conjugated form of to be and the past participle form of the verb.
Sentences in the passive voice can be in different tenses. Here are some examples.
- The van will be driven by him. (simple future)
- The kids are taken to school by me regularly. (simple present)
- The seeds are being planted by the gardeners. (present continuous)
- My papers had been submitted. (past perfect)