1.
Passive and Active Voice
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2.
Active Voice vs.
Passive Voice
• Most of your sentences should be in the
active voice
– more direct and straightforward  easier to
understand

3.
Uses of the Passive
• The actor is unknown:
– Someone stole her purse.
• We don’t know who stole it.
– Her purse was stolen.

4.
Exercise
• I left my iPhone in the bathroom by
mistake. When I went back, it wasn’t there
anymore. Someone must have taken my
it.

5.
Uses of the Passive
• The actor is irrelevant:
– Someone is building a solar power plant in
Australia.
• We only care that a solar power panel is being built
in Australia; the identity of the person building it is
irrelevant.
– A solar power plant is being built in Australia.

6.
Exercise
• More and more teachers in the US are
teaching the Chinese language to students.
• People in France love their language.
• People in France had loved their language.
• People in Korea are incorporating more and
more foreign words into Korean.
• In Venezuela, people are reclaiming their
pride in the Spanish language.

7.
Uses of the Passive
• You want to be vague/or de-emphasize the
agent doing an action:
– We dropped bombs on civilians by mistake.
– Bombs were dropped on civilians by mistake.

8.
Uses of the Passive
• You want to be vague about who is
responsible:
– Someone made a mistake.
• You want to be vague.
– Mistakes were made

9.
Exercise
• We will not comment at this point who our
suspects are. At this moment, we will
merely disclose those facts which have
been confirmed. Someone robbed the
house at 1 AM in the morning.

10.
Uses of the Passive
• You want to emphasize the person or thing
acted on. For example, it may be your main
topic:
– Insulin was first discovered in 1921 by
researchers at the University of Toronto. It is still
the only treatment available for diabetes.
• Using the active would take away such
emphasis:
– Researchers at the University of Toronto first
discovered insulin in 1921. It is still the only
treatment available for diabetes.

11.
Exercise
• The Vietnam War started in November
1, 1955 and ended in April 30, 1975. South
Vietnam and the fought on one side, and
on the other side fought North
Vietnam, China, and other communist
countries on the other side. On April
30, 1975, the North Vietnamese won and
the US retreated out of Vietnam.