Passive-voice

The passive-voice is used when the emphasis is more on the object of a sentence rather than the doer (subject) be mentioned, the passive sentence will include a ‘by’ phrase. Passive sentences are common in formal writings such as business correspondence and in scientific and technical writings.

	Subject	Verb	Object
Active voice	Jasmine	unplugged	the microwave
Passive voice	The microwave	was unplugged	(by) Jasmine

Passive verb forms

tense	active	passive
Simple present	Adrian places an egg in a box	An egg is placed in a box by Adrian Verb ‘be’ + past participle of main verb
Simple past	Adrian places an egg in a box	An egg was placed in a box by Adrian Verb ‘be’ + past participle of main verb
Present continuous	Adrian is placing an egg in a box	An egg is being placed in a box by Adrian Verb ‘be’ + being + past participle of a main verb
Past continuous	Adrian was placing an egg in a box	An egg was being placed in a box by Adrian Verb ‘be’ + being + past participle of a main verb
Present perfect	Adrian has placed an egg in a box	An egg has been placed in a box by Adrian Has/have been + past participle of the main verb
Past perfect	Adrian had placed an egg in a box	An egg had been placed in a box by Adrian Had been + past participle of the main verb
future	Adrian will place an egg in a box	An egg will be placed in a box by Adrian Will be + past participle of the main verb

Direct and indirect object

In an active sentence, there might be two objects, the direct and the indirect one. Usually, the indirect object refers to the receiver of something.

Subject	Verb	Indirect object	Direct object
I	bought	my sister	a book

Thus, the passive form of the above sentence can either have the direct object or the indirect object as the subject:

A book was bought for my sister.       (Direct object as subject)

My sister was bought a book.             (Indirect object as subject)