ORLI_a02_t23

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Passive Voice 
 
 
Study this change: 
Active: Harry buys the newspaper every day. 
Passive: The newspaper is bought by Rob every day. 
 
Passive Voice form: verb to + Past Participle 
Though the Passive Voice form may be applied in any tense, the Present and Past 
forms are more common in a Descriptive text. 
The most usual reasons to use the Passive Voice are: 
 The action is more important than the person / thing that performed it: 
A lot of children are helped during our visit. 
 We do not know (or we want to hide) who or what performs the action. 
The door is always closed before the right. 
 When the agent is clearly irrelevant: 
Prices are increased almost every week. 
 When a formal speech is needed: 
New rules were decided by the director. 
Impersonal expressions are formed by the Passive Voice structure when used with 
some verbs: believe, consider, know, suppose and think. 
Ex.: It was believed that … / They were supposed to … 
 
The Passive Voice used in a excerpt of a Descriptive text from the media 
“Double decker bus does push-ups 
A bus has been transformed into an exercising artwork that can perform push-ups. 
Artist David Cerny created The London Booster by attaching huge arms, suspension 
mechanics and adding groaning sound effects to the 1957 double decker bus. 
The Czech artist said the piece could be seen as ironic because push-ups are ‘a 
common exercise for every sports man’ but also punishment.” 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts