The Passive: When, why, and how to use it

Summary

In this lesson from EngVid, Adam explains the passive form of verbs, highlighting how and why it is used. He starts by reviewing the basic structure of passive sentences, where the object becomes the subject. Adam then dives into four key reasons to use the passive: when the subject is unknown, obvious, or unimportant; for sentence variety; to shift focus in writing; and to improve flow and coherence. The lesson emphasizes how mastering the passive voice can enhance both writing and communication, especially for exams like IELTS and TOEFL.

Takeaways

• 📝 The passive form of a verb is used when the focus is on the action or object rather than the subject performing the action.
• 🐱 A basic active sentence like 'The cat ate the rat' can be transformed into a passive sentence: 'The rat was eaten by the cat.'
• 🔄 Passive sentences reverse the usual order of subject and object, emphasizing the recipient of the action.
• 🤔 The passive form is constructed by using the 'be' verb followed by the past participle (verb three).
• 🙅‍♂️ One common reason to use the passive is when the subject is unknown, obvious, or unimportant.
• ✍️ Passive voice helps shift focus in writing, especially when connecting ideas between sentences.
• 💡 Using the passive in writing adds sentence variety, making your writing more engaging and less repetitive.
• 🔄 The passive can improve coherence and flow, helping to transition smoothly from one sentence or idea to another.
• ✈️ Passive is often used for providing information, such as historical facts ('The airplane was invented in the early 20th century').
• 🎯 In writing, the passive voice can help direct the reader’s attention to the most important part of the sentence, such as focusing on an object or action rather than the doer.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the video lesson?

The main focus of the video lesson is to explain the passive form of verbs, how to construct passive sentences, and the four reasons to use the passive form.

How is a basic active sentence structured, according to the video?

A basic active sentence is structured with the subject performing an action on the object, such as in 'The cat ate the rat.'

What is the key difference between active and passive sentences?

In passive sentences, the object of the active sentence becomes the subject, and the original subject becomes less important or optional, often introduced by 'by' as the agent. For example, 'The rat was eaten by the cat.'

How is a passive sentence constructed?

A passive sentence is constructed using the 'be' verb followed by the past participle (verb three) of the main verb. For example, 'was eaten' in 'The rat was eaten by the cat.'

What are the four reasons to use the passive voice as explained in the video?

The four reasons to use the passive voice are: 1) The subject is unknown, obvious, or not important. 2) To shift focus from the subject to the object. 3) To add sentence variety. 4) For coherence and flow in writing.

When should you use the passive voice because the subject is unknown, obvious, or not important?

You should use the passive voice when the subject is unknown (e.g., 'The building was vandalized'), obvious ('The flowers were delivered on time'), or not important ('The roads were fixed quickly').

How does using the passive voice improve sentence variety?

Using the passive voice allows you to vary sentence structure, moving away from repetitive subject-verb-object patterns. This variety makes your writing more engaging and less monotonous.

Why is shifting focus an important reason to use the passive voice in writing?

Shifting focus is important because it allows you to emphasize different parts of a sentence, such as placing focus on the object rather than the subject, especially when the object is more important to the overall context.

How does the passive voice help create coherence and flow in writing?

The passive voice helps create coherence and flow by allowing writers to connect ideas smoothly, especially when transitioning from one sentence to the next, ensuring that the focus remains consistent and logical.

What is an example of how the passive voice shifts focus in writing about Coca-Cola?

In the example 'Coca-Cola was invented by a pharmacist named John Pemberton,' the passive voice shifts the focus from John Pemberton to Coca-Cola, which is the main subject of discussion.

Outlines

00:00

🔄 Introduction to the Passive Voice

Adam introduces the lesson on passive verbs, starting with a review of the basics of passive sentence construction. He explains how in an active sentence, the subject performs the action on the object, but in a passive sentence, the object becomes the subject, and the action is received. He details the basic structure of the passive voice, which is the 'be' verb plus the past participle (also known as 'verb three'). Adam teases the four reasons to use the passive voice, preparing the audience for a deeper dive into the subject.

05:02

🤔 Why Use Passive Voice? Reason 1: Unknown, Obvious, or Unimportant Subject

Adam explains the first reason for using the passive voice, which is when the subject of the action is unknown, obvious, or unimportant. He gives several examples such as 'The building was vandalized' where the doer of the action is not crucial to the sentence. Adam also highlights the use of passive voice for emphasizing the action or the result rather than the performer. This approach allows the focus to stay on what’s important in the context, especially when the subject of the action doesn’t need to be stated explicitly.

