Use of Passive

Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known, however, who or
what is performing the action.

Example: My bike was stolen.

In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I do not know, however, who did
it.
Sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than active voice, as the following example shows:

Example: A mistake was made.

In this case, I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame anyone (e.g. You have made
a mistake.).

Form of Passive
Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle (3rd column of irregular verbs)

Example: A letter was written.

When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:

the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence

the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle)

the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped)

Examples of Passive
Tense

Simple Present

Subject

Active:
Passive:

Simple Past

Active:
Passive:

Present Perfect

Active:
Passive:

Future I

Active:

Verb

Object

writes

a letter.

is written

by Rita.

wrote

a letter.

A letter

was written

by Rita.

Rita

has written

a letter.

has been written

by Rita.

will write

a letter.

Rita
A letter
Rita

A letter
Rita

Passive:
Hilfsverben

A letter

Active:

Rita

Passive:

A letter

will be written

by Rita.

can write

a letter.

can be written

by Rita.

Examples of Passive
Tense

Subject

Present Progressive

a letter.

is being written

by Rita.

was writing

a letter.

was being written

by Rita.

had written

a letter.

A letter

had been written

by Rita.

Rita

will have written

a letter.

will have been written

by Rita.

would write

a letter.

would be written

by Rita.

would have written

a letter.

Rita

Passive:

A letter

Active:

Rita

Passive:
Past Perfect

A letter

Active:

Rita

Passive:
Future II

Active:
Passive:

Conditional I

A letter

Active:

Rita

Passive:
Conditional II

A letter

Active:

Rita

Passive:

Object

is writing

Active:

Past Progressive

Verb

A letter would have been written by Rita.

Passive Sentences with Two Objects

Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that one of the two objects
becomes the subject, the other one remains an object. Which object to transform into a subject depends
on what you want to put the focus on.

Subject

Active:
Passive:

Rita
A letter

Verb

Object 1

Object 2

wrote

a letter

to me.

was written

to me

by Rita.

Passive:

was written

a letter

by Rita.

.
As you can see in the examples, adding by Rita does not sound very elegant. Thats why it is usually
dropped.

Personal and Impersonal Passive

Personal Passive simply means that the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the
passive sentence. So every verb that needs an object (transitive verb) can form a personal passive.

Example: They build houses. Houses are built.

Verbs without an object (intransitive verb) normally cannot form a personal passive sentence (as there is
no object that can become the subject of the passive sentence). If you want to use an intransitive verb in
passive voice, you need an impersonal construction therefore this passive is called Impersonal
Passive.

Example: he says it is said

Impersonal Passive is not as common in English as in some other languages (e.g. German, Latin). In
English, Impersonal Passive is only possible with verbs of perception (e. g. say, think, know).

Example: They say that women live longer than men. It is said that women live
longer than men.
Although Impersonal Passive is possible here, Personal Passive is more common.

Example: They say that women live longer than men. Women are said to live longer
than men.
The subject of the subordinate clause (women) goes to the beginning of the sentence; the verb of
perception is put into passive voice. The rest of the sentence is added using an infinitive construction
with 'to' (certain auxiliary verbs and that are dropped).
Sometimes the term Personal Passive is used in English lessons if the indirect object of an active
sentence is to become the subject of the passive sentence.

Excercises

Passive Voice
Kategori: Grammar - Dibaca: 135 kali
Kalimat aktif merupakan kalimat yang subjek kalimatnya adalah pelaku sebuah tindakan, sedangkan kalimat
pasif adalah kalimat yang subjeknya bukan pelaku suatu tindakan. Si subjek adalah si penerima akibat dari
sebuah tindakan.
Bandingkan kalimat-kalimat berikut:

Aktif : Susi mengetik surat ini kemarin

Pasif : Surat ini diketik oleh Susi kemarin

Aktif : Kucingku membunuh seekor tikus

Pasif : Seekor tikus dibunuh oleh kucingku

Catatan:
Gunakan bentuk pasif jika pelaku tindakan tidak begitu penting.
Contoh:

Menara ini dibangun tahun 1955

Kalau kita perlu menyebut siapa pelaku suatu tindakan, gunakan kata oleh (by)
Contoh:

Menara ini telah dibangun oleh Pemerintah Daerah pada tahun 1955
Rumus umum untuk membentuk suatu kalimat Pasif

Aktif : S + Verb (Kata Kerja) + Objek + dll

Pasif : Objek + to be + Verb 3 (Kata Kerja Bentuk III) ( + by subjek) + dll

To be yang digunakan

1.

