70 Passive Structure

The Passive Form expresses the idea of something or someone receiving an action or experiencing a particular event or effect.

In Passive sentences, we can indicate the doer or the agent at the end of the sentence with by.

The Passive can be expressed through two kinds of structures that differ in the order of words but not in the meaning:
Subject (receiver of the action) + passive verb (auxiliary verb “to be“+ past participle of verb);
Subject (receiver of the action) + passive verb (auxiliary verb “to be“+ past participle of verb) + by + agent.

• Obama was the first African-American to be elected president of the USA.
• The soldiers were sent to war by the government.
• The people were bombed by the terrorists.

We use the Passive Voice when we focus on a person or a thing experiencing the action more than on the person or the thing performing the action. We can choose not to refer to the performer of the action if the information about the agent/ performer is unnecessary or classified.

The Passive Form is used to express the idea of something or someone receiving an action or experiencing a particular event or effect. We have two structures to express the passive form which differ in the order of words but not in the meaning.

These structures are as follows:

• Subject (receiver of the action) + passive verb (auxiliary verb “to be”+ past participle of verb) (e.g. Spanish is widely spoken around the world.);
• Subject (receiver of the action) + passive verb (auxiliary verb “to be”+ past participle of verb) + by + agent (e.g. These dogs are fed by volunteers.).

For example:
— “Spanish is widely spoken around the world.” = Spanish’s being widely spoken is the action that we focused on in Passive Form.
— “These dogs are fed by volunteers.” = We can highlight the agent or doer “volunteers” by using “by”.

Let’s revise this content within the [Form] section. Take a look at the [Example] section that shows its use within a context.