10:03

✍️ Reason 3: Sentence Variety

Adam moves on to the third reason for using the passive voice—creating sentence variety, especially important for students preparing for exams like the IELTS or TOEFL. Using only active sentences can make writing repetitive and boring, so the passive voice helps to add variety and keep the writing engaging. He demonstrates how to restructure sentences, like switching from 'He did A, then B' to 'C wasn't done until B was completed.' This variety can make essays more dynamic and interesting for readers.

🎯 Reason 2 & 4: Shifting Focus and Creating Flow

Adam elaborates on the second and fourth reasons for using passive voice, focusing on shifting attention and creating flow in writing. He uses the example of Coca-Cola to illustrate how passive voice helps control the focus of a sentence, placing emphasis where it matters most. By rearranging sentence structures, the passive voice helps connect ideas smoothly and maintains the flow of an essay or written work, making it easier for readers to follow. He also emphasizes how the passive voice enhances coherence and overall readability.

💡 Conclusion: Wrapping Up the Benefits of the Passive Voice

In the final section, Adam recaps how the passive voice can help achieve variety, flow, and focus in writing. He revisits the Coca-Cola example, showing how to use passive voice to emphasize important subjects, connect ideas, and create more engaging and fluid writing. Adam encourages learners to explore more lessons and quizzes on www.engvid.com and closes with a reminder of the benefits of mastering the passive voice, particularly for exams like IELTS and TOEFL.

Keywords

💡Passive form

The passive form is a grammatical structure where the subject of the sentence receives the action of the verb rather than performing it. In the video, this concept is introduced with the example 'The cat ate the rat' becoming 'The rat was eaten by the cat.' The passive form is central to the lesson as it shifts focus from the doer of the action to the recipient, which is important for writing and communication.

💡Subject

In grammar, the subject is the part of the sentence that performs the action. In an active sentence like 'The cat ate the rat,' 'the cat' is the subject. The lesson explains that in a passive sentence, the focus shifts from the subject to the object, making the subject less important or omitted entirely.

💡Verb

A verb is the action word in a sentence, such as 'ate' in 'The cat ate the rat.' In the passive form, the verb changes to a 'be' verb plus the past participle (e.g., 'was eaten'). The video emphasizes how this structure is used in the passive to shift focus from the action doer to the action receiver.

💡Object

The object is the part of the sentence that receives the action of the verb. In 'The cat ate the rat,' 'the rat' is the object. In the passive form, the object becomes the focus of the sentence (e.g., 'The rat was eaten by the cat'), shifting emphasis in writing or speech.

💡Agent

In a passive sentence, the agent is the person or thing that performs the action, often introduced by the word 'by' (e.g., 'by the cat'). The video explains that the agent can sometimes be omitted if it is unknown, unimportant, or obvious, highlighting one of the key reasons to use the passive form.

💡Past participle

The past participle, often called 'verb three,' is the form of the verb used in the passive voice and perfect tenses (e.g., 'eaten' in 'was eaten'). The video discusses how this form is essential for constructing passive sentences and shifting focus in writing, especially when using sentence variety.

💡Sentence variety

Sentence variety refers to the use of different sentence structures to create a more engaging and dynamic text. The video stresses the importance of using passive voice to avoid repetitive sentence patterns like 'He did this, he did that.' This concept is especially relevant for improving writing skills, such as for exams like IELTS or TOEFL.

💡Flow

Flow refers to the smooth progression of ideas in writing or speech. The passive voice is highlighted as a tool to create better flow by connecting related ideas in a coherent manner. The video gives the example of shifting from one idea to another in an essay, using passive constructions to maintain clarity and coherence.

💡Focus shift

Shifting focus in a sentence means changing the emphasis from one part of the sentence to another, often from the action doer to the action receiver. The passive voice is particularly useful for this, as shown in the example 'Coca-Cola was invented by John Pemberton,' where the focus shifts to Coca-Cola, which is more important in the context than who invented it.

💡Coherence

Coherence is the quality of being logical and consistent in writing. The video explains how the passive voice helps create coherence by linking ideas more clearly and making sentences easier to follow. This is especially important for maintaining the reader’s engagement and understanding throughout an essay or piece of writing.

Highlights

Introduction to the passive form and a quick review of its basic construction.

In a passive sentence, the object becomes the subject, and the subject becomes the agent.

