Transitive verbs have a property, known as voice, that allows you to express the relation between the subject and the action of the verb in one of two ways. Verbs in the active voice have the performer of the action as the subject and have the person or thing that is acted upon as the object. Thus the sentences Marty found the kitten under the couch and The girls built a house of blocks today have their verbs in the active voice. The performers of the action—Marty and the girls—are the subjects of the sentence, and the things acted upon—the kitten and the house—are the objects.
1
In the passive voice this situation is reversed. The person or thing that is acted upon becomes the subject, and the performer of the action gets put in a prepositional phrase beginning with by or is omitted from the sentence altogether. Thus in the passive voice the sentences would read The kitten was found (by Marty) under the couch and The house of blocks was built (by the girls) today.
2
Passive verb phrases normally consist of a form of the verb be followed by a past participle. Passive verbs can exist in any tense. They may or may not employ an auxiliary verb. Here are some examples:
Active
Passive
Linda drives the car.
The car is driven by Linda.
Linda drove the car.
The car was driven by Linda.
Linda was driving the car.
The car was being driven by Linda.
Linda has driven the car.
The car has been driven by Linda.
Linda may have driven the car.
The car may have been driven by Linda.
3
It is important not to confuse the passive voice with a progressive form of an active or intransitive verb. Like passive verbs, progressive verbs employ a form of the verb be, but progressive verbs always have a present participle (ending in -ing), whereas a passive verb always has a past participle. Passive verbs can have progressive forms, that is, they can employ the participle being, but it is always followed by a past participle. Here are some examples:
Active / Progressive
Passive / Progressive
Jim is writing a book.
The book is being written by Jim.
Jim was writing a book.
The book was being written by Jim.
Jim had been writing a book.
The book had been being written by Jim.
4
Don’t be fooled by an adverb intervening between the form of be and the participle. The sentence Jim is carefully writing a book still has a progressive verb in the active voice, and The book is being carefully written by Jim still has its verb in the passive voice.
5
Some passive constructions use get instead of be with a past participle. In some of these sentences the subject may have a somewhat active role even when being acted upon by the verb. Thus you might say The kitten got left in the basement, which is no different from The kitten was left in the basement. But the sentence Michelle got hired as a reporter implies that Michelle’s actions were instrumental in her securing the job. This passive with get is mostly limited to informal speaking and writing.
6
There are a few transitive verbs—called middle verbs—that cannot normally be made passive, such as: fit, have, lack, resemble, and suit. Thus you can say That suit fits you but not You are fit by that suit; Our team lacks a good pitcher, but not A good pitcher is lacked by our team; and so on.
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One big reason for being aware of passive and active verbs in your writing is that overrelying on the passive voice can lead to prose that is boring, difficult to understand, and needlessly verbose. For more on these problems, see
passive voice under Style.
