英语日常语法:被动语态

Everyday Grammar: When Passive Is Better than Active 英语日常语法:被动语态

This Everyday Grammar is all about the passive voice. The passive is a verb form in which the subject receives the action of the verb. For example, "I was born on a Saturday."

Most sentences in English follow the subject-verb-object pattern known as the active voice. For example, "I love you." In this example the subject is "I," the verb is "love" and the object is "you." The subject performs the action of the verb.

But sometimes the subject is acted upon, or receives the action of the verb. This is called the passive voice. Imagine that someone stole your wallet, but you do not know who did it. You could say, "My wallet was stolen." In this passive sentence, "my wallet" is the subject, "was stolen" is the verb. There is no direct object -- the wallet did not steal itself. The speaker does not know who stole the wallet.

To form the passive, use a form of the verb "be" followed by a past participle verb form. You can form the passive in several verb tenses, but the simple present and simple past are the most common.

Only transitive verbs can be passive. Intransitive verbs, or verbs that cannot take a direct object, cannot be passive. You cannot say "I was arrived by train" because the intransitive verb arrive cannot be followed by an object.

Most of the time, users should avoid the passive voice. The passive voice can make the speaker or writer seem indirect and weak. Which would you rather hear: "I love you" (active voice) or "You are loved by me" (passive voice)? 

But there are several situations when you should use the passive.

The most common reason to use the passive is when the actor is unknown or unimportant. For example, "My visa was processed," and "My shoes were made in India" and "The car was imported from Germany." In these examples, it is not necessary to know exactly who performed the action.

Sometimes speakers use the passive even when they know the person who did the action. In this case, use the word by followed by the actor.

For example, "Great Expectations was written by Charles Dickens." You could also use the active voice: "Charles Dickens wrote Great Expectations." Both are correct. The passive voice emphasizes the book; the active voice emphasizes the writer.

In informal speech, the verb "be" can be replaced with the verb "get." For example, instead of saying "I was hit by a car," you can say, "I got hit by a car." Listen to this famous song by the Eurythmics. You will hear two active and two passive sentences.

Some of them want to use you

Some of them want to get used by you

Some of them want to abuse you

Some of them want to be abused

Notice how singer Annie Lennox used the passive with both "get" and "be." 

Another reason to use the passive is to avoid naming the person who performed an action. This is common in politics and law.

At times, powerful people want to admit to a mistake without blaming specific people. In this case, they often use the passive phrase "mistakes were made." Listen to a TV interview with President Obama. A reporter asked the president about a report of abuses by the Central Intelligence Agency. Here is how President Obama replied:

"Any fair-minded person looking at this would say that some terrible mistakes were made."

And here is President George W. Bush using the same phrase. A reporter asked him about the firing of some prosecutors².

"And he's right, mistakes were made. And I’m frankly³ not happy about them."

You might hear the passive voice in a courtroom. For legal reasons, sometimes lawyers have to use the passive voice to avoid directly blaming a suspect for a crime. Listen to this courtroom dialog from a popular TV drama The Good Wife. A prosecutor¹ is accusing a person of killing⁴ a man named Wagner.

Prosecutor: And how did he kill Wagner?

Defense⁵ attorney: Objection!

Prosecutor: Withdrawn⁶. How was Wagner killed?

Did you notice how the prosecutor switched his question from the active to the passive voice? Listen one more time.

Prosecutor: And how did he kill Wagner?

Defense attorney: Objection!

Prosecutor: Withdrawn. How was Wagner killed?

At the beginning of the clip, the prosecutor asked, "How did he kill Wagner?" The defense attorney objected to the question. The prosecutor rephrased the question in the passive voice to avoid blaming the suspect. He asked, "How was Wagner killed?"

Overusing the passive voice is major problem in student writing, even for native speakers. Try to keep your passive sentences under 10 percent of your total. Try converting some of your long sentences into simple subject-verb-object sentences.

There is much more to learn about the passive, including the stative passive and participle adjectives. We'll address those topics in a future episode of Everyday Grammar. Until then, sweet dreams!

Sweet dreams are made of this

Who would admire to disagree?

I’ve traveled the world and the seven seas

Everybody's looking for something…

Words in This Story

active – gramm. of a verb or voice: showing that the subject of a sentence is acted on or affected⁷ by the verb

passive – gramm. of a verb: expressing action rather than describing the state of something

transitive – gramm. of a verb: having or taking a direct object

intransitive – gramm. of a verb: not taking or having a direct object

actor - gramm. person or entity performing the action of a verb

1 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

2 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

3 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

6 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。