Present : is, am, are

2.

Past : was, were

3.

Perfect : been (di depan have, has, atau had)

4.

Future : be (setelah modals)

5.

Continuous : being (di depan salah satu dari 7 to be di atas)

Hal-hal yang perlu diketahui dan diingat

1.

Untuk menyatakan suatu kalimat dalam bentuk pasif, tenses tidak berubah. Tenses harus sama
dengan kalau kita menyatakannya dalam bentuk aktif. Yang berubah hanya kata kerja-nya.

2.

Kata kerja yang tidak memiliki objek (Kata Kerja Intransitif) tidak dapat diubah menjadi kalimat
pasif, seperti, menangis, mendidih, terbit, dll.

Contoh-contoh kalimat aktif dan pasif

1.

Jack sings a song (active)

2.

A song is sung by Jack (Passive)

1.

Jack sang a song yesterday (active)

2.

A song was sung by Jack yesterday (passive)

1.

Jack has sung a song (active)

2.

A song has been sung by Jack (passive)

1.

Jack will sing a song (active)

2.

A song will be sung by Jack (passive)

1.

Jack is singing a song (active)

2.

A song is being sung by Jack (passive)

1.

Jack can sing a song (active)

2.

A song can be sung by Jack (passive)

Beberapa Bentuk Kalimat Passive

1) Passive Imperative Sentence
Rumus:
Let + objek + be + Kata Kerja Bentuk III

Help the poor (active)

Let the poor be helped (passive)

2) Passive Infinitive: It is/was time

Rumus:
It is/was time for + objek + to be + kata kerja III

It is time to send the letter (active)

It is time for the letter to be sent (passive)

3) Negative Passive Imperative Sentence

Rumus:
Subjek + be + Kata kerja III + not to + infinitive
(kata kerja III yang sering digunakan adalah: advised, asked, begged, commanded, requested)

Dont wait for me (active)

You are advised not to wait for me (passive)

4) Passive Sentence with Verbs of Perception
Rumus
Subjek + be + adjectives + when + subjek + be + kata kerja III
(kata kerja yang digunakan adalah: taste, smell, feel)

This food tastes delicious (active)

This food is delicious when it is tasted (passive)

5) Passive Sentence with Certain Verbs followed by that-clause
Kata kerja yang digunakan adalah: accept, admit, agree, assume, believe, decide, expect, find out, intend,
plan, point out, presume, prove, regret, report, say, think, understand.

We regretted that the principal had to resign from office (active)

It was regretted that the principal had to resign from office (passive)
6) Passive Sentence with Nouns or Adjectives as Complements

I consider her very pretty (active)

She is considered very pretty (passive)

7) Passive Sentence with two objects

He gave me a book (active)

A book was given to me by him (passive 1)

I was given a book by him (passive 2)

8) Passive Sentence with Gerund Verbs

The teacher enjoyed teaching the students (active)

The students enjoyed being taught by the teacher (passive)

9) Agent consisting long expression at the end of sentence
Dalam kalimat pasif, jika pelaku terdiri dari ekspresi yang panjang, sebaiknya subjek tersebut ditempatkan
di akhir kalimat setelah by.

We were all surprised by her sudden announcement to get married

I was confused by his plan to stop the ongoing project and begin a new one.
10) Passive Sentence with unique verbs
Kata kerja yang digunakan adalah: require, deserve, need

This wall needs to be painted (sama dengan)

This wall needs painting.

Identifying the English passive

In the following excerpt from the 18th-century United States Declaration of Independence (1776), the bold
text identifies passive verbs; italicized text identifies the one active verb (hold ) and the copulative
verb are:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

In this case, the agent ("the Creator") of the passive construction can be identified with a by phrase.
When such a phrase is missing, the construction is an agentless passive. For example, "Caesar was
stabbed" is a perfectly grammatical full sentence, in a way that "stabbed Caesar" and "Brutus stabbed"
are not. Agentless passives are common in scientific writing, where the agent may be irrelevant (e.g. "The
mixture was heated to 300C").
It is not the case, however, that any sentence in which the agent is unmentioned or marginalised is an
example of the passive voice. Sentences like "There was a stabbing" or "A stabbing occurred"
are not passive. See "Misapplication of the term," below for more discussion of this misconception.

