RULES FOR FORMING THE PASSIVE The passive has two main functions in English: Use the passive to depersonalise the topic in a sentence. The passive allows you to omit 'I' or 'We'. This strategy is especially common when writing up methods sections or describing procedures, since the passive places emphasis on the steps in the procedure and how it was carried out, but not on who did it.   Use the passive to reverse the sentence word order in order to place 'given' information towards the beginning of the sentence, to move 'heavy' chunks of information so that they occur after the verb, and / or to move topical information into subject position.     Notice how these tenses are used in the passive voice: TENSE ACTIVE VOICE PASSIVE VOICE Present We normally heat the water in a kettle. The program calculates the parameters. The water is normally heated in a kettle. The parameters are calculated by/using the program. Simple past We heated the water in a kettle. The program calculated the parameters. The water was heated in a kettle. The parameters were calculated by/using the program. Present perfect We have heated the water in a kettle. The program has calculated the parameters. The water has been heated in a kettle. The parameters have been calculated by/using the program. Click the button below to try out some exercises for forming the passive.

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