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Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Tense, Aspect and Verb Forms

Passive voice

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

/ˌpæsɪv ˈvɔɪs/nounCore term

In linguistics & grammar, passive voice means: A sentence structure in which the subject receives the action instead of doing it, made with be plus a past participle, as in 'The bridge was built in 1973'.

In Turkish: edilgen çatı, edilgen yapı

How it is used

Used when the doer is unknown, obvious or less important, and very common in scientific and academic writing (The samples were analysed). Teachers contrast it with the active voice; 'by' introduces the doer.

Example sentences

  1. In the methods section, the passive voice keeps the focus on the procedure: 'The participants were interviewed twice.'

  2. Rewrite these active sentences in the passive voice.

Common collocations

  • use the passive voice
  • in the passive voice
  • active and passive voice
  • passive construction
  • participleA verb form without tense used in verb phrases and as an adjective: the present participle ends in -ing (working), the past participle often in -ed or -en (worked, broken).
  • auxiliary verbA verb used with a main verb to form tenses, questions, negatives and the passive, mainly be, have and do, plus modal verbs such as can and will.
  • transitive verbA verb that needs a direct object to complete its meaning, such as make, describe or enjoy: 'She described the problem'.
  • subjectThe part of a clause that usually names who or what does the action or is described, and that the verb agrees with, such as 'my sister' in 'My sister works here'.
  • objectA noun phrase or pronoun that receives the action of a verb or follows a preposition, such as 'the email' in 'She sent the email'.

More terms: Tense, Aspect and Verb Forms

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