Usage and style

Against the passive voice
Many language critics and language-usage manuals discourage use of the passive voice. [4] This advice is
not usually found in older guides, emerging only in the first half of the twentieth century.[5] In 1916, the
British writer Arthur Quiller-Couch, criticized this grammatical voice:
Generally, use transitive verbs, that strike their object; and use them in the active voice, eschewing the
stationary passive, with its little auxiliary itss and wass, and its participles getting into the light of your
adjectives, which should be few. For, as a rough law, by his use of the straight verb and by his economy
of adjectives you can tell a mans style, if it be masculine or neuter, writing or composition. [6]
Two years later, in 1918, in The Elements of Style Cornell University Professor of English William Strunk,
Jr. warned against excessive use of the passive voice:
The active voice is usually more direct and vigorous than the passive . . . This rule does not, of course,
mean that the writer should entirely discard the passive voice, which is frequently convenient and
sometimes necessary . . . The need to make a particular word the subject of the sentence will often . . .
determine which voice is to be used. The habitual use of the active voice, however, makes for forcible
writing. This is true not only in narrative concerned principally with action, but in writing of any kind. Many
a tame sentence of description or exposition can be made lively and emphatic by substituting a transitive
in the active voice for some such perfunctory expression as there isor could be heard.[7]
In 1926, in the authoritative A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926), Henry W.
Fowler recommended against transforming active voice forms into passive voice forms, because doing so
sometimes leads to bad grammar, false idiom, or clumsiness.[8][9]

In 1946, in the essay "Politics and the English Language" (1946), George Orwell recommended the active
voice as an elementary principle of composition: "Never use the passive where you can use the active."
The Columbia Guide to Standard American English (1993) stated that:
Active voice makes subjects do something (to something); passive voice permits subjects to have
something done to them (by someone or something). Some argue thatactive voice is more muscular,
direct, and succinct, passive voice flabbier, more indirect, and wordier. If you want your words to seem
impersonal, indirect, and noncommittal, passive is the choice, but otherwise, active voice is almost
invariably likely to prove more effective.[10]
Krista Ratcliffe notes the use of passives as an example of the role of grammar as "a link between words
and magical conjuring [...]: passive voice mystifies accountability by erasing who or what performs an
action [...].[11]

For the passive voice

Jan Freeman, a reporter for The Boston Globe, said that the passive voice does have its uses, and that
"all good writers use the passive voice".[12] For example, despite Orwell's advice to avoid the passive, his
"Politics and the English Language" (1946) employs passive voice for about 20 percent of its
constructions. By comparison, a statistical study found about 13 percent passive constructions in
newspapers and magazines.[4]
Passive writing is not necessarily slack and indirect. Many famously vigorous passages use the passive
voice, as in these examples:

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. (King James Bible, Isaiah 40:4)

Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York. (Shakespeare's
Richard III, I.1, ll. 12)

For of those to whom much is given, much is required. (John F. Kennedy's quotation of Luke
12:48 in his address to the Massachusetts legislature, 9 January 1961.) [13]

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. (Winston
Churchill addressing the House of Commons, 20 August 1940.)

MerriamWebster's Dictionary of English Usage (1994) recommends the passive voice when identifying
the object (receiver) of the action is more important than the subject (agent), and when the agent is
unknown, unimportant, or not worth mentioning:

The child was struck by the car.

The store was robbed last night.

Plows should not be kept in the garage.

Kennedy was elected president.[4]

The principal criticism against the passive voice is its potential for evasion of responsibility. This is
because a passive clause may omit the agent even where it is important:

We had hoped to report on this problem, but the data were inadvertently deleted from our files. [4]
[14][14]

(See weasel words.) However, the passive can also be used to emphasize the agent, and it may be better
for that role than the active voice, because the end of a clause is the ideal place to put something you
wish to emphasize:

Don't you see? The patient was murdered by his own doctor![15]

Similarly, the passive may be useful when modifying the agent, as heavily modified noun phrases also
tend to occur last in a clause:

The breakthrough was achieved by Burlingame and Evans, two researchers in the university's
genetic engineering