Eli5 How does passive/active voice work???
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Passive voice uses a form of the ‘to be’ verb (am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being) and the past participle (the form of a verb, typically ending in -ed).
If you can add “by zombies,” it’s passive voice, meaning that no actor has been specified.
“The tree was chopped down [by zombies].” Since that works, it’s passive voice.
“The man chopped the tree down [ by zombies ].” Doesn’t work! Thus, active voice.
We mostly speak in Active voice where the subject performs an action on an object “I read a book”
Passive voice is when the object is more important than the subject. “My phone was stolen! (by someone)” Because we don’t know who stole the phone it’s not necessary to add that you don’t know who stole it.
I’m writing this sentence in the active voice.
This sentence is being written in the passive voice.
In passive voice, the subject of the sentence is acted upon by the verb. In active voice, the subject of the sentence performs the verb.
Look especially for how it is used in the news. “There was a officer involved shooting” is passive, but “an officer shot someone.” The media uses the former, which obscures the agency of the officer.
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.
**Active** **voice** puts the thing (person, car, whatever) doing the action first in the sentence:
*Why did the chicken* [thing doing the action] *cross the road* [thing the action is happening to]*?*
**Passive voice** puts the thing doing the action after the thing the action is happening to:
*Why was the road* [thing the action is happening to] *crossed by the chicken [*thing doing the action]*?*
OR … passive voice leaves out of the sentence the thing doing the action (a favorite constructions of politicians):
*”Mistakes were made.”* [Leaves out who did the action (made the mistake).]
if you can add “by zombies” after the verb, then it’s passive voice! 🙂
active voice explicitly assigns an actor to the verb, “i ate the cake”
passive voice does not explicitly assign an actor, “the cake was eaten” (…. by zombies)
In addition to all the other information already posted, passive voice places the perpetrator at one remove from the victim, as it were, which can signal a piece of unconscious bias. Not just ‘mistakes were made’ but, as has been pointed out for sex assault, ‘the woman was raped,’ puts the onus on the woman. you wonder what she was doing that she ‘was raped.’ with active voice, ‘xxx raped the woman’ (a man, her spouse, etc) there’s no ambivalence about the victim’s part in the event.
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