Passive Voice: Use and Formation

English Grammar Lesson



CHAPTER 12. The passive voice
    1. Use of the passive voice
    2. Formation of the indicative mood of the passive voice
         a. The Simple Present indicative
         b. The other indicative tenses
         c. Summary of the formation of the indicative tenses of the passive voice
 1. Use of the passive voice 
As explained in the preceding chapter, the Active Voice of a verb is used when the subject of the verb refers to the person or thing performing the action described by the verb.

In contrast, the Passive Voice of a verb is used when the subject of the verb refers to the person or thing receiving the action described by the verb. Only a verb which can take an object can be put into the Passive Voice.

The Passive Voice is more commonly used in English than it is in other European languages such as German or French. As well as being used in everyday English, the Passive Voice is used extensively in official documents and scientific papers.

In the following examples, the verbs in the Passive Voice are underlined.
e.g. The ball was struck by the boy.
      Gold has been found by the explorers.
In these examples, the verbs was struck and has been found are in the Passive Voice. The subjects ball and gold refer to things receiving the actions described by the verbs.



2. Formation of the indicative mood of the passive voice 
For every tense in the Active Voice, there is a corresponding tense in the Passive Voice. In the Passive Voice, the verb to be acts as an auxiliary. The Passive Voice tenses of an English verb are formed from the corresponding conjugations of to be, followed by the past participle of the verb.

a. The simple present indicative
For instance, the Simple Present Indicative of to be, and the Simple Present Indicative of the Passive Voice of the verb to show are conjugated as follows:

Simple Present Indicative	Simple Present Indicative
of To Be	of Passive Voice of To Show
I am	I am shown
you are	you are shown
he is	he is shown
she is	she is shown
it is	it is shown
we are	we are shown
they are	they are shown

b. The other indicative tenses
Similarly, the other Indicative tenses of the Passive Voice of the verb to show are conjugated as indicated in the following table. The corresponding tenses of the verb to be are included for purposes of comparison.



The verb To Be compared with the Passive Voice of the verb To Show 

Present Continuous	Present Continuous
I am being	I am being shown
you are being	you are being shown
he is being	he is being shown
she is being	she is being shown
it is being	it is being shown
we are being	we are being shown
they are being	they are being shown
Present Perfect	Present Perfect
I have been	I have been shown
you have been	you have been shown
he has been	he has been shown
she has been	she has been shown
it has been	it has been shown
we have been	we have been shown
they have been	they have been shown
Present Perfect Continuous	Present Perfect Continuous
have been being	I have been being shown
you have been being	you have been being shown
he has been being	he has been being shown
she has been being	she has been being shown
it has been being	it has been being shown
we have been being	we have been being shown
they have been being	they have been being shown
Simple Past	Simple Past
I was	I was shown
you were	you were shown
he was	he was shown
she was	she was shown
it was	it was shown
we were	we were shown
they were	they were shown
Past Continuous	Past Continuous
I was being	I was being shown
you were being	you were being shown
he was being	he was being shown
she was being	she was being shown
it was being	it was being shown
we were being	we were being shown
they were being	they were being shown
Past Perfect	Past Perfect
I had been	I had been shown
you had been	you had been shown
he had been	he had been shown
she had been	she had been shown
it had been	it had been shown
we had been	we had been shown
they had been	they had been shown
Past Perfect Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
I had been being	I had been being shown
you had been being	you had been being shown
he had been being	he had been being shown
she had been being	she had been being shown
it had been being	it had been being shown
we had been being	we had been being shown
they had been being	they had been being shown
Simple Future	Simple Future
I will (shall) be	I will (shall) be shown
you will be	you will be shown
he will be	he will be shown
she will be	she will be shown
it will be	it will be shown
we will (shall) be	we will (shall) be shown
they will be	they will be shown
Future Continuous	Future Continuous
I will (shall) be being	I will (shall) be being shown
you will be being	you will be being shown
he will be being	he will be being shown
she will be being	she will be being shown
it will be being	it will be being shown
we will (shall) be being	we will (shall) be being shown
they will be being	they will be being shown
Future Perfect	Future Perfect
I will (shall) have been	I will (shall) have been shown
you will have been	you will have been shown
he will have been	he will have been shown
she will have been	she will have been shown
it will have been	it will have been shown
we will (shall) have been	we will (shall) have been shown
they will have been	they will have been shown
Future Perfect Continuous	Future Perfect Continuous
I will (shall) have been being	I will (shall) have been being shown
you will have been being	you will have been being shown
he will have been being	he will have been being shown
she will have been being	she will have been being shown
It will have been being	it will have been being shown
we will (shall) have been being	we will (shall) have been being shown
they will have been being	they will have been being shown

c. Summary of the formation of the indicative tenses of the passive voice
The following table summarizes the formation of the Indicative tenses of the Passive Voice.

The Formation of the Indicative Mood of the Passive Voice

Tense	Auxiliary	Verb Form
Simple Present	am/is/are	past participle
Present Continuous	am/is/are being	past participle
Present Perfect	have/has been	past participle
Present Perfect Continuous**	have/has been being	past participle
Simple Past	was/were	past participle
Past Continuous	was/were being	past participle
Past Perfect	had been	past participle
Past Perfect Continuous**	had been being	past participle
Simple Future	will (shall) be*	past participle
Future Continuous**	will (shall) be being	past participle
Future Perfect	will (shall) have been	past participle
Future Perfect Continuous**	will (shall) have been being	past participle

* The other modal auxiliaries form conjugations in the same way as shown for will and shall.

** The Present Perfect Continuous, Past Perfect Continuous, Future Continuous, and Future Perfect Continuous tenses of the Passive Voice are cumbersome, and are rarely used. Only the more commonly used tenses of the Passive Voice will be discussed below.