Passive Voice in English

A lesson on using passive voice

by Kasra Sharifan | Aug 2, 2019 | Grammar, Speaking, Writing

The car looks absolutely spotless. Do you have any idea who washes it regularly? Since the result is at hand but the subject (or doer) is not present, it is the perfect chance to use the passive voice and bring variety to your language.

In the IELTS Exam, variety in your grammar has a direct impact on your speaking and writing scores, so let’s master the use of passive sentences in our language. We use the passive voice for two main reasons:

When the subject who does the action is unknown:
- e.g. My car was stolen sometime between 12 am and 6 am.
When the action is more important than the subject.
- e.g. More than 200 kinds of dishes are served in this restaurant.

Here’s the formula for passive structures:

Here’s the table for Verb Tenses in English in passive form:

English Tenses	Examples
Present Simple	The car is washed every weekend.
Past Simple	The car was washed yesterday.
Future Simple	The car will be washed later.
Present Continuous	The car is being washed now.
Past Continuous	Th car was being washed when Jill asked.
Future Continuous	unusual
Present Perfect Simple	The car has been washed already.
Past Perfect Simple	The car had been washed before Jill arrived.
Future Perfect Simple	The car will have been washed by the time Jill comes.
Present Perfect Continuous	unusual
Past Perfect Continuous	unusual
Future Perfect Continuous	unusual

Impossible Passive forms

Passive forms are impossible with intransitive verbs.

~~An accident was happened yesterday at the junction.~~
An accident happened yesterday at the junction.

Kasra Sharifan

Co-founder and CFO

British Council certified English teacher, IDP-trained IELTS instructor, content writer, editor-in-chief, co-founder, and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at IELTS Juice Online Academy.