Passive structure: 'Be' verb plus past participle (verb three).

The first reason to use passive: The subject is unknown, obvious, or not important.

Passive voice helps shift the focus from the subject to the object of a sentence.

Passive voice adds sentence variety and avoids repetition in writing.

Using the passive form helps create coherence and flow in writing, especially for essays.

Example: 'The building was vandalized'—focus is on the building, not the vandals.

The passive can be used to give general information, like 'The airplane was invented in the early 20th century.'

Shifting focus is a key reason to use the passive, especially when writing essays about important subjects.

Example: 'Coca-Cola was invented by a pharmacist named John Pemberton.' Focus shifts to Coca-Cola rather than John Pemberton.

The passive form allows better placement of information in sentences, such as focusing on Coca-Cola rather than its consumers.

Sentence variety through the passive is essential for more engaging writing, particularly in exams like IELTS and TOEFL.

The passive helps connect related ideas more smoothly, creating a logical flow.

The combination of sentence variety, flow, and focus in the passive form enhances clarity and readability in writing.

Transcripts

Adam: Hi again. This is Adam. I'm here to you with another lesson from

www.engvid.com. And today's lesson is a little bit complicated, but a little bit

basic at the same time. Today, we're gonna look at the passive form of the

verb. Now, before we get to look at the more complicated things — like the four

reasons to use the passive — let's have a very quick review of: What is a

passive, and how do we construct it? So, if we look at a basic sentence: "The cat

ate the rat." Okay? Very easy. We have our subject, we have our verb, and we

have our object. Very simple. Everybody knows this; no problem. What we have to

remember is that in this sentence, the subject is doing the action to the

object. Good. In a passive sentence, we are reversing this order. Okay? We are

going, now, this way. What was the object is now the subject. And we have a

verb: "was eaten"; "by the cat" is now less important. If we want to say it, we

say it; if we don't, we take it out. But this is now not an object. We call this,

now, the agent — the person or thing that is doing the action. So, the

difference here is that the subject is now receiving the action. Very easy; no

problem. How do we create the passive? "Be" verb plus the past participle;

"verb three" some of you call it. Okay, no problem.

Now, what we have to concentrate on is the four reasons we use the passive.

Students always ask me: "I know how to use the passive, but why am I using the

passive? I can communicate easily. I can speak easily, I can write easily, and

never use the passive." Of course you can, but there are reasons to use it.

Okay, so the first reason that we would use a passive is because the subject is

unknown, obvious, or not important. If we don't know who or what did the

action, we can use a passive. If we know very clearly, it's very obvious who did

the action, then we can use a passive. If the person or thing that did the

action is just not important to our sentence, we can take it out and use the

passive. I'm gonna give you some examples; don't worry. Another reason

and a very important reason, especially when you're writing, is to shift focus

of subject. If you want the object of your last sentence to now be the subject

of your next sentence, you can use the passive to make that switch. Remember:

"The cat ate the rat" — we switched it: "The rat was eaten by the cat." Great.

Now, again, coming back to that question: "I don't need to use it; I can

communicate easily without it." Yes, of course you can, but you want sentence

variety. If you say: "He did this, he did that, then he did this, then he did

that" — that's very boring. Nobody wants to listen to it. Really, nobody wants to

read it; trust me. And the last reason is for coherence — to make it something

very understandable; and flow — to make your... especially writing, flow from

one sentence to the next; one idea to the next. Makes it more enjoyable for

the reader. Now, let's look at some specific examples of each one of these

reasons.

Okay, so let's look at subject is unknown, obvious, not important first.

"The building was vandalized." Now, first of all, what does "vandalized"

mean? "Vandalized" means that somebody came and did some damage to the

building. Maybe they spray-painted; maybe they broke some windows, etcetera.

So, who did this? We don't know. I could say that: "Vandals did this", but I

don't need to say it; that comes from the word — it's obvious. I could say

that: "Somebody did this", but, why? Better to use the passive and

concentrate on the building, and what happened to it. "The flowers were

delivered on time." Who delivered it? Well, it's obvious — either the flower

company or the delivery company. I don't need to say it; it's very clear that one

of these two delivered the flowers. "The roads were fixed quickly." Who fixed

them? Who cares? They're fixed — that's what's important. I can drive; I'm

happy. Now, we can also use the passive and we commonly use the passive to give

information. "The airplane was invented in the early 20th century." Exactly when

— I don't want to say. Who invented it? I don't want to say. Why? Maybe there's

a little controversy, there; maybe not everybody believes the Wright brothers

invented the airplane in 1903. So, what do I want to concentrate on? The

airplane. Right? That's why I'm using the passive. We have to choose what is

more important and what is less important. So, this is the main reason;

this is the most common reason we use the passive. Okay? Let's look at some

other reasons.

