In Unit 5, you learned about using the passive voice. Here is a quick review of when and why the passive voice is used.
- The focus is on the object.
- The cat was chased by the dog all the way down the street. (the cat becomes more important than the dog)
- The agent is unknown.
- The laptop was stolen from his dorm room. (unknown)
- The agent is understood.
- Good study skills are needed in university. (it is understood that study skills are needed ‘by students’)
- The agent is unimportant.
- A vaccine was developed last week at a research facility in Turkey. (who developed the vaccine is unimportant)
Remember the components of a passive voice sentence: an object, the auxiliary verb ‘be’ + past participle of the main verb, and possibly an agent.
- The installation of the new equipment was completed later than we had expected.
- I think the motion to use facial recognition will be rejected by the staff at the meeting.
Describing a Process Using the Passive Voice
In writing, one of the most common uses of the passive voice is to describe processes. This is because the focus should be on the process itself rather than who does the process.
When describing a process, we usually use the present simple passive. Look at the following example describing how plastic bottles are recycled.
How Plastic Bottles are Recycled
Bottles of different shapes and colours are collected and taken to a bottle recycling station. Once there are enough bottles, they are transported to a cleaning plant where they are washed with a mixture of water and cleaning products. These clean bottles are then sorted by type of plastic. Afterwards, the sorted bottles are taken to a recycling plant where they are melted in a furnace to produce molten recycled plastic. Then, the liquid molten recycled plastic is mixed with new liquid plastic, and the mixture is moulded together to make new plastic bottles. Finally, these bottles are delivered to a bottling plant where they are filled with beverages to be sold again at supermarkets and stores.
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