Eli5 How does passive/active voice work???
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Active voice is the ‘doer’ and passive is the ‘done to’.
The active voice emphasizes the subject of the sentence. *Tom hit the ball*. The focus of this sentence is on Tom and what he has done.
The passive version would be *The ball was hit by Tom*. Here the emphasis is on the ball and what was done to it/what has happened to it.
We use the passive when the subject (the doer of the action) of the sentence is either:
1. unimportant
2. unknown
3. understood
This house was built in 1942 (It is not important **who** built the house. Say, you are thinking of buying a house, and you ask the owner “When was this house built?” If he starts, “My grandfather, before he went to fight the Nazis in occupied France, built this house …” (emphasizing **who** built it) you might be thinking *Oh dear God, there he goes again about his grandfather – just tell me how old the goddamn house is*! **Who** built the house is of no consequence to you. He ought to answer, “This house was built in 1942” so you can get on with your life.
As for unknown, take the sentence, *The window has been broken*. The active version would be *Someone has broken the window* – we don’t know who. So the natural thing to say is *The window has been broken*
As for understood, we might say *The man was arrested for shoplifting* or *The baby has been nursed.* Well, who generally goes around arresting people or nursing infants? The doer of these actions is understood without having to mention him/her or them.
Passive is possible in all verb tenses.
The window is broken.
The window was broken.
The window has been broken.
The window will be broken … etc.
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