Okay, let's look at the third reason. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten number

two; I'm going to do that after. First, I want to look at sentence variety. Now,

why is this important? This is especially important for any of you who

are going to take the IELTS or TOEFL. Why? Because you're going to have to

write an essay. Many, many points come with this little topic, here: Sentence

variety. So, now, you could write all your sentences in a standard subject,

verb, object way. You could say: "He did A, then he did B. After that, he did C."

What is the problem with this? No problem. Grammatically, it's okay. In

terms of English, you can put nice words in here. Okay. What is the problem? The

problem is that it is boring. You don't want a boring essay; you want a fun,

lively, engaging essay. This is what the readers are looking for. Right? "So, how

does the passive come into play here?" you ask yourself. Well, I'll tell you.

The passive allows you to play with sentence structure, so it allows you to

have different varieties of sentences. "He did A." Same start. "C wasn't done

until he had completed B." My mistake, here. Not only do you have a passive,

you have a past perfect — bravo. Extra points for you if you can do this. But,

first, you got to have that passive; you got to get to that passive first. Okay?

This gives you sentence variety. Now, when you see the next part, you'll see

reasons number two and four together — you'll understand even more how the

passive can create nice sentences, create good flow, make it all easier,

and focus the reader's attention on exactly what you want them to. Okay? The

passive is very powerful. Remember this. Let's look at the next examples.

Okay, so now we come to what is probably the most important reason to use the

passive. And, again, especially for writing, and especially for the IELTS

and TOEFL. We're looking at shifting focus and creating flow in our writing.

So, for example, you are writing an essay about Coca-Cola. What is the most

important thing you're going to talk about? Of course, it's Coca-Cola, right?

So, you want this to be your subject. "John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola." We

don't really care about John Pemberton; we care about what he invented. So, we

switch around the sentence, right? "Coca-Cola was invented by a pharmacist

named John Pemberton." Easy. We put the focus on the Coca-Cola; the other

information comes later. Now, because he is the last idea we have here, we want

to start with him. "His original recipe contained cocaine." Okay. Regular

sentence; active voice. Why? Because we have John Pemberton, we want to continue

with John Pemberton. But, now, we want to introduce another new idea. Okay?

"Which is why the drink was named Coca-Cola." I want to bring the reader

back to my original subject: Coca-Cola. So, the passive is used for placement.

Where do you want to put your topics? Where do you want to put your subject?

Where do you want to put your object? Where do you want to put your agent, for

that matter? So, now, the last idea I'm speaking about is the name, Coca-Cola.

Remember; this is very important. "Today, Coca-Cola" — again, I'm talking

about the name; the product — "is a global brand". What is "a brand"? "A

brand" is basically a name. Right? You see how I connected the ideas? I kept

them close to each other. This is where you get flow. Okay? This is... makes it

easy for the reader to follow your ideas. If you have one idea here; and

then you talk about it again way down there, sometimes the reader can't make

the connection. You want to bring ideas that are similar — that are connected —

close together. "So, today, Coca-Cola is a global brand that is consumed by

millions of people." Now, here, I could say: "Coca-Cola is a global brand that

millions of people consume." But the millions of people, they're not

important. What is important is consumption. This is what you want to

focus on. So, what do you do? You put it in a passive; you bring it closer to

your original idea: Brand. This is the subject. This is another... well, this

is an adjective clause, really, but we're putting this closer to what the

brand is. The millions of consumers, the millions of people — not really

important. We don't care about them. Okay?

So, I hope you understand what I did here. I placed focus on the subject I

wanted to; I connected ideas together to create flow; and, most of all, I have

sentence variety. I don't say: "John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola

had cocaine. He named the drink Coca-Cola because of the cocaine."

Right? It's very, very boring; very blah —if you know what "blah" means. It means

boring. So, what do we do? We have variety, we have flow, we have focus —

everybody's happy. And who's the happiest? You, when you get your high

IELTS and TOEFL score. Okay? Great. Thank you very much for joining me

today. Please go to www.engvid.com. There's a quiz there for you, as usual.

And look at the other teachers' lessons; they're all very nice. Please come back

and visit us again. Thank you very much.