Answers

Read the following sentences and remove the "by" phrase if possible.

1. His poetry has been widely distributed.
2. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.
3. The sanctions imposed on his country by Norway made it impossible for him to travel to Oslo to receive the prize.
4. She reacted angrily when accused of cheating.
5. The wheat, once separated from the chaff by hand, is now threshed by the machine.

Now, change the following sentences from the active voice to passive voice, (unless the verb is intransitive- a verb that does not take a direct object).

Omit the “by” phrase whenever possible.

1. Jacqueline memorized the text in its entirety. 
• The text was memorized by Jacqueline in its entirety.
2. Marta planted the tulips in the fall, and during the winter, she anticipated the splash of color they would add to her garden in the spring.
• The tulips were planted in the fall and during the winter, the splash of color they would add to her garden in the spring was anticipated (by Marta).
3. She dove into the deep end of the pool.
• Intransitive – No passive is possible because "dove" has no direct object.
4. The sun sets slowly in the northern summer.
• Intransitive – No passive is possible because "set" has no direct object.
5. The microbiologist studied the slides under her microscope.
• The slides were studied by the microbiologist under her microscope.

Practice

Read the following sentences and remove the "agent" if possible.

1. His poetry has been widely distributed by his publisher.
2. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature by the Nobel Prize Committee.
3. The sanctions imposed on his country by Norway made it impossible for him to travel to Oslo to receive the prize.
4. She reacted angrily when accused of cheating by the judge.
5. The wheat, once separated from the chaff by hand, is now threshed by the machine.

Now, change the following sentences from the active voice to passive voice, (unless the verb is intransitive, a verb that does not take a direct object).  Omit the "by" phrase wherever possible.

1. Jacqueline memorized the text in its entirety.
2. Marta planted the tulips in the fall, and during the winter, she anticipated the splash of color they would add to her garden in the spring.
3. She dove into the deep end of the pool.
4. The sun sets slowly in the northern summer.
5. The microbiologist studied the slides under her microscope.

Agentless Passives

Passive sentences that do not mention the agent are called agentless passives.

All passive sentences are derived from active sentences. The so-called agentless passive-- a sentence without a "by-phrase"-- is interesting because it is derived from an active sentence without an explicit subject.

• A sentence like:
• The bank was robbed.

• Comes from an underlying active sentence something like:
• [SUBJECT] robbed the bank.

The agentless passive is used to avoid very general subjects such as people, someone, we, one, and impersonal you and them. The passive often sound more indirect or impersonal.

• People need calcium for strong bones.
• Calcium is needed for strong bones.

The agentless passive has a number of uses:

 1.   When the agent is unknown:

• EXAMPLES:
• ID photos are being taken today.
• They are taking ID photos today.
• The car was stolen (by somebody).

2.   When the agent is irrelevant or unimportant or obvious. For example, agentless passives are common in descriptions of scientific experiments where the emphasis is on what was done not on who did it.

• EXAMPLES:

• The mail is delivered at noon. (It is obvious that a mail carrier delivered the mail.)
• Measurements were made.
• Data was collected.

3.   When you want people to forget the agent. Since passive voice allows us to omit the agent or cause of the action, it can also be used when the writer’s objective is to avoid assigning (or taking) responsibility.

• EXAMPLES:

• The task was never completed.
• Killing civilians were not intended.
• Mistakes were made.
• Taxes will be increased.
• Benefits will be reduced.
• A serious error was made in the payroll. 
  

Unknown Agent

There are times, however, when the agent or source of an action is not known, or the agent or source is not important. In these cases, passive voice best reflects the focus and intention of the writer.

Unknown Subject – We simply don't know who/what performed the action.

• EXAMPLES:
• This book was written many years ago.   
• Many factors were taken into account.
• The best cheese is made in France.
• After the decision is made, you have three days to appeal.
• Yesterday she reported to the police that the ring had been stolen.

Importance of Agents

When verbs in the active voice express an action, the active voice can paint vivid and immediate pictures of people (or things) doing something.

Similarly, since the doer or agent of the action is the grammatical subject, the source or cause of the action is expressed directly and immediately.

EXAMPLE

The engineer failed to stop the train.

The senator did not vote on 80% of the bills on the floor this term.