Passive Voice for Effect
The passive voice is a sentence structure where the subject receives the action rather than performing it, formed with a form of 'to be' plus a past participle, as in 'The window was broken' rather than 'Someone broke the window'. Writers use it deliberately to hide who is responsible for an action or to create a formal, objective tone, and this is examined as a stylistic choice at KS3 and GCSE.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Identify the active sentence's subject (doer), verb and object (receiver of the action).
- Move the object to the front of the sentence, so it becomes the new subject.
- Change the verb to a form of 'to be' plus the past participle, for example 'broke' becomes 'was broken'.
- Decide whether to name the original doer using 'by', such as 'by the storm', or to omit it entirely for effect.
- Consider why a writer might choose to omit the doer, such as to create mystery, avoid blame or sound more formal and objective.
- Check the sentence still makes sense and matches the tone or effect intended.
Worked example
Rewrite this sentence in the passive voice and explain the effect of omitting the doer: 'Vandals smashed the shop window last night.'
- Identify the subject (vandals), verb (smashed) and object (the shop window).
- Move the object to the front: 'The shop window...'
- Change the verb to the passive form: 'was smashed'.
- Decide to omit the doer for effect: 'The shop window was smashed last night.'
- Explain the effect: omitting 'by vandals' shifts focus onto the damage itself and can create a sense of mystery about who is responsible.
- Final answer: 'The shop window was smashed last night.' - the passive voice, with the doer omitted, focuses attention on the damage rather than who caused it.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a English exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Rewrite the sentence 'The factory dumped chemicals into the river' in the passive voice, omitting the doer.
Explain the effect created by using the passive voice in the headline 'Local park vandalised overnight' instead of the active 'Youths vandalised the local park overnight'.
A student writes a formal report and uses the sentence: 'We tested the water sample and found it was contaminated.' Rewrite this using the passive voice throughout, and explain two effects of the change.
Free printable worksheet
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