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Passive sentences are formed with the verbs be (am, are, is, was, were, be, been, being) or get (get, gets, got, gotten, getting) plus a past participle.
New laws are written every day.
If you touch a hot stove, you'll get burned.
Be careful! Only transitive verbs, those that take one or more objects, can be made passive. Intransitive verbs cannot be made passive.
In general, the active voice is considered stronger than the passive voice. Writers often prefer the active to the passive voice. In academic writing, however, the passive is frequently used.
In writing and speaking, there are three instances in which the passive voice is recommended.
1. When we don't know or don't care who performed the action.
My furniture was made in Portugal. (The furniture was made by workers, but the speaker or writer probably doesn't know or care exactly by whom.)
2. When we wish to avoid mentioning who performed the action.
We were given some incorrect information about our insurance. (Perhaps, to be polite, the speaker or writer wishes to avoid saying who gave the incorrect information.)
3. When we want to focus on the receiver rather than the performer of the action.
Murder at the Gallop was written by Agatha Christie. (The speaker or writer wishes to focus on the work rather than on its author.)
Note that the by phrase is usually omitted in passive sentences when the speaker or writer considers it undesirable or unnecessary to mention the performer.
We were given some incorrect information. (by someone whom I choose not to mentionmention is undesirable)
Two of my friends got hurt in the crash. (by the impact of the collisionmention is unnecessary)
The use of the verb get to form the passive is considered more informal than the use of the verb be. The get-passive is conversational and is characteristic of informal writing. The get-passive also sometimes seems to focus more on the action than on the result.
Politicians don't get reelected if their views are unpopular. (more informal; action is emphasized)
Politicians aren't reelected if their views are unpopular. (more formal; action is not emphasized)
The get-passive is used more often in speech than in formal writing.
Get and have are used to form the passive causative. Use the passive causative to talk about services arranged by one person for himself or herself or for another. They can occur with or without a by phrase, but the by phrase is often omitted.
I ought to have the phone disconnected.
I need to get my hair done.
We got our property appraised by an expert.
Review the formation and the use of the passive in modal constructions.
The crop circles could have been made by extraterrestrials.
Not all mysteries can be unraveled.
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