Teacher-In-A-Box — Passive Voice

Passive Voice

Learn when English focuses on the action rather than the person performing it.

Change the focus

The passive voice allows us to highlight what happened, rather than who did it.

The passive voice is common in academic English, business communication, journalism and formal writing. It is also used whenever the action is more important than the person performing it.

Understanding when to choose the passive instead of the active voice will help your English become more flexible, natural and appropriate in different situations.

Learn your way

Explore the Passive Voice

These topics are presented in the order in which they are commonly introduced in many English courses.

This is not a recommendation for the order in which you should study them.

The philosophy and approach of Teacher-In-A-Box is always:

Your personal learning platform. Progress at YOUR pace.

Learn the topics that are most useful to you, revisit familiar concepts whenever you need to and build your confidence one lesson at a time.

Think about focus

Good writers choose between the active and passive voice for a reason.

Rather than thinking of the passive as simply another grammar rule, ask yourself what you want your reader or listener to focus on. Once the purpose is clear, the correct choice often becomes obvious.

Remember

The passive voice doesn’t change what happened. It changes what you want your audience to notice.